Belliston, Fernley Pace Stadium Opening Win

PROVO -- First win in the new baseball stadium goes to BYU as Shane Belliston's three-run homer gave it a come-from-behind victory Friday over New Mexico, 7-5.

Before 1,143 fans coming to witness the opening game at Larry H. Miller Field, Belliston swatted an 0-2 pitch over the right field fence in the eighth inning. That homer gave the Cougars the victory behind the nation's winningest pitcher, Nate Fernley, who improves to 11-1.

BYU improved to 22-14 overall and remained tied for first place in the Mountain West Conference with an 11-5 record, while UNM fell to 18-24 and 8-8.

Fernley went the nine-inning distance, throwing 129 pitches and recording seven strikeouts, four of which came in the final two innings.

"I didn't have my best stuff at first, so our batters saved me," said Fernley. "They battled all day. This was an awesome crowd and we fed off them."

Belliston was one of those pumped by the crowd whose noise was loudly reflected even to his centerfield position. Belliston generated some of that noise with a fifth-inning double to start the Cougar comeback capped by his homer.

"They threw me a curveball up and luckily I got ahold of it pretty good," said Belliston of his homer. "My first at bat set the tone." Belliston struck out in the first inning as the Cougars saw a diet of curves throughout the night as he extended his hitting streak to a team-leading 10 games.

Slugger Matt Carson was one Cougar who saw nothing but curves as he drew four consecutive walks, one short of the school record. Teammate Michael Wirrick also ended up being one short of a school record as he was one of eight batters who were hit by pitches during the game.

UNM's Anthony Lovato hit a pair of two-run homers in the third and fifth innings to give the Lobos a 5-1 lead going into the bottom of the fifth. After Doug Jackson's sixth-inning single drove in Lars Birkeland, Lobo lefty Chris Cooper was removed from the game.

Meanwhile Fernley was building momentum on the mound. With two out and one on in the top of the eighth, Fernley's slider caught Aaron Stanley looking after he battled a full count.

"It's uncommon for Nate to give up more than three runs, but he settled down and was real effective," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "It was the right move leaving him in all game."

"This was an outstanding ball game with a good crowd. I applaud our grounds crew because this morning there was four inches of snow in our outfield."

The Cougars have won seven games in a row as they host the Lobos in a noon doubleheader on Saturday at Miller Park. The games can be heard live on KSRR Radio (1400 AM) starting in progress at 1 p.m.

The Automated ScoreBook
                    New Mexico Lobos at Brigham Young Univ.
               Apr 13, 2001 at Provo, Utah (Larry H.Miller Field)
New Mexico Lobos 5 (18-24,8-8 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
CAIRNS 2b................  5  0  1  0   0  0  1  1   0
SALAS rf.................  3  2  1  0   0  0  1  0   1
SEVIERI lf...............  4  0  0  0   0  0  3  0   0
LOVATO 1b................  4  3  3  4   0  0  5  2   0
OKANO cf.................  3  0  1  0   0  2  2  0   0
ALEXANDER, M dh..........  2  0  0  1   0  1  0  0   1
STANLEY 3b...............  3  0  0  0   1  1  1  2   1
TAJIMA c.................  2  0  0  0   1  2  9  0   0
YOUNG, DU ss.............  4  0  0  0   0  1  2  2   3
COOPER p.................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  2   0
 PEREZ p.................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 30  5  6  5   2  7 24  9   6
Brigham Young Univ. 7 (22-14,11-5 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
JACKSON, Doug lf.........  3  2  1  1   1  0  1  0   1
BELLISTON, Shane cf......  5  2  2  3   0  1  3  0   0
CARSON, Matt rf..........  1  1  0  0   4  1  2  0   0
OBREY, Kainoa 3b.........  4  0  1  2   0  2  2  2   3
WIRRICK, Michael dh......  2  0  1  1   0  1  0  0   1
 HIESTAND, Jeff ph.......  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
KING, Seth ss............  4  0  0  0   0  1  1  1   3
HAGUEWOOD, Ty 1b.........  3  0  0  0   0  2 10  0   0
BIRKELAND, Lars c........  2  1  1  0   1  0  6  0   0
 WHITLEY, Aaron pr.......  0  1  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 DAVIES, Michael c.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  2  0   0
PERRY, Tyler 2b..........  2  0  1  0   1  0  0  2   1
 COUGHLAN, Cameron ph/2b.  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
FERNLEY, Nate p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Totals................... 28  7  7  7   7  8 27  6   9
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
New Mexico Lobos.... 012 020 000 -  5  6  1
Brigham Young Univ.. 100 021 03X -  7  7  0
-------------------------------------------
E - COOPER. LOB - UNM 6; Cougars 9. 2B - OKANO; BELLISTON. 3B - WIRRICK. HR
- LOVATO 2(5); BELLISTON(2). HBP - SALAS 2; OKANO; ALEXANDER, M; JACKSON;
WIRRICK; HAGUEWOOD; BIRKELAND. SH - TAJIMA. SF - ALEXANDER, M; OBREY.
New Mexico Lobos       IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
COOPER..............  5.2  6  4  3  6  6 20 29
PEREZ...............  2.1  1  3  3  1  2  8 11
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
FERNLEY, Nate.......  9.0  6  5  5  2  7 30 38
Win - FERNLEY (11-1).  Loss - PEREZ (2-2).  Save - None.
HB - COOPER 2; PEREZ 2; FERNLEY 4. BK - COOPER.
Umpires - Home:Jeff Jenkins  1st:Jim Paronto  3rd:John Cortez
Start: 4:58   Time: 2:45   Attendance: 1,143