Back Within Half Game of First

LAS VEGAS, Nev.--BYU pulled within a half game of first place in the Mountain West Conference Thursday evening with a 8-3 victory over UNLV.

The Cougars, now 15-13 overall and 6-4 in the league, stopped a two-game losing streak as Nate Fernley struck out seven for his third complete game this season to improve his record to 9-1.

"Nate gives us confidence whenever he's on the mound," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "Not only did we swing the bats well, we did so in the middle innings when we have been struggling."

The Rebels, 13-18 overall and 4-6, got on board early when David Trujillo hit a two-run homer in the first inning to bring in Trent Kitsch, who had walked.

UNLV's Garett Shitanishi got a lead-off double in the third and advanced all the way to third base before he was called out on a a unique double play as a result of Kitsch striking out and interfering with an attempted throw to second by BYU catcher Lars Birkeland.

Cougar Michael Wirrick scored off Doug Jackson's sacrifice fly in the fifth inning. Shane Belliston doubled off the top of the right field wall to drive in Birkeland to tie the score at two-all. Then teammate Matt Carson hit a two-run, one-out single with a two-strike count.

Wirrick scored off Birkeland's double to left off the wall in the sixth. UNLV's Joe Jacobitz scored on a sac-fly after he tripled in the sixth to close the gap, 5-3 in favor of BYU.

Cougar Kainoa Obrey hit a two-out solo home run to right field in the seventh as he extended his hitting streak to 10 games. BYU pinch-hitter Ty Haguewood hit a lead-off solo homer in the eighth. Jackson doubled in Tim Law, who also doubled in the eighth.

The two teams meet in game two of the series on Friday. That game will be broadcast live locally after the Utah Jazz game on KSRR (1400 AM) or on the Internet at unlvrebels.fansonly.com/sports/m basebl/unlv-m-basebl-sched.html at 8 p.m. MST.

The Automated ScoreBook
                             Brigham Young at UNLV
               Mar 29, 2001 at Las Vegas, NV (E. Wilson Stadium)
Brigham Young 8 (15-13,6-4 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
JACKSON, Doug lf.........  4  0  2  2   0  2  2  0   1
BELLISTON, Shane cf......  5  1  1  1   0  2  1  0   1
CARSON, Matt rf..........  5  0  1  2   0  2  2  1   1
OBREY, Kainoa 3b.........  5  1  2  1   0  2  2  1   0
KING, Seth ss............  4  0  0  0   0  1  1  1   1
 HALES, Brad ph/ss.......  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
HIESTAND, Jeff dh........  2  0  1  0   0  0  0  0   0
 HAGUEWOOD, Ty dh........  2  1  1  1   0  1  0  0   0
WIRRICK, Michael 1b......  1  2  1  0   1  0  3  1   0
 LAW, Tim 1b.............  1  1  1  0   0  0  3  1   0
BIRKELAND, Lars c........  3  1  1  1   1  0  9  0   2
PERRY, Tyler 2b..........  3  1  0  0   1  1  3  2   0
FERNLEY, Nate p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  1   0
Totals................... 36  8 11  8   3 11 27  8   6
UNLV 3 (12-18,4-6 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
SHITANISHI 2b............  3  0  2  0   0  0  2  2   0
CRUZ cf..................  4  0  0  0   0  1  3  0   0
KITSCH dh................  3  1  0  0   1  0  0  0   3
TRUJILLO 1b..............  3  1  1  2   0  2  8  0   1
JACOBITZ lf..............  4  1  2  0   0  0  2  0   0
JOHNSON rf...............  3  0  1  1   0  1  2  0   0
RUIZ ss..................  3  0  0  0   0  1  0  2   0
 HERTEL ph...............  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
BEASLEY c................  3  0  0  0   1  0 10  1   1
SCHULER 3b...............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 STRONG 3b...............  4  0  0  0   0  1  0  2   1
BONNELL p................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 VAN p...................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 MALOFF p................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 31  3  6  3   2  7 27  7   6
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Brigham Young....... 000 041 120 -  8 11  2
UNLV................ 200 001 000 -  3  6  0
-------------------------------------------
E - KING 2. DP - Cougars 1; Rebels 1. LOB - Cougars 6; Rebels 6. 2B -
JACKSON; BELLISTON; LAW; BIRKELAND; SHITANISHI. 3B - JACOBITZ. HR - OBREY;
HAGUEWOOD; TRUJILLO. HBP - WIRRICK; TRUJILLO. SH - SHITANISHI. SF - JACKSON;
JOHNSON. SB - WIRRICK; CRUZ.
Brigham Young          IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
FERNLEY, Nate.......  9.0  6  3  3  2  7 31 36
UNLV                   IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
BONNELL.............  4.1  5  4  4  2  2 16 20
VAN.................  3.2  6  4  4  1  8 17 18
MALOFF..............  1.0  0  0  0  0  1  3  3
Win - FERNLEY (9-1).  Loss - BONNELL (2-3).  Save - None.
HB - FERNLEY; BONNELL. PB - BIRKELAND.
Umpires - Home:Joe Burleson  1st:Dan Pedersen  3rd:John DeLuca
Start: 7:09 pm   Time: 2:29   Attendance: 330