Fernley's Complete Game Defeats Fresno State

FRESNO -- Senior Nate Fernley continued to boost BYU's RPI with a 4-1 victory Thursday evening over Fresno State.

The righthander pitched his first complete game of the season, surrendering only a leadoff home run to Tom Creighton on the third pitch in the first inning, a line drive barely over the 330-mark in right field. Fernley, who also only gave up one run in BYU's season opening victory at Arizona, allowed only five FSU hits thereafter and tallied 10 strikeouts and one walk.

BYU's scoring started in the first inning, too, when Shane Belliston and Matt Carson each singled and were driven in by Aaron Whitley's two-out double. The Cougars added a pair of runs in the fourth when Lars Birkeland scored off Brad Hales' two-out double and Hales scored off Cameron Coughlan's triple. Eight of the 10 Cougar batters each had a hit in the game.

BYU, who was errorless in the game, improved its record to 2-1, while the Bulldogs are now 1-3. FSU hosts the Cougars again on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.

Cougars at Fresno State
                   Feb 01, 2001 at Fresno, Calif. (Pete Beiden Field)
Cougars 4 (2-1)                               Fresno State 1 (1-3)
Player                      AB  R  H BI       Player                      AB  R  H BI
---------------------------------------       ---------------------------------------
Coughlan dh................  3  0  1  1       T. Creighton 2b............  4  1  1  1
Belliston cf...............  4  1  1  0       Labandeira ss..............  3  0  0  0
Carson rf..................  5  1  1  0        Fritz ph/c................  1  0  0  0
Obrey 3b...................  3  0  0  0       Gemoll 1b..................  4  0  2  0
Whitley lf.................  4  0  1  2       Garcia 3b..................  3  0  1  0
 Jackson lf................  0  0  0  0       Tafoya lf..................  4  0  1  0
Perry 2b...................  4  0  1  0       Guzman cf..................  4  0  0  0
Haguewood 1b...............  4  0  1  0       Prieto dh..................  2  0  0  0
Birkeland c................  2  1  1  0        McGehee ph/dh.............  1  0  1  0
Hales ss...................  4  1  1  1       Riday-White rf.............  2  0  0  0
Fernley p..................  0  0  0  0        Efrid ph/rf...............  1  0  0  0
                                              Harper c...................  2  0  0  0
                                               Beshears ph...............  1  0  0  0
                                               Lopez ss..................  0  0  0  0
                                              Minor p....................  0  0  0  0
                                               Gonzalez p................  0  0  0  0
Totals..................... 33  4  8  4       Totals..................... 32  1  6  1
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Cougars............. 200 200 000 -  4  8  0
Fresno State........ 100 000 000 -  1  6  2
-------------------------------------------
E - T. Creighton(1), Fritz(1). DP - Bulldogs 1. LOB - BYU 8, Bulldogs 5. 2B -
Whitley(1), Haguewood(1), Hales(1). 3B - Coughlan(2). HR - T. Creighton(1). CS -
Coughlan(2).
Cougars                        IP  H  R ER BB SO  WP BK HP IBB  AB BF  FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fernley  W,2-0.............   9.0  6  1  1  1 10   0  0  0  0   32 33  11  5
Fresno State                   IP  H  R ER BB SO  WP BK HP IBB  AB BF  FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Minor  L,0-1...............   8.0  8  4  4  4  6   0  0  0  0   30 34  10  6
Gonzalez ..................   1.0  0  0  0  2  1   0  0  0  0    3  5   0  1
Strikeouts - Carson 2, Obrey 2, Whitley, Haguewood, Birkeland, Labandeira 3, Tafoya,
Prieto 2, Riday-White, Efrid, Harper, Beshears. Walks - Coughlan 2, Belliston,
Obrey, Birkeland 2, Garcia.
Umpires -
Start: 7 p.m   Time: 2:07   Attendance: 2545
Game: BYU1