Thirteen Strikeouts Lead to Season Opening Win

TUCSON -- Back-to-back home runs Thursday by Seth King and Matt Carson and 11 strikeouts by Nate Fernley lifted BYU to a season-opening 8-4 victory over Arizona.

King's two-run homer in the eighth inning was followed by Carson's solo. King led the Cougars with four hits, including a triple. The Cougars got a solo homer in the ninth from catcher Lance Birkeland.

Birkeland, a transfer from Salt Lake City, had three hits and was on the receiving end of Fernley's eight-inning, three-hit performance which only included one walk and one run. Fernley gave BYU a 7-1 lead going into the ninth inning.

King and Cameron Coughlan each had a stolen base. Coughlan, Carson, Kainoa Obrey, and Tyler Perry each had a pair of hits for the afternoon. All but one of the nine Cougar batters recorded a hit.

Arizona, who falls to 3-2, hosts the Cougars again in single games on Friday and Saturday.

BYU Cougars at Arizona Wildcats
Jan 25, 2001 at Tucson, Arizona (Frank Sancet Field)
BYU Cougars 8 (1-0)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Cameron Coughlan dh......  5  1  2  0   1  1  0  0   2
Shane Belliston cf.......  5  1  1  1   1  0  1  0   0
Seth King ss.............  6  2  4  2   0  2  0  4   0
Matt Carson rf...........  5  1  2  2   1  2  2  0   2
Kainoa Obrey 3b..........  5  0  2  1   1  1  0  2   2
Aaron Whitley lf.........  5  0  0  0   0  1  2  0   7
Tyler Perry 2b...........  4  0  2  0   0  0  3  1   0
Ty Haguewood 1b..........  5  1  1  0   0  0  5  0   2
Lars Birkeland c.........  5  2  3  1   0  0 14  0   0
Nate Fernley p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Justin Su'a p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 45  8 17  7   4  7 27  7  15
Arizona Wildcats 4 (3-2)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Jason Shroyer cf.........  5  0  1  1   0  1  5  0   0
Justyn St. Clair lf......  4  1  1  0   0  1  2  0   2
Ernie Durazo 1b..........  4  0  1  0   0  2  4  0   1
Shelley Duncan rf........  3  1  0  0   1  2  3  0   0
Matt Abram 2b............  4  1  1  1   0  2  5  1   3
Kenny Huff dh............  4  1  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
Erik Torres 3b...........  4  0  2  1   0  0  1  1   0
Ken Riley c..............  3  0  0  0   0  0  7  1   0
 Kyle Tasco ph...........  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
Brad Hassey ss...........  3  0  0  0   0  2  0  2   1
 Marc Kaiser ph..........  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
Sean Rierson p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Chris Goodman p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Rob Elias p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Nathan Staggs p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Britt Echols p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 36  4  6  3   1 13 27  5   7
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
BYU Cougars......... 020 101 031 -  8 17  4
Arizona Wildcats.... 000 100 003 -  4  6  3
-------------------------------------------
E - Obrey; Whitley; Haguewood; Birkeland; St. Clair; Abram; Staggs. LOB -
BYU 15; Arizona 7. 2B - Obrey; Abram. 3B - King. HR - King(1); Carson(1);
Birkeland(1). HBP - Perry; St. Clair. SB - Coughlan(1); King(1); Durazo(1).
CS - Perry.
BYU Cougars            IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Nate Fernley........  8.0  3  1  0  1 11 28 30
Justin Su'a.........  1.0  3  3  0  0  2  8  8
Arizona Wildcats       IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Sean Rierson........  4.0  7  3  2  3  4 20 24
Chris Goodman.......  3.0  7  4  4  1  1 15 16
Rob Elias...........  1.0  1  0  0  0  1  4  4
Nathan Staggs.......  0.1  2  1  1  0  1  4  4
Britt Echols........  0.2  0  0  0  0  0  2  2
Win - Fernley (1-0).  Loss - Rierson (0-1).  Save - None.
WP - Su'a; Rierson. HBP - by Rierson (Perry); by Fernley (St. Clair). BK -
Goodman.
Umpires - Home:Ron Barnes  1st:Del Blunk  3rd:Marty Camacho
Start: 3:02   Time: 2:42   Attendance: 300
Game: BYU1
Goodman faced 3 batters in the 8th.