Cougars Fight Against Elimination After Falling 6-5 to San Diego State.

LAS VEGAS -- Upsets nearly ruled the day in round two of the Mountain West Conference Baseball Tournament until second-seeded San Diego State came from behind Thursday evening to beat BYU, 6-5.

Because of the loss, BYU will have to play top-seeded New Mexico on Friday morning after the Lobos lost earlier Thursday to fourth-seeded Utah, 6-4. Utah advances to play the Air Force Academy and that winner advances automatically into the championship game on Saturday.

The Cougars will have to play the Aztecs again Friday night if they get past UNM.

BYU made a valiant effort Thursday night behind the pitching of Nate Fernley in coming back against SDSU. But Brandon Roger's two-out homer in the seventh was the difference.

"I tried to go away with a slider on him, but just got it over the plate," said Fernley of Rogers.

With one out, Fernley got out of a first-inning jam with men on second and third. The Aztecs got on board in the second on a pair of doubles. Rogers' lead-off double enabled him to score off Chad Redfern's deep centerfield smash.

BYU answered also in the second when Matt Carson hit a one-out triple and scored off Kainoa Obrey's double. Seth King followed with the third straight hit to right field and Obrey scored off his single.

Aaron Whitley looped a single to left to start the third and advanced to second when Jeremy Cook's errant pick-off advanced him to second. Whitley scored on Nick Day's first hit of the tourney. Day scored BYU's fourth run off Carson's fielder's choice.

In the fourth, Fernley threw few of his 124 pitches in the game with a pair of strikeouts as the Aztecs were retired in order. BYU responded in the bottom of the inning also being put down in order.

In the fifth SDSU scored off a Fernley balk when he thought the batter called time out. Then Matt Ricardy unleashed a deep double to the centerfield wall. Ricardy scored off Paul Lockhart's single to tie the game at four-all.

Craig Peterson's lead-off walk gave back the lead to the Cougars when he advanced and scored off sacrifice plays.

The Aztecs responded by loading the bases with two outs, scoring Redfern when Edgar Gonzalez hit the third single of the inning.

Two relief pitchers helped the Aztecs strike out the side, stranding three Cougars on base in the seventh after Rogers' homer.

BYU Coach Vance Law took the blame for not being able to capitalize in the seventh-inning.

"I put Matt (Carson) in the hole when I tried a late substitution for a pinch runner and the umpire didn't call the time out when he stepped out of the box and gave him a strike," said Law.

BYU, now 28-28, faces UNM, 35-20, who lost earlier in the day to Utah. No. 6-seeded Air Force eliminated host UNLV, the fifth-seed, in the first game of round two with a 13-11 victory.

The Automated ScoreBook
                     San Diego State vs Brigham Young Univ.
                May 18, 2000 at Las Vegas, Nev. (Wilson Stadium)
San Diego State 6 (32-28)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
MONTGOMERY, Billy lf.....  4  1  3  0   0  0  1  0   0
GONZALES, Edgar ss.......  4  0  1  1   0  1  3  3   3
RICARDY, Matt 3b.........  5  1  1  1   0  0  1  2   3
MINTER, Jacob dh.........  5  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
LOCKHART, Paul rf........  5  0  1  1   0  2  2  0   2
ROGERS, Brandon c........  4  2  2  1   0  0  6  1   0
CHOP, Chad 1b............  4  0  0  0   0  1  8  2   0
REDFERN, Chad cf.........  4  1  2  1   0  2  3  0   0
COTA, Carlo 2b...........  3  1  1  0   1  1  1  5   0
COOK, Jeremy p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  2  0   0
 GARBER, Mike p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 DUNWELL, Chris p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 38  6 11  5   1  8 27 13   8
Brigham Young Univ. 5 (28-28)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
WHITLEY, Aaron lf........  3  1  1  0   0  0  4  0   0
 JACKSON, DJ ph/lf.......  1  0  0  0   1  0  0  0   1
PETERSON, Craig 1b.......  3  1  0  0   2  1  8  1   0
DAY, Nick cf.............  4  1  2  1   1  1  4  0   0
DAVIES, Michael dh.......  2  0  0  0   1  0  0  0   0
 COUGHLAN, Cameron pr....  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 ROCK, David ph..........  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
CARSON, Matt rf..........  3  1  1  2   0  1  1  0   0
OBREY, Kainoa 3b.........  4  1  2  1   0  1  0  0   4
KING, Seth ss............  3  0  1  1   1  1  1  1   2
PERRY, Tyler 2b..........  3  0  1  0   0  0  2  3   0
CLOWARD, Casey c.........  4  0  0  0   0  0  7  2   1
FERNLEY, Nate p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  3   0
 GRAY, Rusty p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 31  5  8  5   6  6 27 10   8
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
San Diego State..... 010 031 100 -  6 11  2
Brigham Young Univ.. 022 010 000 -  5  8  2
-------------------------------------------
E - COTA; COOK, J.; KING; FERNLEY. DP - Aztecs 2. LOB - Aztecs 8; Cougars 8.
2B - RICARDY; ROGERS; REDFERN; OBREY. 3B - CARSON. HR - ROGERS(8). HBP -
MONTGOMERY. SH - GONZALEZ; DAVIES; PERRY. SF - CARSON. SB - DAY. CS -
LOCKHART; PERRY.
San Diego State        IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
COOK, Jeremy........  6.0  8  5  4  2  1 23 27
GARBER, Mike........  0.1  0  0  0  1  1  1  2
DUNWELL, Chris......  2.2  0  0  0  3  4  7 11
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
FERNLEY, Nate.......  8.2 11  6  4  1  7 37 40
GRAY, Rusty.........  0.1  0  0  0  0  1  1  1
Win - COOK, J. (7-5).  Loss - FERNLEY (1-4).  Save - DUNWELL (2).
WP - GARBER; FERNLEY. HB - FERNLEY. BK - FERNLEY.
Umpires - Home:Joe Burleson  1st:Dan Pedersen  2nd:Dan Perugini  3rd:Bill Speck
Start: 7:00   Time: 2:35   Attendance: 211
Game notes:
This is game two for both teams in the MWC Tourney and Game #6 in the
tourney format