Trio of Seniors Help Defeat SDSU, 15-6

PROVO -- A trio of seniors paced BYU's baseball team to a 15-6 victory Thursday over San Diego State.

Cougars Nick Day, Craig Peterson and Nate Mathis combined for eight of BYU's 17 hits at critical times to pull within a half game of second place SDSU in the Mountain West Conference. The Aztecs took the initial lead after Sean Pierce tripled as the lead-off batter in the game and scored on a double play.

BYU, now 26-23 overall and 14-11 in the league, took the lead in the third inning when Peterson's two-run double tied the game with Mathis and Aaron Whitley scoring. Day singled Peterson in to gain a 3-2 lead. A crucial defensive play in the top of the third by Mathis earned the praise of BYU Coach Vance Law.

"With men on the corners, Nate flipped a well-hit ball back to the shortstop to start the double play which ended the inning," said Law. "That play was huge for us."

SDSU rallied back in the sixth, scoring four runs with one out including a sac-fly by Pierce to close the game to 7-6.

In the bottom of the sixth BYU answered with a two-run homer by Davies after Day led off with a single.

"Davies' home run was another key play for us," said Law. "We've stressed when our opponents score, we've got to come back and score, so I was pleased."

Day and Peterson picked up at RBI each earlier in the fourth. Day picked up his final RBI off a double in the six-run seventh when BYU batted around. Freshman Matt Carson belted a two-run double down the left field line after Day's double and Mathis closed the seventh with an RBI single.

In the seventh inning Nate Fernley struck out the side in relief of Jeff Stone, who picked up his ninth victory in six innings. Sean Noorda relieved Fernley in the eighth and struck out his first two batters, then followed with two more strikeouts in the ninth.

SDSU is now 26-25 overall and 14-10 in the MWC. The two teams play game two of the three-game series on Friday at 2 p.m., followed by a noon game on Saturday.

The Automated ScoreBook
                     San Diego State at Brigham Young Univ.
                   May 04, 2000 at Provo, Utah (Cougar Field)
San Diego State 6 (26-25,14-10 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
PIERCE, Sean lf..........  4  1  1  1   0  1  1  0   1
MONTGOMERY, Billy cf.....  4  0  1  0   1  2  1  0   2
LOCKHART, Paul rf........  3  1  0  0   2  2  1  0   0
MINTER, Jacob dh.........  2  0  1  0   1  1  0  0   0
 BOWLES, Darrell ph......  2  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   2
LEUTHARD, Ben 1b.........  4  1  1  0   0  2  5  0   2
COOK, Garrett 3b.........  2  0  1  0   1  0  0  2   0
 COTA, Carlo pr/2b.......  1  1  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
RICARDY, Matt 2b/3b......  4  2  1  1   0  1  4  3   0
ROGERS, Brandon c........  4  0  2  1   0  0  8  1   0
GONZALES, Edgar ss.......  3  0  0  1   1  0  4  1   0
SHORTELL, Rory p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 DUNWELL, Chris p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 SKINNER, John p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 RING, Royce p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Totals................... 33  6  8  4   6 11 24  9   7
Brigham Young Univ. 15 (26-23,14-11 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
WHITLEY, Aaron lf........  4  2  1  1   0  0  1  0   3
 GREENE, Nick cf/rf......  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
PETERSON, Craig 1b.......  4  2  2  3   0  0  6  1   2
 HAGUEWOOD, Ty 1b........  1  1  0  0   1  1  2  0   1
DAY, Nick cf/lf..........  5  2  3  3   0  1  1  0   0
 JACKSON, DJ ph/cf.......  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
DAVIES, Michael dh.......  4  1  3  3   1  0  0  0   0
 COUGHLAN, Cameron pr/dh.  0  1  0  0   1  0  0  0   0
CARSON, Matt rf..........  4  1  2  2   1  0  2  0   4
 ROCK, David ph/lf.......  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
OBREY, Kainoa 3b.........  4  1  1  1   1  0  0  3   1
 PERRY, Tyler ph/3b......  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   1
KING, Seth ss............  5  1  2  0   0  1  2  3   0
CLOWARD, Casey c.........  4  1  0  0   1  2 11  0   0
MATHIS, Nate 2b..........  3  2  3  1   2  0  2  5   0
STONE, Jeff p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 FERNLEY, Nate p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 NOORDA, Sean p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 42 15 17 14   8  8 27 12  12
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
San Diego State..... 110 004 000 -  6  8  6
Brigham Young Univ.. 003 312 60X - 15 17  3
-------------------------------------------
E - PIERCE 2; COOK, G.; RICARDY; GONZALEZ; SKINNER; WHITLEY; KING 2. DP -
Aztecs 1; Cougars 2. LOB - Aztecs 7; Cougars 12. 2B - PETERSON; DAY; CARSON
2. 3B - PIERCE. HR - DAVIES(8). HBP - WHITLEY. SF - PIERCE. SB - LOCKHART.
San Diego State        IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
SHORTELL, Rory......  5.0 11  9  6  4  2 27 32
DUNWELL, Chris......  1.0  2  3  3  3  1  5  8
SKINNER, John.......  1.0  4  3  3  0  3  7  7
RING, Royce.........  1.0  0  0  0  1  2  3  4
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
STONE, Jeff.........  6.0  7  6  5  6  4 22 29
FERNLEY, Nate.......  1.0  0  0  0  0  3  3  3
NOORDA, Sean........  2.0  1  0  0  0  4  8  8
Win - STONE (9-4).  Loss - SHORTELL (5-5).  Save - None.
HB - SHORTELL.
Umpires - Home:Blake Jensen  1st:Ron Ridd  3rd:Dan Weikle
Start: 1:58   Time: 3:01   Attendance: 253
Game notes:  Game One of Three in Provo
SHORTELL faced 3 batters in the 6th.
DUNWELL faced 3 batters in the 7th.