Injuries Plague Cougars Who Ready to Hosts SDSU

Injuries are a factor in this week's BYU baseball games with San Diego State beginning Thursday at 2 p.m. in Provo.

Cougar outfielder Shane Belliston may be out for the season with a dislocated shoulder and possible replacement Aaron Whitley has been nursing a back injury.

The third-place Cougars, 25-23 overall and 13-11 in the Mountain West Conference, host the second-place Aztecs, 26-24 and 14-9.

The probable BYU pitching rotation is Jeff Stone (8-4, 5.94) for Thursday's 2 p.m. game, followed by Micah Mangrum (6-6, 4.15) at 2 p.m. On Friday, and Jordan Opdahl (3-0, 3.92) for Saturday's noon game.

"This is an important series which could better determine where our seeding will be in the conference tournament," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "It's nice to be playing home again. We've got some challenges to overcome. San Diego State ran at will against us the last time we played , so we need to come up with a plan to slow them down. We are struggling at our third starting spot and last week many of our pitchers struggled. "

The SDSU series is the first action BYU has hosted in three weeks since playing the past six games on the road.

Last week the Cougars lost the first and third games at Utah, with Belliston dislocating his shoulder in the finale when he dove back into first base.

Law is hoping to put together chemistry which produced the 12-strikeout performance in BYU's 10-5 victory over Utah along with an offensive attack which had a 7-2 lead in game three with the Utes.