Slugfest Ends in BYU's favor over Southern Colorado

PROVO -- A slugfest that lasted three hours and 16 minutes ended up in BYU's favor Tuesday as it defeated the University of Southern Colorado, 16-11.

Both teams, each with 18-12 records, took advantage of the windy, cold weather and errors in the early innings. USC scored four runs in both the first and second innings off of eight hits, chasing starter Matt Rex from the mound. BYU returned the favor, scoring six runs in the first inning as it batted through the order.

The Cougars didn't gain the lead until the sixth inning when shortstop Ryan Lown committed his fourth error of the game. That error with one out allowed BYU to score five unearned runs and take a 13-11 advantage.

BYU was close to catching the Thunderwolves until Jeff Bloomer's sixth inning two-run homer extended the USC lead to 11-8. BYU got a first inning two-run homer from David Rock.

"I told our team before the game that we were going to have to win a slugfest once in a while and not rely totally on our pitching," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "It was nice to see the bats come out and swing today."

The Cougars tallied nine doubles in the game, including a pair by both Kainoa Obrey and Nick Greene. Ironically, it was Nick Day's third walk of the day which resulted in him scoring the winning run via a stolen base, a passed ball and being driven in by Obrey's left field double.

Reliever Sky Grant was credited with his first victory, but needed a save from Rusty Gray in the seventh to retire the final batter with two men on base with an 11-8 margin.

The outcome may have come sooner, but Cameron Coughlan's two-run triple was negated when he was called out for batter interference. Instead of scoring a possible three runs with no outs, the umpire's call stopped BYU's momentum and the T-wolves ended the inning with an 8-7 lead.

The Cougars are next in action on Thursday night to start a three-game series when they return to conference action at San Diego State.

The Automated ScoreBook
                    Southern Colorado at Brigham Young Univ.
                   Mar 28, 2000 at Provo, Utah (Cougar Field)
Southern Colorado 11 (18-12)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Ryan Lown ss.............  6  1  1  0   0  1  4  3   3
Raul Villarreal 2b.......  4  1  1  1   0  0  2  1   3
Roddy Friar c............  4  3  2  1   1  1  4  1   0
 Drew Ham c..............  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
Al Saisi dh..............  3  2  1  1   1  2  0  0   0
 Jake Gray ph............  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Jeff Bloomer 1b..........  5  2  4  5   0  1  3  3   0
 Marc Ronquillo 1b.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Robert Quick cf..........  4  1  1  1   0  1  2  0   0
 Korey Goodwin ph........  1  0  1  0   0  0  0  0   0
Brian Asanovich rf.......  5  0  2  2   0  1  2  1   1
Jason McLaughlin lf......  2  0  0  0   1  1  4  0   1
 Ricky Dorame ph.........  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Chris Cook 3b............  3  1  1  0   0  0  1  0   0
 Tony Santiago ph/3b.....  1  0  1  0   1  0  0  1   0
Albert Logan p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  1   0
 Heath Dobyns p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Kevin Martin p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Mike Leyba p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Gino Grasso p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 40 11 15 11   4  8 24 11   8
Brigham Young Univ. 16 (18-12)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
COUGHLAN, Cameron 2b.....  6  3  1  0   0  0  5  3   3
HAGUEWOOD, Ty 1b.........  5  1  2  3   0  1  9  0   0
DAY, Nick lf.............  3  2  2  1   3  0  0  0   0
 MATHIS, Nate 3b.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
OBREY, Kainoa 3b.........  4  2  2  2   1  1  0  3   3
 BELLISTON, Shane ph.....  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 WHITLEY, Aaron pr/lf....  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
ROCK, David dh...........  6  1  2  2   0  1  0  0   0
GREENE, Nick rf..........  6  2  2  0   0  0  2  0   5
PERRY, Tyler ss..........  3  4  2  0   3  1  2  4   1
CLOWARD, Casey c.........  4  1  2  2   0  0  5  1   0
 SNOW, Steve c...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  3  0   0
JACKSON, DJ cf...........  3  0  2  4   1  0  0  0   0
REX, Matt p..............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  2   0
 OPDAHL, Jordan p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 GRANT, Sky p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 GRAY, Rusty p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
Totals................... 40 16 17 14   8  4 27 15  12
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Southern Colorado... 440 102 000 - 11 15  9
Brigham Young Univ.. 601 105 30X - 16 17  3
-------------------------------------------
E - LOWN 4; VILLARREAL 2; FRIAR; DOBYNS; LEYBA; HAGUEWOOD; OBREY; GREENE.
LOB - Thunderwolfs 8; BYU Cougars 12. 2B - FRIAR 2; SAISI; BLOOMER;
ASANOVICH; HAGUEWOOD; OBREY 2; ROCK; GREENE 2; PERRY; CLOWARD; JACKSON. 3B -
ASANOVICH; CLOWARD. HR - BLOOMER(3); ROCK(2). HBP - BELLISTON. SH -
VILLARREAL; MCLAUGHLIN. SF - HAGUEWOOD; CLOWARD; JACKSON. SB - QUICK;
COUGHLAN; DAY 2. CS - MCLAUGHLIN; DAY.
Southern Colorado      IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Albert Logan........  2.1  7  7  4  4  2 15 19
Heath Dobyns........  1.1  2  1  1  2  1  5  8
Kevin Martin........  2.0  4  5  0  1  0 12 13
Mike Leyba..........  1.0  4  3  3  1  0  5  8
Gino Grasso.........  1.1  0  0  0  0  1  3  4
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
REX, Matt...........  1.1  7  8  1  1  0 12 14
OPDAHL, Jordan......  3.2  4  1  1  0  3 13 14
GRANT, Sky..........  1.2  3  2  2  2  2  7  9
GRAY, Rusty.........  2.1  1  0  0  1  3  8  9
Win - GRANT (1-0).  Loss - MARTIN (3-3).  Save - GRAY (2).
WP - LEYBA. HB - GRASSO. BK - LEYBA. PB - FRIAR 2; CLOWARD.
Umpires - Home:Kevin Newby  1st:Blyden Loutensock  3rd:Blake Jensen
Start: 12:58   Time: 3:16   Attendance: 247
Game notes:
This is the only game in Provo between these two teams,
there are no games on March 29 as originally scheduled.