Ray, Mathis Help Complete Sweep of Utah

PROVO -- Nate Mathis was the best friend Saturday of pitcher James Ray as BYU defeated Utah, 4-2 before 946 fans.

The Cougars, now 17-12 overall and 8-1 in the Mountain West Conference, used the combination of Mathis-Ray and company to finalize a three-game sweep over archrival Utah. Mathis turned two double plays, attempted to turn two more in the ninth inning, had seven assists and got the scoring started with his triple.

Ray, now 3-2, picked off the Sam Swenson in the first inning with second baseman Mathis in on the run-down. Although the Cougars loaded the bases in the first inning, it wasn't until Mathis' one-out triple in the second that BYU got on the board.

Mathis tripled off the right-center wall, then scored on the next play as catcher Casey Cloward doubled down the left field line. Cloward scored off Craig Peterson's ground-out.

Mathis was in the middle of a third-inning double play with two Utes aboard. In the fourth inning he started a douple play. At the start of the fifth inning he dove to his left and threw out Mike Goff.

"I was pleased with the way Nate stuck his neck out in the ninth to try and turn two double plays," said BYU Coach Vance Law of his co-captain. "I was pleased with Casey (Cloward) and proud of the way James Ray pitched."

For 64 pitches and five-plus innings Ray had baffled the Utes with four of his five strikeouts. Then Swenson drilled a two-out triple off the centerfield wall to score Adam Casleton. On the next play Jed Chrisman also tripled off the wall to score Swenson.

BYU scored two insurance runs in the fifth-inning when Matt Carson got aboard after a third-base throwing error with two outs. Carson scored when Kainoa Obrey doubled off the wall in center. Obrey scored the second unearned run of the inning off Tyler Perry's left-field single.

Jordan Opdahl one-hit the Utes in two innings of relief, followed by effective relievers Matt Rex and Nate Fernley. Fernley got his fourth save of the season when he got his only batter, pinch-hitter Jamie Hardie to fly out to left field.

"This puts some distance between us and Utah," said Law. Utah is now 13-17 and 4-5. This was BYU's first sweep over Utah since 1995 when

it also happened in Provo.

BYU next hosts Southern Colorado in a non-conference game on Tuesday at 1 p.m.

The Automated ScoreBook
                          UTAH at Brigham Young Univ.
                   Mar 25, 2000 at Provo, Utah (Cougar Field)
UTAH 2 (17-12,8-1 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
PANNIER, Brit dh.........  3  0  0  0   1  1  0  0   0
CASTLETON, Adam 2b.......  4  1  1  0   0  2  3  4   1
SWENSON, Sam cf..........  4  1  2  1   0  0  3  0   0
CHRISMAN, Jed rf.........  3  0  3  1   1  0  1  0   0
WEESE, Nate 1b...........  4  0  0  0   0  1 12  0   1
GOFF, Mike 3b............  4  0  0  0   0  1  0  3   0
SABA, Donnie lf..........  3  0  1  0   0  1  0  0   1
 HARDY, Jamie lf.........  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   1
HAWES, Donald c..........  3  0  0  0   0  0  2  2   0
STUART, Rob ss...........  3  0  1  0   0  0  3  4   1
LEWIS, Jon p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 LINDSEY, Brett p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 MAIO, Mitch p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 32  2  8  2   2  6 24 13   5
Brigham Young Univ. 4 (13-17,4-5 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
WHITLEY, Aaron lf........  4  0  1  0   1  0  1  0   0
PETERSON, Craig 1b.......  3  0  1  1   2  0 12  1   0
 HAGUEWOOD, Ty 1b........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
DAY, Nick cf.............  4  0  1  0   0  0  4  0   1
DAVIES, Michael dh.......  2  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 ROCK, David ph..........  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   2
CARSON, Matt rf..........  3  1  1  0   1  0  0  0   0
OBREY, Kainoa 3b.........  4  1  1  1   0  2  0  1   3
PERRY, Tyler ss..........  3  0  2  1   1  1  2  7   0
MATHIS, Nate 2b..........  4  1  1  0   0  0  2  7   4
CLOWARD, Casey c.........  4  1  1  1   0  0  5  1   0
RAY, James p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  1   0
 OPDAHL, Jordan p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 REX, Matt p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 FERNLEY, Nate p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 32  4  9  4   5  3 27 18  10
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
UTAH................ 000 002 000 -  2  8  3
Brigham Young Univ.. 020 020 00X -  4  9  0
-------------------------------------------
E - GOFF; STUART; LINDSEY. DP - UTAH 1; BYU Cougars 2. LOB - UTAH 5; BYU
Cougars 10. 2B - OBREY; CLOWARD. 3B - SWENSON; CHRISMAN; MATHIS. HBP -
DAVIES. SB - CARSON. CS - PETERSON.
UTAH                   IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
LEWIS, Jon..........  4.2  7  4  2  3  2 21 25
LINDSEY, Brett......  1.0  1  0  0  1  0  4  5
MAIO, Mitch.........  2.1  1  0  0  1  1  7  8
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
RAY, James..........  6.0  7  2  2  1  5 22 23
OPDAHL, Jordan......  2.0  1  0  0  0  1  7  7
REX, Matt...........  0.2  0  0  0  1  0  2  3
FERNLEY, Nate.......  0.1  0  0  0  0  0  1  1
Win - RAY (3-2).  Loss - LEWIS (2-1).  Save - FERNLEY (4).
WP - LEWIS; OPDAHL. HB - LEWIS.
Umpires - Home:Terry Balser  1st:Jim Paronto  3rd:Ken Bayne
Start: 12:00   Time: 2:26   Attendance: 946