Stone Foils Utes in Game One

PROVO -- League-leading BYU used back-to-back doubles down the line and rode the arm of Jeff Stone Thursday to defeat Utah, 5-2.

The Cougars, now 15-12 overall and 6-1 in the Mountain West Conference, got consecutive doubles by Michael Davies and Matt Carson down the left field line in the five-run fifth inning in the game which lasted only an hour and 46 minutes.

Craig Peterson singled to right and Nick Day got aboard with a fielder's choice when Utah gunned down Shane Belliston at the plate before Davies drove in two runs. Carson's shot over the third-base bag drove in Davies. Kainoa Obrey's left field single drove in Carson, and Seth King also singled to left field to score Obrey. The Utes got out of the fifth with a double play fly out to right fielder Jed Chrisman who threw out Aaron Whitley at the plate.

Stone, now 6-2 with his second complete nine-inning game, had a five-hit shutout going into the ninth. In that final inning, Utah led off with consecutive singles, the first of which was a check-swing hit to right field by Adam Castleton. Castleton scored off a sacrifice fly and tied for team-high two hits with Mike Goff who drove in Sam Swenson.

Utah got some good play in the second inning when Goff doubled and when shortstop Rob Stewart threw out Michael Davies. The Cougars returned the defensive favors with plays like the eighth-inning dive by second baseman Nate Mathis. Mathis was part of BYU's double play combinations in the fourth and fifth innings.

"I kept my fastball down and my pitches were moving a lot," said Stone. "Our defense played awesome. I had the Utah jitters in the first couple of innings."

The Utes, now 13-15 and 4-3, play again at Provo on Friday at 1 p.m., and again on Saturday at noon.

The Automated ScoreBook
                          UTAH at Brigham Young Univ.
                   Mar 23, 2000 at Provo, Utah (Cougar Field)
UTAH 2 (13-15,4-3 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
PANNIER, Brit lf.........  3  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
 SABA, Donnie ph/lf......  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
CASTLETON, Adam 2b.......  3  1  2  0   1  1  4  3   0
SWENSON, Sam cf..........  4  1  1  0   0  0  2  0   0
CHRISMAN, Jed rf.........  4  0  1  0   0  1  1  1   2
WEESE, Nate 1b...........  3  0  0  1   0  1 13  0   0
GOFF, Mike 3b............  4  0  2  1   0  0  1  3   0
HARDY, Jamie dh..........  4  0  1  0   0  0  0  0   1
HAWES, Donald c..........  2  0  1  0   1  0  3  3   0
STUART, Rob ss...........  3  0  0  0   0  0  0  6   2
CAVANESS, Jared p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 31  2  8  2   2  4 24 16   5
Brigham Young Univ. 5 (15-12,6-1 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
BELLISTON, Shane cf......  4  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
PETERSON, Craig 1b.......  4  1  1  0   0  1 15  1   0
DAY, Nick lf.............  3  1  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
DAVIES, Michael c........  4  1  1  2   0  0  3  1   0
CARSON, Matt rf..........  3  1  3  1   0  0  1  0   0
OBREY, Kainoa 3b.........  3  1  1  1   0  0  0  4   0
WHITLEY, Aaron dh........  3  0  1  0   0  0  0  0   1
KING, Seth ss............  3  0  1  1   0  1  2  4   0
MATHIS, Nate 2b..........  3  0  0  0   0  0  4  5   1
STONE, Jeff p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  2   0
Totals................... 30  5  8  5   0  2 27 17   2
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
UTAH................ 000 000 002 -  2  8  2
Brigham Young Univ.. 000 500 00X -  5  8  1
-------------------------------------------
E - WEESE 2; MATHIS. DP - UTAH 1; BYU Cougars 2. LOB - UTAH 5; BYU Cougars
2. 2B - GOFF; DAVIES; CARSON 2; WHITLEY. HBP - DAY. SF - WEESE. CS -
PETERSON; DAY.
UTAH                   IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
CAVANESS, Jared.....  8.0  8  5  4  0  2 30 31
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
STONE, Jeff.........  9.0  8  2  2  2  4 31 34
Win - STONE (6-2).  Loss - CAVANESS (2-4).  Save - None.
HB - CAVANESS.
Umpires - Home:Jim Paronto  1st:Ken Bayne  3rd:Terry Balser
Start: 1:04   Time: 1:46   Attendance: 484