BYU Wins Home-Opener Over AFA with New Fences

PROVO -- A five-run explosion in the fifth inning boosted BYU to a 9-1 home-opening victory Friday over the Air Force Academy.

The Cougars, now 13-10 overall and 4-0 in the Mountain West Conference, capitalized on Seth King's fifth-inning single to set up that rally. BYU was behind 1-0 going into the bottom of the fifth when King fouled off several pitches to stay alive for a left-field single. Nate Mathis' bunt loaded the bases, then Shane Belliston hit a two-run single.

"If King doesn't battle at the plate, then we don't have as good of an opportunity for one of our best bunters, Nate Mathis, to do his job," said BYU Coach Vance Law.

Nick Day's crushing double to center field kept that fifth inning rally alive, scoring Belliston.

"Nick's double would have been a home run in our old park," said Law. This was the first game the Cougars played with the fences being moved back from 390 to 400 in center and from 375 to 388 in the power alleys.

Day scored BYU's fifth run off Michael Davies' sacrifice fly to center field.

The Falcons scored their only run in the fourth inning from a lead-off double by Brendon Shannon, who was singled in by Gerremy Goldsberrry.

The Cougars scored four runs in the seventh thanks to a two-run single to left field by Craig Peterson, another off Day's second double of the day and off a left-field single by Kainoa Obrey.

Lefty Jeff Stone picked up his fifth victory against two losses in striking out six Falcons in eight innings.

AFA, now 13-11 and 0-3 in the MWC, plays BYU in a noon doubleheader on Saturday in Provo.

The Automated ScoreBook
                    Air Force Academy at Brigham Young Univ.
                   Mar 17, 2000 at Provo, Utah (Cougar Field)
Air Force Academy 1 (13-11,0-3 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
LABASCO ss...............  4  0  1  0   0  2  1  0   1
 FISHER ss...............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 WOLFRAM ss..............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
SHANNON 2b...............  3  1  1  0   1  0  2  0   0
 HOWES 2b................  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
THIESSEN cf..............  4  0  1  0   0  0  1  0   0
HUMPHREY dh..............  3  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
 KASEL dh................  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
GOLDSBERRY rf............  3  0  2  1   0  1  2  0   0
 BERG rf.................  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
GORNICK lf...............  3  0  1  0   0  0  1  0   1
 PHIFER lf...............  0  0  0  0   1  0  0  0   0
CARVILLE 1b..............  3  0  1  0   0  0  9  0   0
 RUNYON 1b...............  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   2
JONES 3b.................  3  0  0  0   0  2  0  4   2
MURPHY c.................  2  0  0  0   1  0  7  1   0
 ELLIS c.................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
KAERCHER p...............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  2   0
 CORNELL p...............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 GEORGE p................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 WERNER p................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Totals................... 31  1  7  1   3  7 24  9   6
Brigham Young Univ. 9 (13-10,4-0 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
BELLISTON, Shane cf......  4  2  2  2   0  1  0  0   0
 GREENE, Nick cf.........  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
PETERSON, Craig 1b.......  3  1  1  2   0  2 10  0   2
 HAGUEWOOD, Ty 1b........  0  0  0  0   0  0  3  0   0
DAY, Nick lf.............  4  2  3  1   0  0  0  0   0
 JACKSON, DJ lf..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
DAVIES, Michael c........  3  0  0  1   0  1  7  0   0
WHITLEY, Aaron dh........  3  0  0  1   0  0  0  0   0
OBREY, Kainoa 3b.........  4  0  1  1   0  1  0  2   1
 PERRY, Tyler pr/3b......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
CARSON, Matt rf..........  4  1  2  0   0  1  0  0   1
 ROCK, David rf..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
KING, Seth ss............  4  1  1  0   0  0  1  7   0
MATHIS, Nate 2b..........  2  2  1  0   2  0  5  3   0
STONE, Jeff p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  3   0
 GRAY, Rusty p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
Totals................... 32  9 11  8   2  6 27 16   4
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Air Force Academy... 000 100 000 -  1  7  3
Brigham Young Univ.. 000 050 40X -  9 11  1
-------------------------------------------
E - KAERCHER 2; GEORGE; OBREY. DP - BYU Cougars 3. LOB - Falcons 6; BYU
Cougars 4. 2B - SHANNON; THIESSEN; DAY 2. SH - PETERSON. SF - DAVIES;
WHITLEY. SB - BELLISTON. CS - OBREY.
Air Force Academy      IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
KAERCHER............  4.1  7  5  5  1  5 19 21
CORNELL.............  0.2  0  0  0  0  0  1  2
GEORGE..............  1.0  3  4  4  1  0  6  7
WERNER..............  2.0  1  0  0  0  1  6  7
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
STONE, Jeff.........  8.0  6  1  1  2  6 27 29
GRAY, Rusty.........  1.0  1  0  0  1  1  4  5
Win - STONE (5-2).  Loss - KAERCHER (4-2).  Save - None.
WP - KAERCHER. PB - MURPHY.
Umpires - Home:Blake Jensen  1st:Bruce Bayne  3rd:Ron Ramirez
Start: 3:06   Time: 224   Attendance: 456
Game: BYU23
Game notes:
This is BYU's first home game after 22 games on the road.
GEORGE faced 4 batters in the 7th.