Obrey, Mousser Lead to Win Over Utes

PROVO -- Underclassmen Kainoa Obrey and Jeff Mousser led BYU to a 9-6 victory Friday over Utah in front of 1,274 fans, a live radio and TV audience and with a softball doubleheader going on simultaneously at Miller Park.

Obrey, a sophomore third baseman from Hawai'i, was perfect in his first three at bats, getting a two-run double in the third and the game-winning RBI single in the fourth. That single was a sharp rope which caused Utah's pitcher to duck for cover and gave BYU a 7-3 lead.

Mousser, a righthand pitcher, came in relief of fellow freshman Jeff Stearman and allowed Utah only four hits in as many innings to earn his second victory of the season.

"Jeff Mousser did an outstanding job, " said BYU Coach Vance Law. "He had a good fastball, threw strikes and even got his curve in the zone. Utah doesn't quite and they don't give you a lot of breathing room with several players who can put it out of the park."

But it was a night for BYU's Hawai'ian punch with Obrey knocking in fellow Islander Doug Jackson to put BYU up 3-0 in the third after his two-run double. Jackson scored the game's first run as the lead-off batter in the first inning when he was hit by a pitch, advanced on a two-base error and scored on Shane Belliston's grounder to second.

Belliston kept his 15-game hitting streak alive to lead off the fourth inning and was driven in by Obrey.

In the five-run third inning following Obrey's one-out double, Utah loaded the bases when Jason Wylie hit Jeff Hiestand, then walked Michael Wirrick. Reliever Jon Lewis then threw a wild pitch to allow Obrey to score. Hiestand scored on Coughlan's ground-out to first. Then Michael Davies singled in Wirrick.

Obrey also had a couple of fielding gems, a fourth-inning stop off Tommy Maestas and a nice scoop in the sixth to throw out Donnie Saba.

Mousser got a huge strikeout in the sixth on Nate Weese to end the inning for one of the freshman's six K's.

Utah's big inning came in the two-run fourth when Chris Shelton led off with a double to centerfield, followed by a triple to right by Sam Swenson, but the Utes stranded two runners that inning.

The Cougars, now 26-16 overall remain a half-game ahead of San Diego State in the Mountain West Conference with a 14-6 mark. SDSU beat New Mexico, 3-1, on Friday to improve to 13-6. Utah falls to 20-21 and 9-11.

The Cougars host Utah on Saturday for the grand opening of Miller Park. Festivities begin at 11:30 on the softball side, while baseball's ceremonial first pitch by Larry H. Miller is scheduled at noon.

The Automated ScoreBook
                   University of Utah at Brigham Young Univ.
               Apr 20, 2001 at Provo, Utah (Larry H.Miller Field)
University of Utah 6 (20-21,9-11 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
SABA, Donnie lf..........  4  1  2  1   0  1  1  0   0
CASTLETON, Adam 2b.......  4  0  2  1   1  0  1  1   3
WEESE, Nate 1b...........  5  0  0  0   0  3  7  0   2
SHELTON, Chris dh........  5  2  2  0   0  1  0  0   1
SWENSON, Sam cf..........  5  2  3  1   0  1  2  0   0
PANNIER, Brit rf.........  5  0  2  2   0  2  1  0   0
WESTFALL, Mike 3b........  4  0  1  1   0  0  2  0   0
MAESTAS, Tommy ss........  4  0  0  0   0  2  4  5   2
HAWES, Donald c..........  3  1  1  0   1  1  6  1   1
WYLIE, Jason p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 LEWIS, Jon p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Totals................... 39  6 13  6   2 11 24  8   9
Brigham Young Univ. 9 (26-16,14-6 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
JACKSON, Doug lf.........  4  2  2  0   0  1  3  0   2
BELLISTON, Shane cf......  3  3  1  1   2  1  2  0   0
CARSON, Matt rf..........  5  1  1  0   0  2  2  0   0
OBREY, Kainoa 3b.........  5  1  3  3   0  2  2  2   2
HIESTAND, Jeff dh........  3  1  1  0   1  0  0  0   1
WIRRICK, Michael 1b......  3  1  1  0   0  0  6  0   2
 LAW, Tim 1b.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
COUGHLAN, Cameron 2b.....  4  0  1  1   0  0  1  0   0
DAVIES, Michael c........  4  0  2  1   0  0 10  2   0
PERRY, Tyler ss..........  3  0  1  0   0  1  0  1   0
 HALES, Brad pr/ss.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
STEARMAN, Jeff p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 MOUSSER, Jeff p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  2   0
Totals................... 34  9 13  6   3  7 27  8   7
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
University of Utah.. 010 210 020 -  6 13  2
Brigham Young Univ.. 105 102 00X -  9 13  2
-------------------------------------------
E - CASTLETON; WYLIE; DAVIES; STEARMAN. DP - Utes 2. LOB - Utes 9; Cougars
7. 2B - SABA; SHELTON; CARSON; OBREY. 3B - SWENSON. HBP - SABA; JACKSON;
WIRRICK; PERRY. SB - SWENSON; PANNIER. CS - SABA; DAVIES.
University of Utah     IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
WYLIE, Jason........  2.1  5  6  6  2  3 11 15
LEWIS, Jon..........  5.2  8  3  3  1  4 23 25
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
STEARMAN, Jeff......  4.1  9  4  4  2  5 21 24
MOUSSER, Jeff.......  4.2  4  2  2  0  6 18 18
Win - MOUSSER (2-0).  Loss - WYLIE (2-2).  Save - None.
WP - WYLIE; LEWIS 3; STEARMAN. HB - WYLIE 2; LEWIS; STEARMAN. PB - HAWES.
Umpires - Home:Dan Perugini  1st:Mike Andrews  3rd:Joe Burleson
Start: 6:05   Time: 2:48   Attendance: 1274
Game notes:
Saturday's festivities start at 11:30 softball and noon baseball