Rawlings/Oakland Athletics Spring Training Tourney

In the Rawlings/Oakland Athletics Spring Training Tournament Thursday through Saturday at Scottsdale, Ariz., BYU is one of five teams.

The Cougars, 1-5, begin play on Thursday against Northwestern in its season opener. On Thursday BYU's game with the University of British Columbia, 0-0, is an exhibition game and will be the only time BYU plays in Municipal Stadium. The Cougars play Cal Poly, 5-4, on Friday and conclude on Saturday with Missouri, 2-1.

"We'll be playing some good teams in this tournament and we anticipate building on what we have learned the previous weeks in Arizona," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "We hope our offense and defense can pick up and that our pitchers can throw the way we think they can."

The probable pitching rotation for BYU is Jeff Mousser (1-0, 3.75) against Northwestern in the 2 p.m., game on Thursday, followed by Jason Garcia (0-1, 46.29) at 6 p.m., that night against UBC. On Friday at 10 a.m., it will be Paul Jacinto (0-2, 6.75) against Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo. On Saturday against Missouri is will be Ken Gravley (0-0, 7.04) at noon.

Most of BYU games will be played at different fields at Papago Park, the training facility for the Oakland A's, whom Law concluded his 10-year Major League career in 1991. The teams other than BYU will finish the tourney on Sunday.

Depending on availability of phone lines, live stats of the BYU games could be made available. The University of Missouri is planning to do live audiocasting. Please consult the schedule.

Following the tournament in Arizona, BYU will have a week off before returning to action the end of the month in the Banana Belt Tournament at Lewiston, Idaho.