TCU Series Last Chance Before MWC Play

This week's three-game series at TCU is the last chance BYU's baseball team has before starting league action.

BYU, 4-8, begins this Thursday at TCU, who is 9-5 with two more games prior to hosting the Cougars at Fort Worth, Texas. Jeff Mousser (3-0, 1.86), the reigning Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Week is scheduled to start that first game at 6:30 p.m. CST.

The other probable BYU starters are Paul Jacinto (0-4, 4.43) for Friday evening and southpaw freshman Ken Gravley (1-0, 3.45) for Saturday afternoon.

"Our depth has suffered because of a couple of injuries," says BYU Coach Vance Law. Most recent among those injuries is reserve catcher Mike Weingarten who broke a couple of bones in his hand during practice last week. Law is getting transfer pitcher Mike Bergeron back on the travel squad after he has missed nearly a month because of injury.

Shortstop Ranger Wiens is now the batting average leader among the starters at .372. Jake Stubblefield, who tops the team with a six-game hitting streak, is tied with Kainoa Obrey for the team lead at three home runs apiece.

The Cougars finished 2-2 in last week's Banana Belt Tournament where it lowered their earned run average from 7.77 to 6.39.

Both the Cougars and Horned Frogs have moved to different conferences since they last met as members of the Western Athletic Conference in 1998-99 at Provo. BYU is now in the Mountain West Conference, while TCU is now in Conference USA. TCU leads the series, 4-1.

Next week BYU begins Mountain West Conference play in a three-game series at New Mexico.

The games this week can be accessed through audiocasts and livestats via links on www.byucougars.com.