Aztecs' Pitchers Shine in Round Two

ALBUQUERQUE -- A pitcher's duel went in favor of San Diego State as it blanked BYU Thursday, 6-0, in the second round of the Mountain West Tournament.

SDSU's Joe Carque teamed with a pair of relievers before a national TV audience as the Aztecs tamed BYU again outside of championship play. The shutout was BYU's first since a 1-0 loss to Northwestern last February in Arizona.

The loss forces BYU, now 29-23, into a Friday elimination game with archrival Utah at 3 p.m. The survivor of that game plays again at 7 p.m. against the loser of SDSU-UNLV, who play at 11 a.m. on Friday.

"It's tough to sweep a team all year long," said BYU Coach Vance Law in reference to the Utes who survived a 7-6 victory in 11 innings on Thursday to eliminate Air Force. "We aren't taking Utah for granted. San Diego State got outstanding performances by all of its pitchers. I would have used Bergeron (Michel) if he had been available when we were down 1-0, but without him our strength lies in our starters."

The Aztecs scored lead-off batter Landon Burt who singled up the middle past a diving Ranger Wiens, advanced on a sac-bunt, then scored off Anthony Gwynn's deep triple to left centerfield. BYU starter Jeff Mousser recorded two of his seven strikeouts of the game, fanning the final two batters of the first inning.

Carque returned the favor in the second, striking out Kainoa Obrey on just three pitches, then retiring a swinging Brock Jacobsen to close the inning. In the bottom of that frame, Mousser fanned his fourth consecutive batter in getting the first two Aztecs out swinging.

In the third, Rob Itri got down 0-2 in the count, then fouled off six pitches before he was fanned by Carque. Casey Cloward ended Carque's bid for a no-hitter with a single to right field to become BYU's first runner on base, but he was forced out at second to end the inning.

Mousser retired the Aztecs in order for the first time in the third, fanning the final batter and covering first as Jake Stubblefield stabbed Burt's lead-off slash. Obrey traced a similar path as Cloward to record the second hit off Carque, but it also went for naught as Stubblefield popped up to end the inning.

Jacobsen worked a full count to draw a leadoff walk in the fifth and played a cat and mouse game with Carque. Carque made five pickoff attempts and Jacobsen actually took off for second only to safely retreat when he saw Jordan Swaydan's throw would have gotten him out. Jacobsen became the first Cougar on second after Tim Law's groundout, but again BYU stranded an opportunity.

Two outfield defensive gems saved BYU in the fifth. Ryan Chambers made a diving catch as he slide forward in right field. Then Jacobsen closed the inning with Aztecs on the corners as he crashed into the wall on a Gwynn fly identical to his first inning swat. Jacobsen fell to the ground as third base umpire Jim Paronto trotted out to confirm he had the ball trapped in his glove for the third out.

BYU mirrored SDSU in the next inning, putting men on the corners with two outs. Carque struggled, throwing four consecutive balls to Chambers, giving BYU its first runner of that sixth inning. Then Obrey hit a two-out single up the middle off full count. Stubblefield also worked the count to full before drawing a walk to load the bases. When Carque threw a pair of balls to Jacobsen, he was removed from the mound. Reliever Ben Leuthard worked Jacobsen to a full count, then got him to strike out swinging to end the inning.

The Aztecs blew the game open in the seventh with a single, double, double, single, single and triple all in a row. Two of the hits were television replay material. Kyle Floquet's ground rule double off the left field fence. He was thrown out on the next play when Swaydan doubled to the top of the centerfield incline. Jacobsen ran up the incline in chase and threw to Ranger Wiens who relayed a strike to Cloward to catch Floquet sliding into home. Nevertheless, SDSU took a commanding 5-0 lead.

Floquet took Jacobsen up the incline again for a double in the eighth and he scored off Swaydan's triple to right, increasing the lead to 6-0. Mousser exited after 124 pitches in favor of Jake Chrisman.

Brigham Young Univ vs San Diego State
May 22, 2003 at Albuquerque, N.M. (Isotopes Field)
Brigham Young Univ 0 (29-23)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
JACKSON, Doug lf.........  4  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   1
CHAMBERS, Ryan rf........  3  0  0  0   1  2  2  0   0
WIENS, Ranger ss.........  3  0  0  0   1  1  0  5   0
OBREY, Kainoa 3b.........  4  0  2  0   0  1  0  2   1
STUBBLEFIELD, Jake 1b....  3  0  1  0   1  0  6  1   1
JACOBSEN, Brock cf.......  3  0  0  0   1  2  5  1   3
ITRI, Rob 2b.............  3  0  0  0   0  2  3  1   0
 WEINGARTEN, Mike ph.....  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
LAW, Tim dh..............  3  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
CLOWARD, Casey c.........  3  0  1  0   0  0  7  1   1
MOUSSER, Jeff p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
 CHRISMAN, Jacob p.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 30  0  4  0   4  8 24 11   7
San Diego State 6 (28-30)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
BURT lf..................  5  2  3  1   0  0  2  0   1
GUERRERO ss..............  3  1  1  0   0  0  3  6   0
GWYNN cf.................  4  0  2  3   0  1  1  0   2
COOK dh..................  3  0  0  0   1  1  0  0   0
EMBREY 1b................  4  0  0  0   0  1 12  0   2
MCLINTOCK rf.............  4  0  1  0   0  1  0  0   0
CORONA 3b................  4  1  1  0   0  2  0  0   1
FLOQUET 2b...............  3  1  2  0   0  1  1  6   0
SWAYDAN c................  4  1  3  2   0  0  8  0   1
CARQUE p.................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 LEUTHARD p..............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 JENSON p................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Totals................... 34  6 13  6   1  7 27 13   7
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Brigham Young Univ.. 000 000 000 -  0  4  0
San Diego State..... 100 000 41X -  6 13  0
-------------------------------------------
DP - BYU Cougars 1; SDSU 1. LOB - BYU Cougars 7; SDSU 7. 2B - FLOQUET 2;
SWAYDAN. 3B - GWYNN 2; SWAYDAN. HBP - FLOQUET. SH - GUERRERO.
Brigham Young Univ     IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
MOUSSER, Jeff.......  7.2 13  6  6  1  7 33 36
CHRISMAN, Jacob.....  0.1  0  0  0  0  0  1  1
San Diego State        IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
CARQUE..............  5.2  3  0  0  3  6 20 23
LEUTHARD............  1.1  0  0  0  0  1  4  4
JENSON..............  2.0  1  0  0  1  1  6  7
Win - CARQUE (5-5).  Loss - MOUSSER (5-7).  Save - None.
HBP - by MOUSSER (FLOQUET).
Umpires -
Start: 8:07 pm   Time: 2:23   Attendance: 710
Game notes:
Game two for both teams in the MWC Tournament...winner plays UNLV at
11 a.m. Friday and the loser plays Utah at 3 p.m.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brigham Young Univ vs San Diego State - Play-by-Play
May 22, 2003 at Albuquerque, N.M. (Isotopes Field)
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Brigham Young Univ.. 000 000 000 -  0  4  0
San Diego State..... 100 000 41X -  6 13  0
-------------------------------------------
Brigham Young Univ starters: 13/lf JACKSON; 22/rf CHAMBERS; 8/ss WIENS;
   32/3b OBREY; 33/1b STUBBLEFIELD; 3/cf JACOBSEN; 21/2b ITRI; 1/dh LAW; 9/c
   CLOWARD; 35/p MOUSSER;
San Diego State starters: 8/lf BURT; 1/ss GUERRERO; 2/cf GWYNN; 20/dh COOK;
   7/1b EMBREY; 15/rf MCLINTOCK; 18/3b CORONA; 10/2b FLOQUET; 12/c SWAYDAN;
   11/p CARQUE;
Brigham Young Univ - inning 1
   JACKSON grounded out to ss. CHAMBERS grounded out to 2b. WIENS grounded
   out to 2b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
San Diego State - inning 1
   BURT singled up the middle. GUERRERO grounded out to 3b, SAC, bunt; BURT
   advanced to second. GWYNN tripled to left center, RBI; BURT scored. COOK
   struck out swinging. EMBREY struck out looking. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors,
   1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ - inning 2
   OBREY struck out looking. STUBBLEFIELD grounded out to ss. JACOBSEN
   struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
San Diego State - inning 2
   MCLINTOCK struck out swinging. CORONA struck out swinging. FLOQUET hit by
   pitch. SWAYDAN flied out to rf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ - inning 3
   ITRI struck out swinging. LAW grounded out to ss. CLOWARD singled to
   right field. JACKSON reached on a fielder's choice; CLOWARD out at second
   2b to ss. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
San Diego State - inning 3
   BURT out at first 1b to p. GUERRERO grounded out to ss. GWYNN struck out
   looking. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ - inning 4
   CHAMBERS struck out swinging. WIENS struck out swinging. OBREY singled to
   right center. STUBBLEFIELD popped up to 1b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1
   LOB.
San Diego State - inning 4
   COOK walked. EMBREY grounded into double play ss to 2b to 1b; COOK out on
   the play. MCLINTOCK singled to left field. CORONA reached on a fielder's
   choice; MCLINTOCK out at second ss to 2b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ - inning 5
   JACOBSEN walked. ITRI struck out swinging. LAW grounded out to ss;
   JACOBSEN advanced to second. CLOWARD grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits,
   0 errors, 1 LOB.
San Diego State - inning 5
   FLOQUET struck out swinging, out at first c to 1b. SWAYDAN singled up the
   middle. BURT singled to pitcher; SWAYDAN advanced to second. GUERRERO
   flied out to rf; SWAYDAN advanced to third. GWYNN flied out to cf. 0
   runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ - inning 6
   JACKSON grounded out to 2b. CHAMBERS walked. WIENS flied out to lf. OBREY
   singled up the middle; CHAMBERS advanced to third. STUBBLEFIELD walked;
   OBREY advanced to second. LEUTHARD to p for CARQUE. JACOBSEN struck out
   swinging. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 3 LOB.
San Diego State - inning 6
   COOK lined out to 2b. EMBREY flied out to cf. MCLINTOCK grounded out to
   ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ - inning 7
   ITRI flied out to lf. LAW popped up to ss. CLOWARD popped up to ss. 0
   runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
San Diego State - inning 7
   CORONA singled to left center. FLOQUET doubled to left field; CORONA
   advanced to third. SWAYDAN doubled to center field, RBI; FLOQUET out at
   third cf to ss to c; CORONA scored. BURT singled to second base, RBI;
   SWAYDAN scored. GUERRERO singled to right field; BURT advanced to second.
   GWYNN tripled to right field, 2 RBI; GUERRERO scored; BURT scored. COOK
   flied out to cf. EMBREY flied out to cf. 4 runs, 6 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ - inning 8
   JENSON to p for LEUTHARD. JACKSON grounded out to ss. CHAMBERS struck out
   swinging. WIENS walked. OBREY grounded out to 2b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0
   errors, 1 LOB.
San Diego State - inning 8
   MCLINTOCK grounded out to 3b. CORONA struck out swinging. FLOQUET doubled
   to center field. SWAYDAN tripled to right field, RBI; FLOQUET scored.
   CHRISMAN to p for MOUSSER. BURT flied out to cf. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors,
   1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ - inning 9
   STUBBLEFIELD singled through the right side. JACOBSEN flied out to cf.
   WEINGARTEN pinch hit for ITRI. WEINGARTEN grounded into double play p to
   2b to 1b; STUBBLEFIELD out on the play. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.