Platt, Su'a Shut Down UVSC

OREM -- On a cold and windy day, BYU beat Utah Valley State 4-1 in the Cougars' first trip to UVSC's new Parkway Crossing Stadium Monday night.

BYU improves its record to 21-7-1 (8-1, Mountain West Conference), while the Wolverives drop to 9-22 with the loss.

BYU's pitchers James Platt--who earned the win--and Justin Su`a--who got the save--only needed 94 pitches to beat UVSC in just two hours and 15 minutes.

Wolverine pitcher Kam Mickolio took the tough luck loss. Mickolio pitched into the ninth inning, only surrendering three runs and eight hits.

"Mickolio pitched really well," BYU head coach Vance Law said. "He kept the ball down most of the game."

The game started slow with no one scoring until the Cougars drew first blood in the top of the fifth. BYU got that run when Casey Nelson got a one-out walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. Nelson scored when Sean McNaughton hit a bloop single over the first baseman's head. Mickolio got the next Cougars batter to hit into an inning-ending double play to end the threat. After going ahead 1-0, BYU never lost the lead.

In the sixth BYU got another single run when Apana Nakayama led off the inning with a double and later scored on a Kory Knell sacrifice fly. Nakayama's double extended his team-leading hitting streak to 14 games.

UVSC scored its only run of the game in the bottom of the seventh, piecing together two sharply hit balls off BYU infielders to trim the lead to 2-1.

The Cougars widened their lead in the ninth inning. Knell led off the inning with a solo home run that chased Mickolio out of the game. He was followed by Ben Saylor who hit an opposite-field blast to push the score to 4-1.

"Those two home runs in the ninth were really big," Law said. "They got us a couple of insurance runs that allowed us to free up more pitching."

The Cougars return to MWC play later this week when they travel to Las Vegas to take on UNLV for a three game weekend series. The two teams are currently tied for first in the MWC. Thursday and Friday games start at 6:30 (PDT) with a 2 p.m. open pitch for Saturday's tilt. All three games will be carried live on KOVO radio 960 AM.

Brigham Young Univ. at Utah Valley State
Apr 04, 2005 at Orem, Utah (Parkway Crossing)
Brigham Young Univ. 4 (21-7-1)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
McNAUGHTON, Sean 2b......  5  0  1  1   0  1  1  5   0
VILLEZCAS, Marcos ss.....  4  0  0  0   1  1  3  3   2
NAKAYAMA, Apana dh.......  4  1  2  0   0  0  0  0   0
TAYLOR, Brandon 3b.......  3  0  1  0   1  0  0  5   0
CHAMBERS, Ryan lf........  4  0  0  0   0  3  1  0   1
KNELL, Kory rf...........  2  1  2  2   1  0  2  0   0
SAYLOR, Ben 1b...........  4  1  1  1   0  0 13  0   4
MOLINA, Adrian cf........  4  0  1  0   0  0  1  0   0
NELSON, Casey c..........  2  1  2  0   1  0  5  0   0
 CLOWARD, Casey c........  1  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
PLATT, James p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 SU'A, Justin p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 33  4 10  4   4  5 27 14   7
Utah Valley State 1 (9-22)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
DREW, Kory cf............  4  0  2  0   0  0  0  0   0
CONNOR, Nick rf..........  4  0  1  0   0  0  4  0   2
VANCE, Canyon lf.........  4  0  0  0   0  1  1  0   0
PERRY, Trent 1b..........  4  0  1  0   0  1 10  0   1
BULOW, Dan dh............  4  0  0  0   0  2  0  0   0
SLESK, Eli ss............  4  1  1  0   0  0  6  3   1
HALES, Brad 2b...........  3  0  0  0   0  2  1  5   0
NEWTON, Cory c...........  3  0  2  1   0  0  5  0   0
MENDENHALL, Reno 3b......  3  0  0  0   0  0  0  4   1
MICKOLIO, Kam p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 DRAKE, Brady p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  2   0
Totals................... 33  1  7  1   0  6 27 15   5
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Brigham Young Univ.. 000 011 002 -  4 10  0
Utah Valley State... 000 000 100 -  1  7  1
-------------------------------------------
E - DRAKE. DP - BYU Cougars 1; Wolverines 3. LOB - BYU Cougars 7; Wolverines
5. 2B - NAKAYAMA; KNELL. HR - KNELL(4); SAYLOR(3). SF - KNELL. SB -
McNAUGHTON; TAYLOR; MOLINA; CLOWARD; CONNOR; SLESK.
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
PLATT, James........  5.0  4  0  0  0  3 18 18
SU'A, Justin........  4.0  3  1  1  0  3 15 15
Utah Valley State      IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
MICKOLIO, Kam.......  8.0  8  3  3  4  4 28 33
DRAKE, Brady........  1.0  2  1  1  0  1  5  5
Win - PLATT (2-1).  Loss - MICKOLIO ().  Save - SU'A (2).
WP - MICKOLIO.
Umpires - HP: Terry Balser  1B: Blyden Loutensock  3B: Jeff Richardson
Start: 7:10 pm   Time: 2:15   Attendance: 438
MICKOLIO faced 1 batter in the 9th.
Brigham Young Univ. at Utah Valley State - Play-by-Play
Apr 04, 2005 at Orem, Utah (Parkway Crossing)
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Brigham Young Univ.. 000 011 002 -  4 10  0
Utah Valley State... 000 000 100 -  1  7  1
-------------------------------------------
Brigham Young Univ. starters: 15/2b McNAUGHTON; 10/ss VILLEZCAS; 24/dh NAKAYAMA;
3/3b TAYLOR; 22/lf CHAMBERS; 12/rf KNELL; 25/1b SAYLOR; 1/cf MOLINA; 8/c NELSON; 7/p
PLATT;
Utah Valley State starters: 1/cf DREW; 20/rf CONNOR; 8/lf VANCE; 5/1b PERRY; 21/dh
BULOW; 2/ss SLESK; 10/2b HALES; 25/c NEWTON; 11/3b MENDENHALL; 27/p MICKOLIO;
Brigham Young Univ. 1st - McNAUGHTON grounded out to 2b. VILLEZCAS grounded
out to 1b unassisted. NAKAYAMA grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0
LOB.
Utah Valley State 1st - DREW singled to left center. CONNOR grounded into
double play p to 2b to ss to 1b; DREW out on the play. VANCE grounded out to 3b.
0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 2nd - TAYLOR fouled out to ss. CHAMBERS struck out
swinging. KNELL doubled down the lf line. SAYLOR lined out to 1b. 0 runs, 1 hit,
0 errors, 1 LOB.
Utah Valley State 2nd - PERRY grounded out to 2b. BULOW struck out looking.
SLESK grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 3rd - MOLINA grounded out to 3b. NELSON singled to right
field. McNAUGHTON struck out swinging. VILLEZCAS flied out to lf. 0 runs, 1 hit,
0 errors, 1 LOB.
Utah Valley State 3rd - HALES struck out swinging. NEWTON singled to center
field. MENDENHALL flied out to rf. DREW singled to left center; NEWTON advanced to
third. CONNOR reached on a fielder's choice; DREW out at second ss unassisted. 0
runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 4th - NAKAYAMA grounded out to p. TAYLOR walked. CHAMBERS
flied out to rf. TAYLOR stole second. KNELL walked. SAYLOR flied out to rf. 0
runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Utah Valley State 4th - VANCE grounded out to ss. PERRY singled to left
field. BULOW struck out swinging. SLESK grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0
errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 5th - MOLINA grounded out to 3b. NELSON walked. NELSON
advanced to second on a wild pitch. McNAUGHTON singled down the rf line, RBI; NELSON
scored. VILLEZCAS grounded into double play 2b to ss to 1b; McNAUGHTON out on the
play. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Utah Valley State 5th - HALES grounded out to 2b. NEWTON popped up to 2b.
MENDENHALL grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 6th - NAKAYAMA doubled to left center. TAYLOR singled to
left center; NAKAYAMA advanced to third. CHAMBERS struck out swinging. KNELL flied
out to rf, SF, RBI; NAKAYAMA scored. SAYLOR flied out to rf. 1 run, 2 hits, 0
errors, 1 LOB.
Utah Valley State 6th - SU'A to p for PLATT. DREW flied out to rf. CONNOR
singled up the middle. CONNOR stole second. VANCE struck out swinging. PERRY
grounded out to 2b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 7th - MOLINA grounded out to 2b. NELSON singled to
pitcher. McNAUGHTON grounded into double play 2b to ss to 1b; NELSON out on the
play. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Utah Valley State 7th - BULOW popped up to ss. SLESK singled to pitcher.
SLESK stole second. HALES struck out swinging. NEWTON singled, advanced to second on
the throw, RBI; SLESK scored. MENDENHALL flied out to cf. 1 run, 2 hits, 0
errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 8th - VILLEZCAS walked. NAKAYAMA singled up the middle;
VILLEZCAS advanced to second. TAYLOR grounded into double play ss unassisted;
VILLEZCAS out on the play. CHAMBERS struck out looking. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors,
1 LOB.
Utah Valley State 8th - CLOWARD to c for NELSON. DREW grounded out to 2b.
CONNOR flied out to lf. VANCE grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0
LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 9th - KNELL homered to left center, RBI. DRAKE to p for
MICKOLIO. SAYLOR homered to left field, RBI. MOLINA singled to shortstop. MOLINA
stole second. CLOWARD reached on a fielder's choice; MOLINA out at second p to 3b to
2b. CLOWARD stole second. CLOWARD out at second p to 2b to 3b to ss, picked off.
McNAUGHTON reached on a fielding error by p. McNAUGHTON stole second. VILLEZCAS
struck out swinging. 2 runs, 3 hits, 1 error, 1 LOB.
Utah Valley State 9th - PERRY struck out looking. BULOW fouled out to 1b.
SLESK grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.