Walton Keys Sixth-Inning Rally

PROVO -- Facing a 7-2 deficit in the bottom of the sixth, BYU came alive scoring nine runs and went on to win 12-10 against Binghamton on Monday.

BYU (16-13, 3-3 in conference) came alive in a big way in the bottom of the sixth scoring nine runs, eight of those coming with two outs. Things got started when Kasey Ko hit a double to score Steve Parker, after four more runs came across the plate for the Cougars, Kent Walton hit a towering three-run home run. Then before the inning was over Ko hit in another run to give BYU the 11-7 lead.

"We had a couple of guys who came up big in the inning and kept it going," Walton said. "The saying goes that hitting is contagious."

The Cougars were led by Walton who went three for five with four RBI, and Parker who went four-for-five with two RBI on the day.

Binghamton (6-6) pitcher Gino Offerman picked up the loss and Matthew Jensen, 3-3, picked up the win for the Cougars.

"Jensen played great," Coach Vance Law said. "He came in strong and gave us a big lift out of the bullpen."

In the first starting pitcher Jesse Craig was inconsistent on the mound for the Cougars as he allowed two runs on three hits while striking out three batters. In the bottom of the inning Walton got BYU on the board when he hit a double down the left field line to bring in Apana Nakayama and make the score 2-1 in favor of the Bearcats.

An error-filled second inning led to two more runs for Binghamton, but Craig was able to get out of the frame without any further damage by striking out another Bearcat to end the inning trailing 4-1.

In the top of the fourth Binghamton again got to Craig as shortstop Justin Smucker hit a two-run home run. Smucker was the last batter Craig faced, as Law turned to right hander Jensen to pitch for the Cougars. Jensen was able to get out of the inning and keep the score 6-1.

Parker started off the bottom of the fourth in a big way hitting a solo shot over the centerfield wall to bring BYU within four runs of the Bearcats, 6-2. Unfortunately, Parker's home run was the only thing BYU was able to get in the fourth as the next three batters were retired in order.

Jensen followed up the Cougars offensive outburst by retiring the Binghamton side in the top of the seventh, and maintaining the 11-7 lead for BYU.

BYU withstood a rally in the bottom of the ninth by Binghamton. The Bearcats rallied to score three runs in the inning, but the rally was ended after the Cougar defense turned a double-play to preserve the 12-10 win.

"Other than that one inning where we exploded we played sloppy," Law said. "But my guys played hard and battled and I can't fault them for that."

Up next BYU hosts UNLV this week in a three-game series at Larry H. Miller Field. The series starts on Thursday at 6 p.m.

Binghamton Univ. at Brigham Young Univ.
Apr 02, 2007 at Provo, Utah (Larry H.Miller Field)
Binghamton Univ. 10 (6-6)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Smucker, Justin ss.......  6  3  5  3   0  0  2  2   0
James, Ryan 3b...........  5  0  1  0   0  1  1  1   0
 Jacobi, Ken ph..........  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   2
Simek, Matt 2b...........  4  1  0  0   1  1  2  4   1
Hitchcock, Brendon 1b....  5  1  4  1   0  1  6  0   0
Wertepny, Jeff dh........  4  0  3  1   1  1  0  0   1
 Abrams, Jeff pr.........  0  1  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Monaco, Jeff rf..........  5  0  1  1   0  2  4  0   2
Charron, Joe lf..........  4  1  0  0   1  2  4  1   2
Haughie, Pat c...........  4  1  1  0   1  1  4  1   2
Dunn, Henry cf...........  4  2  2  1   0  2  1  0   0
 Klee, Kyle ph...........  0  0  0  1   1  0  0  0   0
Dennis, Jeff p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Offerman, Gino p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Lane, Greg p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 42 10 17  8   5 11 24  9  10
Brigham Young Univ. 12 (16-13)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
JOHNSON, Leon lf.........  2  1  0  0   3  0  0  0   0
FANNING, Collin rf.......  4  1  2  1   1  0  0  0   0
NAKAYAMA, Apana dh.......  5  2  2  2   0  1  0  0   3
WALTON, Kent 2b..........  5  2  3  4   0  0  2  2   1
PARKER, Steve 3b.........  5  3  4  2   0  1  0  3   1
KO, Kasey 1b.............  5  1  2  2   0  0  5  1   0
WELLS, Stephen cf........  5  0  1  0   0  2  4  0   1
MUSSO, J.T. c............  4  1  0  0   1  1 12  1   1
JOHNSON, Chris ss........  2  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   1
 HALL, Austin ss.........  2  1  1  1   0  0  2  2   0
CRAIG, Jesse p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 JENSEN, Matt p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  1   0
 BARNES, Clayton p.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 WARD, Michael p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 39 12 15 12   5  5 27 10   8
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Binghamton Univ..... 220 201 003 - 10 17  2
Brigham Young Univ.. 100 109 01X - 12 15  2
-------------------------------------------
E - Smucker(5); James(1); PARKER(10); JOHNSON, C.(4). DP - Bearcats 1; BYU
Cougars 1. LOB - Bearcats 10; BYU Cougars 8. 2B - Hitchcock(4); Wertepny(2);
Haughie(3); WALTON 2(14); KO 2(6). HR - Smucker(1); WALTON(3); PARKER(5). SB
- Smucker(2); FANNING 2(12). CS - Smucker(1).
Binghamton Univ.       IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Dennis, Jeff........  5.2  8  7  3  2  3 26 28
Offerman, Gino......  0.0  4  4  0  1  0  4  5
Lane, Greg..........  2.1  3  1  1  2  2  9 11
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
CRAIG, Jesse........  3.0  9  6  5  1  5 18 19
JENSEN, Matt........  5.0  7  3  3  1  5 21 22
BARNES, Clayton.....  0.1  0  1  1  2  1  1  3
WARD, Michael.......  0.2  1  0  0  1  0  2  3
Win - JENSEN (3-3).  Loss - Offerman (0-1).  Save - WARD (1).
WP - Dennis(1); JENSEN(2); BARNES(3). PB - MUSSO 2(5).
Umpires - HP: Matt Marziale  1B: Scott MacMurdo  3B: Jon Clark
Start: 4:04 pm   Time: 2:59   Attendance: 652
Game notes:
Game 3 of 3
CRAIG faced 2 batters in the 4th.
Offerman faced 5 batters in the 6th.
JENSEN faced 2 batters in the 9th.
Binghamton Univ. starters: 15/ss Smucker; 20/3b James; 8/2b Simek; 32/1b Hitchcock;
17/dh Wertepny; 16/rf Monaco; 3/lf Charron; 11/c Haughie; 2/cf Dunn; 23/p Dennis;
Brigham Young Univ. starters: 14/lf JOHNSON, L.; 17/rf FANNING; 24/dh NAKAYAMA; 9/2b
WALTON; 5/3b PARKER; 22/1b KO; 1/cf WELLS; 10/c MUSSO; 3/ss JOHNSON, C.; 35/p CRAIG;
Binghamton Univ. 1st - Smucker singled through the right side. James struck
out looking. Smucker stole second. Simek walked. Hitchcock struck out looking.
Wertepny singled to left field, RBI; Simek advanced to second; Smucker scored.
Monaco singled to left center, RBI; Wertepny advanced to third; Simek scored.
Charron struck out swinging. 2 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 1st - JOHNSON, L. fouled out to 3b. FANNING flied out to
rf. NAKAYAMA singled through the right side. NAKAYAMA advanced to second on a wild
pitch. WALTON doubled down the lf line, RBI; NAKAYAMA scored. PARKER struck out
swinging, out at first c to 1b. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Binghamton Univ. 2nd - Haughie doubled to right field. Dunn singled, bunt,
advanced to second on an error by 3b, RBI; Haughie scored. Smucker reached on a
fielding error by ss; Dunn scored, unearned. Smucker out at second c to ss, caught
stealing. James flied out to cf. Simek struck out swinging. 2 runs, 2 hits, 2
errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 2nd - KO flied out to rf. WELLS singled up the middle.
MUSSO struck out looking. JOHNSON, C. reached on a fielder's choice; WELLS out at
second ss to 2b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Binghamton Univ. 3rd - Hitchcock singled up the middle. Wertepny doubled down
the lf line; Hitchcock advanced to third. Monaco grounded out to 2b. Charron struck
out swinging. Haughie flied out to cf. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 3rd - JOHNSON, L. walked. FANNING reached on a fielder's
choice; JOHNSON, L. out at second 2b to ss. NAKAYAMA flied out to lf. FANNING stole
second. WALTON flied out to lf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Binghamton Univ. 4th - Dunn singled to left field. Dunn advanced to second on
a passed ball. Smucker homered to left field, 2 RBI; Dunn scored. JENSEN to p for
CRAIG. James grounded out to 3b. Simek grounded out to p, bunt. Hitchcock singled to
shortstop. Wertepny singled to center field; Hitchcock advanced to third. Monaco
struck out swinging. 2 runs, 4 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 4th - PARKER homered to right center, RBI. KO grounded
out to 3b. WELLS popped up to ss. MUSSO flied out to cf. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors,
0 LOB.
Binghamton Univ. 5th - Charron out at first 1b to p. Haughie struck out
swinging. Dunn struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 5th - JOHNSON, C. reached on a throwing error by ss.
JOHNSON, L. lined into double play 2b to 1b; JOHNSON, C. out on the play. FANNING
singled to right field. NAKAYAMA grounded out to 2b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 error, 1
LOB.
Binghamton Univ. 6th - HALL to ss for JOHNSON, C.. Smucker singled, bunt.
James singled, bunt; Smucker advanced to second. Simek fouled out to 2b; James out
at second 2b to 3b to ss; Smucker advanced to third. Hitchcock singled to left
field, RBI; Smucker scored. Wertepny struck out looking. 1 run, 3 hits, 0 errors,
1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 6th - WALTON flied out to rf. PARKER singled up the
middle. KO doubled to left field, RBI; PARKER scored. WELLS struck out swinging.
MUSSO reached on a throwing error by 3b; KO advanced to third. HALL singled up the
middle, advanced to second, RBI; MUSSO advanced to third; KO scored, unearned.
JOHNSON, L. walked. Offerman to p for Dennis. FANNING walked, RBI; JOHNSON, L.
advanced to second; HALL advanced to third; MUSSO scored, unearned. NAKAYAMA singled
up the middle, 2 RBI; FANNING advanced to third; JOHNSON, L. scored, unearned; HALL
scored, unearned. WALTON homered to left field, 3 RBI, unearned; NAKAYAMA scored,
unearned; FANNING scored, unearned. PARKER singled to center field. KO doubled down
the rf line, RBI; PARKER scored, unearned. Lane to p for Offerman. WELLS flied out
to lf. 9 runs, 7 hits, 1 error, 1 LOB.
Binghamton Univ. 7th - Monaco flied out to cf. Charron grounded out to 3b.
Haughie fouled out to c. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 7th - MUSSO walked. HALL flied out to lf; MUSSO out at
first lf to ss to 1b. JOHNSON, L. walked. FANNING singled to right field; JOHNSON,
L. advanced to third. FANNING stole second. NAKAYAMA struck out looking. 0 runs,
1 hit, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Binghamton Univ. 8th - Dunn struck out swinging. Smucker singled to center
field. James flied out to cf. Simek grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors,
1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 8th - WALTON doubled to left field. PARKER singled to
center field, RBI; WALTON scored. KO grounded out to 2b; PARKER advanced to second.
WELLS struck out swinging. MUSSO flied out to rf. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1
LOB.
Binghamton Univ. 9th - Hitchcock doubled to left field. Hitchcock advanced to
third on a wild pitch. Wertepny walked. BARNES to p for JENSEN. Abrams pinch ran for
Wertepny. Monaco struck out swinging. Abrams advanced to second; Hitchcock scored on
a passed ball. Charron walked. Charron advanced to second; Abrams advanced to third
on a wild pitch. Haughie walked. Klee pinch hit for Dunn. WARD to p for BARNES. Klee
walked, RBI; Haughie advanced to second; Charron advanced to third; Abrams scored.
Smucker singled through the left side, RBI; Klee advanced to second; Haughie
advanced to third; Charron scored. Jacobi pinch hit for James. Jacobi lined into
double play ss to 2b; Klee out on the play. 3 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.