Craig's Near Complete Win

PROVO -- For the second consecutive night Apana Nakayama stroked the game-winning run and clutch pitching enabled BYU to claim a 5-3 victory Friday over UNLV.

But this time the Cougars didn't have to come from behind as Nakayama teamed with pitchers Jesse Craig (4-2) and J.D. Stambaugh. Craig threw a near-complete game sans two batters with his 126 pitches, while Stambaugh closed for his fourth save of the season.

Nakayama's eighth-inning, one-out single to the right side broke a three-all deadlock, scoring Leon Johnson from second. Then Kent Walton singled to the left side, bringing in Collin Fanning from third to help BYU to an 18-13 overall record. The Cougars' 5-3 mark in the Mountain West Conference keeps them two games out of first place behind TCU, while UNLV falls to 14-22 and 3-5.

"We've got a lot of confidence in Apana and I'm really partial to Jesse and how he competes," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "It was a good team win and was well-pitched on both sides." Craig set UNLV down in order in the fifth, seventh and eighth innings.

Among the contributing factors to the victory was that eighth inning when BYU catcher J.T. Musso gunned down Rebel Blake Gailen, who had been 10-for-10 in stolen bases. Gailen, who was a double shy of the cycle, led off that inning with one of the nine hits scattered by Craig.

"It got chills when J.T. threw him out," said Craig. "We had a really good crowd (1,382 fans) and those two things combined gave me more confidence. I felt like I got stronger, except for the fourth inning. My slider got sharper and sharper."

"It was an unintentional pitchout," said Law of Musso throwing out Gailen at second as UNLV tried to break the tie. "It was the right pitch at the right time. J.T. made a great throw and he is doing a very good job for us." Gailen had worked a full count to homer in the third inning to tie the game at one-all.

Law removed Craig in the ninth in favor of Stambaugh, a sophomore lefty. In turn, UNLV countered with right-handed pinch-hitter Chad Miller. After fouling off several pitches in a full-count battle, Stambaugh struck out Miller swinging.

Craig recorded six strikeouts on the evening, four in a row in the second and third innings.

BYU took the initial lead in the second when Walton continued his hitting terror, blasting a homer for third game in a row. The Cougars added two more runs in the third when two well-placed bunts put runners aboard and advanced them, respectively.

Musso had led off with a single in the third, then Austin Hall hit a first-pitch bunt single and both advanced on Johnson's sacrifice bunt. Fanning and Nakayama drove them in off nearly-identical consecutive singles to centerfield to give BYU a 3-1 lead.

UNLV tied it at three-three in the fourth thanks to three BYU errors which made one of the two runs unearned.

The two teams meet again on Saturday at 1 p.m., with BYU holding a four-game advantage in the five games this season.

UNLV at Brigham Young Univ.
Apr 06, 2007 at Provo, Utah (Larry H.Miller Field)
UNLV 3 (14-22,3-5 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
BEAMON, C. rf............  4  0  0  0   0  2  2  0   0
GAILEN, B. lf............  4  1  3  1   0  0  1  0   0
SMITH, Keith 2b..........  4  0  0  0   0  0  0  3   0
NAVARRO JR., 1b..........  4  1  1  0   0  0  9  0   1
BRENLY, M. c.............  4  1  1  0   0  0  7  0   0
KOWALSKI, R. cf..........  4  0  4  2   0  0  0  0   0
BOWMAN, W. dh............  2  0  0  0   0  2  0  0   0
 AMADOR, B. ph...........  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   1
 MILLER, Chad ph.........  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
SCRUGGS, X. 3b...........  4  0  0  0   0  1  2  2   2
WALKER, B. ss............  3  0  0  0   0  1  3  5   1
HEYER, Craig p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 PUPO, Koji p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 MOSER, Adam p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 35  3  9  3   0  7 24 10   5
Brigham Young Univ. 5 (18-13,5-3 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
JOHNSON, Leon lf.........  2  1  0  0   0  0  4  0   0
FANNING, Collin rf.......  4  1  2  1   0  1  3  0   0
NAKAYAMA, Apana dh.......  4  0  3  2   0  1  0  0   0
WALTON, Kent 2b..........  4  1  2  2   0  0  1  4   1
PARKER, Steve 3b.........  4  0  0  0   0  2  0  6   1
KO, Kasey 1b.............  3  0  1  0   0  2  7  0   0
 JENSEN, Matt pr.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 BILLS, Thomas 1b........  0  0  0  0   0  0  2  0   0
WELLS, Stephen cf........  3  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
MUSSO, J.T. c............  2  1  1  0   1  0  7  2   1
HALL, Austin ss..........  3  1  1  0   0  0  3  0   0
CRAIG, Jesse p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 STAMBAUGH, J.D. p.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 29  5 10  5   1  7 27 13   3
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
UNLV................ 001 200 000 -  3  9  0
Brigham Young Univ.. 012 000 02X -  5 10  3
-------------------------------------------
E - FANNING(3); KO(2); HALL(10). DP - LV 4; BYU Cougars 1. LOB - LV 5; BYU
Cougars 3. 3B - GAILEN, B.(2). HR - GAILEN, B.(4); WALTON(5). HBP - JOHNSON,
L.. SH - JOHNSON, L.(2). CS - GAILEN, B.(1); BRENLY, M.(1).
UNLV                   IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
HEYER, Craig........  7.1  8  5  5  1  7 26 29
PUPO, Koji..........  0.0  1  0  0  0  0  1  1
MOSER, Adam.........  0.2  1  0  0  0  0  2  2
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
CRAIG, Jesse........  8.1  9  3  2  0  6 33 33
STAMBAUGH, J.D......  0.2  0  0  0  0  1  2  2
Win - CRAIG (4-2).  Loss - HEYER, Craig (4-4).  Save - STAMBAUGH (4).
WP - HEYER, Craig(2); CRAIG(4). HBP - by HEYER, Craig (JOHNSON, L.).
Umpires - HP: Jason Rogers  1B: Kevin Sweeney  3B: Scott MacMurdo
Start: 6:05 pm   Time: 2:34   Attendance: 1382
Game notes:
Game 2 of 3
Movie Night at Miller Park is April 12 for "The Rookie", 7:30 p.m.
PUPO, Koji faced 1 batter in the 8th.
UNLV starters: 38/rf BEAMON, C.; 22/lf GAILEN, B.; 14/2b SMITH, Keith; 35/1b NAVARRO
JR.,; 18/c BRENLY, M.; 12/cf KOWALSKI, R.; 25/dh BOWMAN, W.; 16/3b SCRUGGS, X.;
10/ss WALKER, B.; 32/p HEYER, Craig;
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; 18/ss HALL; 35/p CRAIG;
UNLV 1st - BEAMON, C. grounded out to 2b. GAILEN, B. tripled to left center.
SMITH, Keith flied out to rf. NAVARRO JR., flied out to lf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0
errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 1st - JOHNSON, L. lined out to 3b. FANNING grounded out
to ss. NAKAYAMA struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
UNLV 2nd - BRENLY, M. grounded out to 3b. KOWALSKI, R. singled to left field.
KOWALSKI, R. advanced to second on a wild pitch. BOWMAN, W. struck out swinging.
SCRUGGS, X. struck out swinging. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 2nd - WALTON homered to left field, RBI. PARKER flied out
to rf. KO struck out looking. WELLS flied out to rf. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0
LOB.
UNLV 3rd - WALKER, B. struck out swinging. BEAMON, C. struck out swinging.
GAILEN, B. homered to center field, RBI. SMITH, Keith flied out to rf. 1 run, 1
hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 3rd - MUSSO singled through the left side. HALL singled,
bunt; MUSSO advanced to second. JOHNSON, L. grounded out to 1b unassisted, SAC,
bunt; HALL advanced to second; MUSSO advanced to third. FANNING singled to center
field, RBI; HALL advanced to third; MUSSO scored. NAKAYAMA singled to center field,
RBI; FANNING advanced to second; HALL scored. WALTON grounded into double play 3b to
1b; FANNING out on the play. 2 runs, 4 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
UNLV 4th - NAVARRO JR., reached on a fielding error by ss. BRENLY, M. singled
to right field, advanced to second on a fielding error by rf; NAVARRO JR., advanced
to third. KOWALSKI, R. singled to center field, 2 RBI; BRENLY, M. scored, unearned;
NAVARRO JR., scored. BOWMAN, W. struck out looking. SCRUGGS, X. reached on a
fielder's choice; KOWALSKI, R. advanced to second on a throwing error by 1b. WALKER,
B. grounded into double play 3b to 2b to 1b; SCRUGGS, X. out on the play. 2 runs,
2 hits, 3 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 4th - PARKER struck out swinging. KO struck out swinging.
WELLS struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
UNLV 5th - BEAMON, C. flied out to lf. GAILEN, B. grounded out to 2b. SMITH,
Keith grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 5th - MUSSO walked. HALL grounded into double play 3b to
ss to 1b; MUSSO out on the play. JOHNSON, L. grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits,
0 errors, 0 LOB.
UNLV 6th - NAVARRO JR., singled to left field. BRENLY, M. reached on a
fielder's choice; NAVARRO JR., out at second p to ss. BRENLY, M. out at second c to
ss, caught stealing. KOWALSKI, R. singled to shortstop. AMADOR, B. pinch hit for
BOWMAN, W.. AMADOR, B. flied out to lf. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 6th - FANNING struck out looking. NAKAYAMA singled
through the right side. WALTON grounded into double play ss to 1b; NAKAYAMA out on
the play. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
UNLV 7th - SCRUGGS, X. grounded out to 3b. WALKER, B. grounded out to 3b.
BEAMON, C. struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 7th - PARKER struck out. KO singled to right field. KO
advanced to second on a wild pitch. JENSEN pinch ran for KO. WELLS grounded out to
2b; JENSEN advanced to third. MUSSO grounded out to 2b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors,
1 LOB.
UNLV 8th - BILLS to 1b for JENSEN. GAILEN, B. singled to second base. SMITH,
Keith flied out to rf. GAILEN, B. out at second c to ss, caught stealing. NAVARRO
JR., flied out to lf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 8th - HALL flied out to lf. JOHNSON, L. hit by pitch.
FANNING singled up the middle; JOHNSON, L. advanced to second. PUPO, Koji to p for
HEYER, Craig. NAKAYAMA singled through the right side, RBI; FANNING advanced to
third; JOHNSON, L. scored. MOSER, Adam to p for PUPO, Koji. WALTON singled through
the left side, RBI; NAKAYAMA advanced to second; FANNING scored. PARKER grounded
into double play 2b to ss to 1b; WALTON out on the play. 2 runs, 3 hits, 0
errors, 1 LOB.
UNLV 9th - BRENLY, M. grounded out to 2b. KOWALSKI, R. singled up the middle.
STAMBAUGH to p for CRAIG. MILLER, Chad pinch hit for AMADOR, B.. MILLER, Chad struck
out swinging. SCRUGGS, X. grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.