Sweep of the Huskies

PROVO -- J.T. Musso's home run Wednesday may have been the game-winning RBI, but there was much more in BYU's 15-9 thumping of Washington.

Musso's two-run homer off the top of the scoreboard put BYU up 11-4 in the seventh-inning after the Cougars went up 8-0 behind Jesse Craig's two-hit, 47-pitch performance through the first five innings.

The Cougars, now 21-13, have a six-game winning streak thanks to a two-game sweep over Washington, now 16-15. The Huskies, no doubt, are tired of BYU first baseman Kasey Ko among others.

Ko's batting average has soared from .298 to .359 as one of 10 Cougars batting over .300 on a team now batting .319. Ko was BYU's top batter in two days against the Huskies and Wednesday's 4-for-5 performance led the way.

Ko's second-inning, two-run double off the left-field wall got the scoring started. Teammate Kent Walton led off that inning when Washington's shortstop dropped a line drive. Walton then stole second before Steve Parker walked. Ko scored on a single by Thomas Bills to give the Cougars a 3-0 lead.

"That double gave me confidence to swing," said Ko. I just tried to put the bat on the ball and put it in play."

Ko and Walton, who both have eight-game hitting streaks behind Collin Fanning's team-leading dozen, tried to team up again in the third when Walton led off with a triple. But Walton was thrown out in a double play on Ko's sac-fly attempt.

In the fourth teammate Austin Hall got aboard when pitcher Bryce Mooney made a high toss to first. That opened the floodgates and put him on third with two Cougars scoring ahead of him on the error, putting BYU up 6-0. Hall then scored on Stephen Wells' single and Wells scored on Walton's single.

Up 8-0, Ko missed fielding a shot down the first-base line, then teamed with Walton on a 6-4-3 double play to end the fifth.

The Huskies led off the sixth inning with a two-run homer by Jake Rife and ended up scoring four runs. A Walton error could have ended that inning, but Craig returned in the seventh in good fashion to record what would be his fifth victory, aided by a fielding gem from third baseman Steve Parker on the second-base side of the mound.

Musso's afore-mentioned blast off the scoreboard seemed to put Craig in good stead when he left the game, but reliever Matt Jensen struggled. The Huskies dinged him for four runs before J.D. Stambaugh put out the fire with an 11-8 lead in the eighth, enroute to his fifth save of the season.

Ko was one of four runners who scored in the eighth when BYU drilled five singles off Washington ace reliever Nick Hagadone, an NCAA leader in ERA and saves.

"He (Ko) is swinging a hot bat and getting it in the right place in big spots," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "Jesse (Craig) tends to pitch well in big ball games. He pumps himself up. His ball has good run and he has good command. He did an outstanding job today."

BYU is now idle until Tuesday when it hosts Southern Utah in a game starting at 6 p.m. However, fans can enjoy Movie Night at Miller Park on Thursday when festivities begin at 7:30 p.m., prior to the showing of "The Rookie" at 8:30 p.m.

Univ. Washington at Brigham Young Univ.
Apr 11, 2007 at Provo, Utah (Larry H.Miller Field)
Univ. Washington 9 (16-15)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Boyer, Bradley 2b........  2  0  0  0   1  0  1  2   0
 Cherry, Doug ph/2b......  1  1  0  0   0  0  0  1   2
Lentz, Andy rf...........  3  1  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
 Cox, Danny ss...........  2  1  1  0   0  0  1  1   0
Hague, Matt 3b...........  4  2  2  2   1  0  0  0   0
Rindal, Curt 1b..........  5  1  2  3   0  1  6  1   1
Lind, Joey dh............  4  0  1  1   0  0  0  0   1
Pearl, Brian ss..........  2  0  0  0   0  1  3  2   0
 Rasmussen, Ty ph/rf.....  2  1  1  2   0  0  0  0   0
Rife, Jake lf............  3  1  2  1   0  0  1  1   0
Wilcox, Brett c..........  3  1  2  0   0  0  6  1   0
 Petersen, Trevor ph.....  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Dunn, Joey c............  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
Burgher, Michael cf......  3  0  0  0   1  1  4  1   0
Cheney, Tyler p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 Mooney, Bryce p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 McKerney, Brandon p.....  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
 Hagadone, Nick p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 35  9 11  9   3  4 24 11   4
Brigham Young Univ. 15 (21-13)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
WELLS, Stephen cf........  4  1  1  1   2  1  3  0   3
FANNING, Collin rf.......  5  2  2  1   0  0  4  0   0
NAKAYAMA, Apana lf.......  3  0  0  1   1  1  1  0   2
WALTON, Kent 2b..........  5  1  3  1   0  0  3  4   0
PARKER, Steve 3b.........  4  2  1  1   1  0  1  1   1
KO, Kasey 1b.............  5  3  4  2   0  0 10  0   0
BILLS, Thomas dh.........  1  1  1  1   1  0  0  0   0
 JOHNSON, Jason ph.......  2  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 MC KEEVER, Mike ph......  1  1  1  1   0  0  0  0   0
MUSSO, J.T. c............  5  2  3  3   0  2  4  1   0
HALL, Austin ss..........  4  2  3  1   0  1  1  4   1
CRAIG, Jesse p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 JENSEN, Matt p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 STAMBAUGH, J.D. p.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 39 15 19 13   5  5 27 11   7
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Univ. Washington.... 000 004 041 -  9 11  4
Brigham Young Univ.. 040 401 24X - 15 19  1
-------------------------------------------
E - Cox(3); Pearl 2(9); Mooney(1); WALTON(8). DP - UW Huskies 3; BYU Cougars
3. LOB - UW Huskies 4; BYU Cougars 7. 2B - Cox(2); Hague(8); KO(9). 3B -
WALTON(5); HALL(3). HR - Rasmussen(5); Rife(2); MUSSO(2). HBP - Cherry;
Rife. SF - NAKAYAMA(3). SB - FANNING(16); WALTON(7). CS - Rife(1);
WALTON(4). SAC - Hall.
Univ. Washington       IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Cheney, Tyler.......  2.0  4  4  2  3  2  9 12
Mooney, Bryce.......  1.0  3  4  3  1  0  5  7
McKerney, Brandon...  4.0  7  3  3  1  2 16 18
Hagadone, Nick......  1.0  5  4  0  0  1  9  9
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
CRAIG, Jesse........  7.0  7  4  1  2  2 26 28
JENSEN, Matt........  0.1  3  4  4  1  0  4  6
STAMBAUGH, J.D......  1.2  1  1  1  0  2  5  6
Win - CRAIG (5-2).  Loss - Cheney (1-3).  Save - STAMBAUGH (5).
HBP - by JENSEN (Rife); by STAMBAUGH (Cherry). BK - McKerney(1).
Umpires - HP: Randy Upton  1B: Blyden Loutensock  3B: Jon Clark
Start: 2:07 pm   Time: 2:44   Attendance: 528
Game notes:
Game 2 of 2
Thursday is Movie Night at Miller Park "The Rookie" at 7:30 p.m.
Mooney faced 4 batters in the 4th.
Game: UW2
Univ. Washington starters: 2/2b Boyer; 5/rf Lentz; 1/3b Hague; 21/1b Rindal; 23/dh
Lind; 9/ss Pearl; 6/lf Rife; 44/c Wilcox; 4/cf Burgher; 22/p Cheney;
Brigham Young Univ. starters: 1/cf WELLS; 17/rf FANNING; 24/lf NAKAYAMA; 9/2b
WALTON; 5/3b PARKER; 22/1b KO; 30/dh BILLS; 10/c MUSSO; 18/ss HALL; 35/p CRAIG;
Univ. Washington 1st - Boyer walked. Lentz popped into double play 2b to 1b;
Boyer out on the play. Hague flied out to rf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0
LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 1st - WELLS walked. FANNING lined into double play 2b to
1b; WELLS out on the play. NAKAYAMA struck out looking. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors,
0 LOB.
Univ. Washington 2nd - Rindal popped up to lf. Lind fouled out to 3b. Pearl
struck out looking. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 2nd - WALTON reached on a fielding error by ss. WALTON
stole second. PARKER walked. KO doubled to left field, 2 RBI; PARKER scored; WALTON
scored, unearned. BILLS singled through the left side, RBI; KO scored. MUSSO struck
out looking. HALL tripled to left field; BILLS advanced to third, out at home lf to
ss to c. WELLS walked. FANNING singled through the right side, RBI; WELLS advanced
to second; HALL scored, unearned. NAKAYAMA grounded out to p. 4 runs, 4 hits, 1
error, 2 LOB.
Univ. Washington 3rd - Rife singled to shortstop. Rife out at second c to ss,
caught stealing. Wilcox flied out to cf. Burgher grounded out to 1b unassisted. 0
runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 3rd - Mooney to p for Cheney. WALTON tripled to right
field. PARKER popped up to ss. KO flied into double play cf to c; WALTON out on the
play. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Univ. Washington 4th - Boyer flied out to cf. Lentz struck out looking. Hague
grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 4th - BILLS walked. MUSSO singled to right field; BILLS
advanced to second. HALL reached on a throwing error by p, sac bunt, advanced to third;
MUSSO scored; BILLS scored. WELLS singled through the left side, RBI; HALL scored,
unearned. McKerney to p for Mooney. FANNING grounded out to 1b unassisted; WELLS
advanced to second. NAKAYAMA walked. WALTON singled to right field, RBI; NAKAYAMA
advanced to third; WELLS scored. PARKER grounded into double play 2b to ss to 1b;
WALTON out on the play. 4 runs, 3 hits, 1 error, 1 LOB.
Univ. Washington 5th - Rindal flied out to cf. Lind singled through the right
side. Pearl grounded into double play ss to 2b to 1b; Lind out on the play. 0
runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 5th - KO singled up the middle. JOHNSON, J. pinch hit for
BILLS. JOHNSON, J. popped up to lf. MUSSO struck out swinging. KO advanced to second
on a balk. HALL struck out looking. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Univ. Washington 6th - Rife homered to center field, RBI. Wilcox singled to
right center. Burgher flied out to rf. Boyer flied out to rf. Lentz reached on a
fielding error by 2b; Wilcox advanced to second. Hague doubled to left center, RBI;
Lentz advanced to third; Wilcox scored, unearned. Rindal singled to right center, 2
RBI; Hague scored, unearned; Lentz scored, unearned. Lind grounded out to 2b. 4
runs, 4 hits, 1 error, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 6th - WELLS flied out to cf. FANNING singled to second
base. FANNING stole second, advanced to third on a fielding error by ss. NAKAYAMA
flied out to cf, SF, RBI; FANNING scored. WALTON singled up the middle. WALTON out
at second c to ss, caught stealing. 1 run, 2 hits, 1 error, 0 LOB.
Univ. Washington 7th - Rasmussen pinch hit for Pearl. Rasmussen grounded out
to 3b. Rife grounded out to p. Wilcox singled up the middle. Burgher walked; Wilcox
advanced to second. Cherry pinch hit for Boyer. Cherry flied out to rf. 0 runs, 1
hit, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 7th - Cherry to 2b. Cox to ss for Lentz. Rasmussen to rf.
PARKER grounded out to 2b. KO singled to second base. JOHNSON, J. popped up to ss.
MUSSO homered to left field, 2 RBI; KO scored. HALL singled through the left side.
WELLS out at first 1b to p. 2 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Univ. Washington 8th - JENSEN to p for CRAIG. Cox doubled down the lf line.
Hague walked. Rindal singled to left field, RBI; Hague advanced to third; Cox
scored. Lind grounded out to ss, RBI; Rindal advanced to second; Hague scored.
Rasmussen homered to left field, 2 RBI; Rindal scored. Rife hit by pitch. STAMBAUGH
to p for JENSEN. Petersen pinch hit for Wilcox. Petersen grounded into double play
ss to 2b to 1b; Rife out on the play. 4 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 8th - Dunn to c for Petersen. Hagadone to p for McKerney.
FANNING reached on a fielding error by ss. NAKAYAMA flied out to cf. WALTON grounded
out to ss; FANNING advanced to second. PARKER singled to right field, RBI; FANNING
scored, unearned. KO singled to right field; PARKER advanced to third. MC KEEVER
pinch hit for JOHNSON, J.. MC KEEVER singled to second base, RBI; KO advanced to
second; PARKER scored, unearned. MUSSO singled to left field, RBI; MC KEEVER
advanced to second; KO scored, unearned. HALL singled to left field, RBI; MUSSO
advanced to second; MC KEEVER scored, unearned. WELLS struck out swinging. 4
runs, 5 hits, 1 error, 2 LOB.
Univ. Washington 9th - Burgher struck out swinging. Cherry hit by pitch. Cox
grounded out to 1b unassisted; Cherry advanced to second. Hague singled up the
middle, RBI; Cherry scored. Rindal struck out swinging. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1
LOB.