Strasburg Impressive In Stopping BYU

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PROVO -- Coming off a late-season stretch of three non-conference games earlier this week, BYU lost to San Diego State Thursday night 8-1 back in Mountain West Conference action.

The Cougars (19-32, 7-12 MWC) faced up against the Aztecs' (29-21, 20-13 MWC) Stephen Strasburg on the mound who was coming off of his sixth MWC Pitcher of the Week honor of 2008. Strasburg threw a complete game shutout against BYU as he only faced 30 batters and struck out almost half of the batters (15) he faced in throwing 127 pitches.

"He (Strasburg) could pitch right now in the major leagues," BYU coach Vance Law said. "In my opinion he may be the best pitcher in the country right now. I was also proud of Jordan (Muir) as he had a strong performance for us on the mound and kept us right in the game while he was in."

Jordan Muir pitched seven complete innings for the Cougars. He had six strikeouts and only gave up four runs and six hits. Offensively for BYU, Kent Walton was the only player to reach base safely twice. Walton had single sneak through the right side of the infield in the fourth inning and was walked in the seventh.

The start of the game proved to be a pitchers' duel as neither school was able to make a mark on the scoreboard through the first three innings. Muir started on the hill for BYU as Strasburg got the starting nod for the Aztecs.

Strasburg recorded five strikeouts through the first three frames as he faced the minimum nine Cougar batters through that time period. With an ERA of 1.43, Strasburg came into this game in the top five in the country in that pitching category.

San Diego State was the first team to break into the scoring column in the top of the fourth inning. The Aztecs' first run came off of a solo homerun to centerfield by Nick Romero.

SDSU designated hitter, Bubba Ruddy, was at the heart of two more runs his team scored in the fourth. Ruddy hit a triple to centerfield which scored Brandon Glover from third and then Ruddy was knocked in with a sacrifice fly ball off the bat of Erik Castro. By the time the last out was made in the top of the fourth, the Aztecs were up 3-0.

The Cougars saw their first man cross the plate in the bottom of the fourth. BYU's top of the line up helped produce the run. Lead-off batter Sean McNaughton reached base with a fielders' error. McNaughton advanced to third on a single by Walton and then McNaughton scored on a wild pitch during an at bat for Kasey Ko.

At the end of the fourth frame, San Diego State was on top of the Cougars 3-1. The Aztecs never looked back from this lead as they cruised to another MWC victory.

BYU was not able to get its bats going on the night. The Cougars were only able to muster up two hits against the great performance of SDSU pitcher Strasburg.

The Aztecs scattered five additional runs throughout the game which led to the 8-1 victory. Garett Green led SDSU with two RBI from the fifth spot in the batting order. Castro tacked on a second home run for the visiting team over the right-field fence in the sixth inning.

These two teams will be back in action on Friday at Miller Park at 7 p.m. This game will be televised on BYUTV.

San Diego State at Brigham Young Univ.
May 08, 2008 at Provo, Utah (Larry H.Miller Field)
San Diego State 8 (29-21,15-7 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
COLWELL rf...............  4  1  0  0   1  0  2  0   0
DECKER lf................  4  1  1  0   0  2  0  0   1
HANZAWA ss...............  5  0  0  0   0  0  1  3   0
ROMERO 3b................  4  2  2  1   1  1  0  0   0
GREEN 2b.................  4  1  2  2   0  1  2  2   0
GLOVER cf................  4  1  1  0   1  1  3  0   3
RUDDY dh.................  4  1  1  1   1  0  0  0   0
CASTRO c.................  2  1  1  2   2  1 14  1   0
TANOS 1b.................  5  0  0  0   0  2  5  0   6
STRASBURG p..............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 36  8  8  6   6  8 27  6  10
Brigham Young Univ. 1 (19-32,7-12 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
MCNAUGHTON, Sean lf......  4  1  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
VARGAS, Dan ss...........  4  0  0  0   0  1  2  1   0
WALTON, Kent cf..........  3  0  1  0   1  0  2  0   1
KO, Kasey 1b.............  3  0  0  0   0  1 10  0   0
PARKER, Steve 3b.........  3  0  0  0   0  3  2  4   1
CLUFF, Jonathan rf.......  3  0  0  0   0  3  1  0   0
RELF, Brandon 2b.........  3  0  0  0   0  3  2  5   0
AYOSO, Bryce dh..........  3  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
MUSSO, J.T. c............  3  0  1  0   0  2  8  1   0
MUIR, Jordan p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 MICHON, Brandon p.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 WARD, Michael p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 29  1  2  0   1 15 27 11   2
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
San Diego State..... 000 301 004 -  8  8  1
Brigham Young Univ.. 000 100 000 -  1  2  5
-------------------------------------------
E - GREEN(7); VARGAS(27); PARKER 2(21); MUSSO 2(6). DP - SDSU 1. LOB - SDSU
10; BYU Cougars 2. 2B - ROMERO(10); GREEN 2(13). 3B - RUDDY(1). HR -
ROMERO(11); CASTRO(5). HBP - GREEN. SH - DECKER(2). SF - CASTRO(3). SB -
GLOVER(4).
San Diego State        IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
STRASBURG...........  9.0  2  1  0  1 15 29 30
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
MUIR, Jordan........  7.0  6  4  4  4  6 26 32
MICHON, Brandon.....  1.0  0  0  0  1  2  3  4
WARD, Michael.......  1.0  2  4  2  1  0  7  9
Win - STRASBURG (8-1).  Loss - MUIR (2-6).  Save - None.
WP - STRASBURG(5). HBP - by MUIR (GREEN).
Umpires - HP: Keith Bailey  1B: Ray Belfiore  3B: Jeff Richardson
Start: 7:09 pm   Time: 2:29   Attendance: 756
San Diego State starters: 10/rf COLWELL; 2/lf DECKER; 1/ss HANZAWA; 5/3b
ROMERO; 6/2b GREEN; 24/cf GLOVER; 40/dh RUDDY; 15/c CASTRO; 12/1b TANOS; 37/p
STRASBURG;
Brigham Young Univ. starters: 15/lf MCNAUGHTON; 13/ss VARGAS; 9/cf WALTON;
22/1b KO; 5/3b PARKER; 8/rf CLUFF; 4/2b RELF; 11/dh AYOSO; 10/c MUSSO; 12/p
MUIR;
San Diego State 1st - COLWELL popped up to c. DECKER struck out
swinging. HANZAWA grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 1st - MCNAUGHTON flied out to cf. VARGAS struck out
swinging. WALTON grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
San Diego State 2nd - ROMERO flied out to cf. GREEN doubled to right
center. GLOVER walked. RUDDY reached on a fielder's choice; GLOVER out at
second 2b to ss; GREEN advanced to third. CASTRO walked; RUDDY advanced to
second. TANOS struck out swinging. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 3 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 2nd - KO grounded out to ss. PARKER struck out
swinging. CLUFF struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
San Diego State 3rd - COLWELL grounded out to 3b. DECKER struck out
swinging, out at first c to 1b. HANZAWA grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits,
0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 3rd - RELF struck out swinging. AYOSO flied out to
rf. MUSSO struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
San Diego State 4th - ROMERO homered to center field, RBI. GREEN struck
out looking. GLOVER singled to center field. GLOVER stole second, advanced to
third on a throwing error by c. RUDDY tripled to center field, RBI; GLOVER
scored. CASTRO flied out to cf, SF, RBI; RUDDY scored. TANOS grounded out to
2b. 3 runs, 3 hits, 1 error, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 4th - MCNAUGHTON reached on a fielding error by 2b.
VARGAS flied out to cf. WALTON singled through the right side; MCNAUGHTON
advanced to third. WALTON advanced to second; MCNAUGHTON scored on a wild
pitch, unearned. KO struck out looking. PARKER struck out swinging. 1 run, 1
hit, 1 error, 1 LOB.
San Diego State 5th - COLWELL grounded out to 2b. DECKER singled to left
center. DECKER advanced to second on a throwing error by c. HANZAWA grounded
out to 3b. ROMERO walked. GREEN hit by pitch; ROMERO advanced to second; DECKER
advanced to third. GLOVER struck out swinging. 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 error, 3
LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 5th - CLUFF struck out swinging. RELF struck out
swinging. AYOSO struck out looking. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
San Diego State 6th - RUDDY grounded out to 2b. CASTRO homered to right
field, RBI. TANOS lined out to 2b. COLWELL walked. DECKER popped up to 3b. 1
run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 6th - MUSSO struck out swinging. MCNAUGHTON struck
out swinging. VARGAS flied out to rf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
San Diego State 7th - HANZAWA flied out to rf. ROMERO struck out
swinging. GREEN grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 7th - WALTON walked. KO grounded into double play 2b
to 1b; WALTON out on the play. PARKER struck out swinging, out at first c to
1b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
San Diego State 8th - MICHON to p for MUIR. GLOVER popped up to ss.
RUDDY walked. CASTRO struck out swinging. TANOS struck out looking. 0 runs,
0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 8th - CLUFF struck out swinging. RELF struck out
swinging. AYOSO grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
San Diego State 9th - WARD to p for MICHON. COLWELL reached on a
throwing error by ss, advanced to second. DECKER reached on a fielder's choice,
advanced to second on an error by 3b, SAC, bunt; COLWELL scored, unearned.
HANZAWA popped up to 3b. ROMERO doubled to left field; DECKER advanced to
third. GREEN doubled down the rf line, 2 RBI; ROMERO scored; DECKER scored.
GLOVER grounded out to 2b; GREEN advanced to third. RUDDY reached on a fielding
error by 3b; GREEN scored, unearned. CASTRO walked; RUDDY advanced to second.
TANOS popped up to 2b. 4 runs, 2 hits, 3 errors, 2 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 9th - MUSSO singled to third base. MCNAUGHTON flied
out to cf. VARGAS popped up to 2b. WALTON reached on a fielder's choice; MUSSO
out at second 2b to ss. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.