Fast Start Leads to Home Opening Win

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PROVO -- A six-run first inning led BYU to an 8-4 win over San Diego State in the baseball home opener at Larry H. Miller Field on Thursday night.

With the victory the Cougars improve to 11-10 overall and 2-2 in the Mountain West Conference. The Aztecs drop to 6-16 on the year and 2-2 in league play.

Sophomore Taylor Cole picked up his third win of the season on the mound for the Cougars, going six innings and giving up two earned runs on five hits while striking out three and walking two. Leading the way at the plate was senior Ryan Bernal going 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored. Freshman Jaycob Brugman also contributed with two hits and two RBI.

“Well it is nice to jump out to a lead and it sure gives us a nice cushion for a starter,” head coach Vance Law said. “We’ve had that twice in the last two ball games and had nice two-out rallies. That’s really big when you have a team that doesn’t give up on their at bats.”

Bernal brought home junior Alex Wolfe on a double in the right-center gap to give the Cougars an early 1-0 lead in the first inning. After a walk to freshman Dillon Robinson, junior Wes Guenther singled home Bernal to add on to BYU’s run total. Later in the inning Robinson was brought home on a bases-loaded walk to junior Austin Hall.

After an early pitching change for the Aztecs in the first inning, Brugman hit the first pitch he saw to right field to bring home two more runs. Junior Stephen Wells came up for the second time in the inning and singled to right for another run to give the Cougars a 6-0 lead.

BYU’s starting pitcher Cole hit two batters in the top of the fourth inning en route to San Diego State picking up one run to make the score 6-2 in favor of the Cougars. An error by shortstop Andrew Law on a groundball hit by Aztec left fielder Tim Zier towards up the middle cost another two runs to make it 6-4.

The Cougars would get the runs back quickly on back-to-back RBI singles from Wolfe and Bernal to extend BYU’s lead to 8-4 in the bottom of the fourth inning.

“That tells you how resilient our hitters are,” Cole said. “San Diego State is a good hitting team and it shows how resilient our hitters are. Our guys really

hit the ball well throughout the game and I am really proud of them.”

Junior Matthew Neil gave BYU two scoreless innings in relief to preserve the lead and senior Justin Shutt struck out the side despite giving up a double in the ninth to secure the Cougars' victory.

BYU and SDSU play the second game of the three-game series on Friday at 6 p.m. MT.

San Diego State at Brigham Young Univ.
Mar 24, 2011 at Provo, Utah (Larry H Miller Field)
San Diego State 4 (6-16,2-2 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
ZIER, Tim lf.............  5  0  1  0   0  1  3  0   2
COLWELL, Pat 3b..........  4  0  0  0   0  1  0  1   2
MEREDITH, Brandon 1b.....  5  0  0  0   0  1  8  1   1
TORRES, Jomel dh.........  2  2  2  0   2  0  0  0   0
WILSON, Chris rf.........  4  1  2  0   0  1  1  0   1
HAYNAL, Brad c...........  3  0  0  0   0  1  5  5   3
SLADER, Cody ss..........  3  1  1  1   0  0  2  2   0
SMITH, Cody cf...........  4  0  2  1   0  1  2  0   0
POTTER, Evan 2b..........  3  0  1  0   0  1  2  1   0
MILLER, Ethan p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 RASMUSSEN, Craig p......  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  2   0
Totals................... 33  4  9  2   2  7 24 12  10
Brigham Young Univ. 8 (11-10,2-2 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
WELLS, Stephen cf........  5  1  2  1   0  1  2  0   1
LAW, Andrew ss...........  5  1  2  0   0  0  1  5   0
WOLFE, Alex c............  4  1  2  1   0  1  7  2   1
BERNAL, Ryan lf..........  3  1  2  2   1  0  1  0   0
ROBINSON, Dillon 3b......  3  1  0  0   1  2  0  3   1
GUENTHER, Wes dh.........  4  1  2  1   0  1  0  0   3
HALL, Austin 1b..........  3  1  0  0   1  1 12  0   0
NIELSEN, Dane 2b.........  3  1  1  1   1  0  3  3   0
BRUGMAN, Jaycob rf.......  4  0  2  2   0  1  1  0   0
COLE, Taylor p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  2   0
 NEIL, Matthew p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 SHUTT, Justin p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 34  8 13  8   4  7 27 15   7
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
San Diego State..... 010 300 000 -  4  9  0
Brigham Young Univ.. 600 200 00X -  8 13  2
-------------------------------------------
E - LAW(8); BRUGMAN(2). DP - BYU 1. LOB - SDSU 10; BYU 7. 2B - TORRES(7);
WILSON(5); BERNAL(6). 3B - BRUGMAN(3). HBP - TORRES; WILSON; SLADER; POTTER;
WOLFE. SH - COLWELL(3); HAYNAL,B.(1). SB - SMITH(5). CS - SLADER(1);
GUENTHER(2).
San Diego State        IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
MILLER, Ethan.......  0.2  3  6  6  3  0  5  8
RASMUSSEN, Craig....  7.1 10  2  2  1  7 29 31
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
COLE, Taylor........  6.0  5  4  2  2  3 20 28
NEIL, Matthew.......  2.0  3  0  0  0  1  9  9
SHUTT, Justin.......  1.0  1  0  0  0  3  4  4
Win - COLE (3-1).  Loss - MILLER (2-3).  Save - None.
WP - RASMUSSEN(2). HBP - by RASMUSSEN (WOLFE); by COLE (TORRES); by COLE
(WILSON); by COLE (SLADER); by COLE (POTTER). BK - RASMUSSEN(3).
Umpires - HP: Ray Leible  1B: Blake Jensen  3B: AJ Wendel
Start: 6:02 pm   Time: 2:41   Attendance: 614
Weather: cloudy, 50 degrees, breezy
Game notes:
Game 1 of 3
San Diego State starters: 12/lf ZIER; 10/3b COLWELL; 0/1b MEREDITH; 8/dh
TORRES; 5/rf WILSON; 23/c HAYNAL,B.; 17/ss SLADER; 32/cf SMITH; 14/2b POTTER;
33/p MILLER;
Brigham Young Univ. starters: 5/cf WELLS; 6/ss LAW; 18/c WOLFE; 10/lf BERNAL;
3/3b ROBINSON; 9/dh GUENTHER; 26/1b HALL; 16/2b NIELSEN; 4/rf BRUGMAN; 8/p
COLE;
San Diego State 1st - ZIER singled to shortstop. COLWELL grounded into
double play ss to 1b; ZIER out on the play. MEREDITH grounded out to 3b. 0
runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 1st - WELLS grounded out to 2b. LAW grounded out to
ss. WOLFE singled to second base. BERNAL doubled to center field, RBI; WOLFE
scored. ROBINSON walked. GUENTHER singled up the middle, RBI; ROBINSON advanced
to second; BERNAL scored. HALL walked; GUENTHER advanced to second; ROBINSON
advanced to third. NIELSEN walked, RBI; HALL advanced to second; GUENTHER
advanced to third; ROBINSON scored. RASMUSSEN to p for MILLER. BRUGMAN singled
to right field, 2 RBI; NIELSEN advanced to third; HALL scored; GUENTHER scored.
WELLS singled to right field, RBI; BRUGMAN advanced to second; NIELSEN scored.
BRUGMAN out at second c to ss, picked off. 6 runs, 5 hits, 0 errors, 1
LOB.
San Diego State 2nd - TORRES walked. WILSON doubled down the lf line;
TORRES advanced to third. HAYNAL,B. struck out swinging. SLADER singled to
third base, RBI; WILSON advanced to third; TORRES scored. SMITH struck out
looking. SLADER out at second c to 2b, caught stealing. 1 run, 2 hits, 0
errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 2nd - LAW popped up to rf. WOLFE hit by pitch. WOLFE
advanced to second on a wild pitch. BERNAL walked. ROBINSON struck out
swinging. GUENTHER struck out swinging, out at first c to 1b. 0 runs, 0
hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
San Diego State 3rd - POTTER singled to shortstop. ZIER flied out to rf;
POTTER advanced to second on a throwing error by rf. COLWELL grounded out to p,
SAC, bunt; POTTER advanced to third. MEREDITH grounded out to 2b. 0 runs, 1
hit, 1 error, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 3rd - HALL grounded out to 3b. NIELSEN popped up to
2b. BRUGMAN flied out to lf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
San Diego State 4th - TORRES hit by pitch. WILSON hit by pitch; TORRES
advanced to second. HAYNAL,B. grounded out to p, SAC, bunt; WILSON advanced to
second; TORRES advanced to third. SLADER hit by pitch. SMITH singled through
the right side, RBI; SLADER advanced to second; WILSON advanced to third;
TORRES scored. POTTER struck out looking. ZIER reached on a fielding error by
ss; SMITH advanced to third; SLADER scored, unearned; WILSON scored, unearned.
COLWELL reached on a fielder's choice; ZIER out at second 3b to 2b. 3 runs,
1 hit, 1 error, 2 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 4th - WELLS singled up the middle. WELLS advanced to
second on a balk. LAW singled, bunt; WELLS advanced to third. WOLFE singled to
right field, RBI; LAW advanced to third; WELLS scored. BERNAL singled to right
center, RBI; WOLFE advanced to second; LAW scored. WOLFE out at second c to ss,
picked off. ROBINSON struck out looking. GUENTHER grounded out to p. 2 runs,
4 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
San Diego State 5th - MEREDITH flied out to cf. TORRES walked. WILSON
reached on a fielder's choice; TORRES out at second 3b to 2b. HAYNAL,B. flied
out to cf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 5th - HALL fouled out to 1b. NIELSEN singled to
right center. BRUGMAN struck out looking. WELLS flied out to lf. 0 runs, 1
hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
San Diego State 6th - SLADER grounded out to ss. SMITH flied out to lf.
POTTER hit by pitch. ZIER grounded out to 2b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1
LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 6th - LAW singled to left field. WOLFE struck out
swinging. BERNAL grounded out to c; LAW advanced to second. ROBINSON flied out
to lf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
San Diego State 7th - NEIL to p for COLE. COLWELL grounded out to ss.
MEREDITH grounded out to ss. TORRES singled up the middle. WILSON singled to
pitcher; TORRES advanced to second. HAYNAL,B. grounded out to 2b. 0 runs, 2
hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 7th - GUENTHER singled to right field. GUENTHER out
at second p to 1b to ss to p, caught stealing. HALL struck out looking. NIELSEN
flied out to cf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
San Diego State 8th - SLADER grounded out to ss. SMITH singled to left
center. POTTER grounded out to c unassisted, interference. SMITH stole second.
ZIER struck out swinging, out at first c to 1b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1
LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 8th - BRUGMAN tripled to left field. WELLS struck
out swinging, out at first c to 1b. LAW popped up to 2b. WOLFE flied out to cf.
0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
San Diego State 9th - SHUTT to p for NEIL. COLWELL struck out looking.
MEREDITH struck out looking. TORRES doubled to center field. WILSON struck out
looking. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.