SAN DIEGO -- Hawai'i freshman Kainoa Obrey's 11th-inning solo home run Saturday afternoon lifted BYU to a 7-6 victory over San Diego State.
Obrey had been robbed a couple of times driving in runs with men on during the series, but powered that lead-off homer to left center. Obrey's homer and subsequent third save by pitcher Todd Crump gave SDSU reliever John Skinner the loss, now 1-5, after two consecutive nights of saves.
The Cougars, now 19-14 overall and 9-3 in the Mountain West Conference, had taken an early 3-1 lead by virtue of a two-run homer from Aaron Whitley in the second inning and a solo homer by Craig Peterson in the third.
BYU remained scoreless until the eighth inning when it scored two runs off singles from Ty Haguewood and Nick Day. In the bottom of that inning eventual winning pitcher Rusty Gray, now 1-1, came in and gave up one hit.
In the ninth, the Cougars tied the game with an unearned run when Matt Carson reached on a lead-off error. Carson advanced around the bases off a Whitley sacrifice bunt, Obrey's ground-out and scored off Nate Mathis' two-out single.
The Aztecs, who had tallied four stolen bases, were caught on four other attempts, including one in the 10th inning.
BYU had moment's of brilliance in the finale, like starting pitcher James Ray striking out the side in consecutive order during the third inning. BYU stranded 15 runners on base and used 20 different players in the three hour, 52-minute marathon.
SDSU, who won the previous two games, 6-3 and 7-3, had taken a 6-3 lead after scoring four runs off reliever Nate Fernley in the sixth inning.
The victory moved BYU into second place in the MWC, breaking a tie with the Aztecs, who are now 20-17 and 8-4.
BYU next plays Southern Utah in a three-game series on Tuesday and Wednesday in Provo at noon both days.
The Automated ScoreBook
Brigham Young at San Diego State
Apr 1, 2000 at San Diego, Calif. (Tony Gwynn Stadium)
Brigham Young 7 (19-14,9-3 MWC)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
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Coughlan 2b.............. 7 1 2 0 0 0 1 1 3
Perry 2b................ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Peterson 1b.............. 4 1 2 1 0 0 7 1 1
Haguewood ph/1b......... 2 0 1 1 0 1 3 1 0
Day cf................... 4 0 2 1 1 0 2 0 0
Jackson pr/cf........... 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Davies c................. 5 0 1 0 1 0 5 3 2
Belliston pr............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Cloward c............... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0
Carson rf................ 3 2 2 0 2 0 5 0 0
Whitley lf............... 5 1 1 2 0 2 1 0 2
Obrey 3b................. 6 1 1 1 0 0 2 1 7
Rock dh.................. 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0
Greene pr............... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Mathis ss................ 6 1 2 1 0 1 3 4 0
Ray p.................... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0
Fernley p............... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Gray p.................. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Opdahl p................ 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Crump p................. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 47 7 14 7 6 4 33 14 15
San Diego State 6 (20-17,8-4 MWC)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Montgomery cf............ 4 2 1 1 2 1 4 0 0
Pierce lf................ 5 2 2 1 1 1 2 1 0
Lockhart rf.............. 6 0 3 3 0 2 7 0 2
Echelbarger 1b........... 3 0 0 0 1 0 4 0 1
Chop 1b................. 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 1 0
G. Cook dh............... 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
Litteral ph/dh.......... 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Gonzalez 3b.............. 5 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2
Ricardy 2b............... 4 0 1 0 1 0 3 4 0
Rogers c................. 4 1 2 0 1 0 5 2 0
Lee ss................... 3 1 0 0 1 0 3 1 3
Shortell p............... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Julianel p.............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Dunwell p............... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ring p.................. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Skinner p............... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0
Totals................... 40 6 10 5 7 6 33 10 9
Score by Innings R H E
----------------------------------------------
Brigham Young....... 021 000 021 01 - 7 14 2
San Diego State..... 100 014 000 00 - 6 10 3
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E - Mathis; Ray; Echelbarger 2; Lee. DP - SDSU 1. LOB - BYU 15; SDSU 9. 2B -
Lockhart; Rogers. HR - Peterson(2); Whitley(4); Obrey(5). HBP - Carson. SH -
Whitley; Lee. SB - Pierce 2; G. Cook; Gonzalez. CS - Peterson; Lockhart; G.
Cook; Ricardy.
Brigham Young IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Ray................. 5.0 4 2 1 5 3 18 23
Fernley............. 2.0 4 4 4 1 1 10 11
Gray................ 1.0 1 0 0 1 0 3 5
Opdahl.............. 2.1 1 0 0 0 1 7 7
Crump............... 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 2 2
San Diego State IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Shortell............ 2.1 2 3 3 5 1 9 14
Julianel............ 1.2 1 0 0 0 1 6 6
Dunwell............. 3.1 4 1 1 0 1 15 16
Ring................ 0.0 2 1 1 0 0 2 2
Skinner............. 3.2 5 2 1 1 1 15 17
Win - Gray (1-1). Loss - Skinner (1-5). Save - Crump (3).
HB - Dunwell.
Umpires - Home:Jeff Jenkins 1st:Dan Pederson 3rd:Dan Perugini
Start: 2:00 pm Time: 3:52 Attendance: 484