Perennial Power ASU Hosts BYU

Top-10 ranked Arizona State, 11-1, hosts BYU, 1-2, in a three-game series beginning this Thursday.

Arizona native Jeff Mousser (1-0, 2.84), a BYU junior, is scheduled to start in Thursday's game which starts at 7 p.m. In Tempe. Fellow righthander Michel Bergeron (0-1, 7.71), a junior transfer, is probable for Friday evening. In the third game, which will be played Saturday at 1 p.m., BYU Coach Vance Law has tapped freshman lefthander Ken Gravley (0-0, 7.71) for his first start.

Bergeron will fact ASU's Jered Liebeck, who was named the Collegiate Baseball National Pitcher of the Week after his complete-game three-hit shut over No. 13 Long Beach State last week. BYU's Mousser also landed an honor, the Mountain West Conference pitcher of the week, for his performance against Arizona. Mousser struck out nine in just over six innings of the 6-3 victory at Arizona, the first season opening loss in nine years for the Wildcats.

"This is going to be a big challenge for us," said Law. "ASU is traditionally a power we respect and we have a lot of work to do to redeem ourselves. We are a much better team than we showed last week."

The Cougars surrendered school records, 32 runs, 32 hits, 10 errors, and a 29-run margin in a 32-3 defeat during the final game last week at Arizona.

Third baseman Kainoa Obrey leads all of the Cougar starters with a .636 batting average, followed by Ryan Chambers at .583 and Ranger Wiens at .545.

The ASU games will be carried over a live webcast which can be linked through www.byucougars.com.