Former major leaguers Tony Gwynn and Vance Law lead their teams on a collision course this week in Provo with hopes for second place in the Mountain West Conference.
Law's BYU Cougars, now 20-22 and 14-10 in the MWC, host Gwynn's San Diego State Aztecs, 22-27 and also 14-10, in a three-game series which starts Thursday.
Thursday's game will also be televised live by KBYU-TV channel 11 and BYU-TV nationally, starting at 7 p.m., with Jay Monsen and Gary Sheide calling the action.
"Our series could determine who ends up in second place, depending on what happens this weekend with UNLV at New Mexico," said Law. "Our games with San Diego State could determine our destiny depending on how well we play this week. It helped to get back on track with our play last week against Utah. We know our situation to go to a regional depends on winning the league tournament."
BYU and SDSU are six games out of first place, but only two behind New Mexico. With two weeks left in the regular season before the tournament at Albuquerque, this week's play is important.
Scheduled to start on the mound for BYU Thursday is Jeff Mousser (5-5, 5.38). Paul Jacinto (7-5, 4.01) is the probable BYU starter for Friday's game at 7 p.m. And southpaw Ken Gravley (3-1, 4.92) is the projected starter for Saturday's game which begins at 1 p.m.
In the latest NCAA statistics through May 4, BYU's Kainoa Obrey is ranked 27th in RBI at 1.22 per game and tied for 15th in doubles with teammate Ranger Wiens at 0.46 average a game. BYU's Doug Jackson is tied for fourth in triples. The Cougars are ranked 24th in batting average at .322 and 17th in runs scored at 8.2. San Diego State is not mentioned in any of the NCAA rankings.
The Aztecs hosted UC Riverside on Tuesday night before readying to come to Provo. SDSU won two of the three games earlier this season in San Diego in Gwynn's first year at the helm.
All of the BYU-SDSU games will be carried live locally over KOVO Radio 960 AM and live on the Internet through links on www.byucougars.com.
The BYU-SDSU games are the final home league games for the Cougars, who host Southern Utah on Monday and Tuesday in non-conference games to close the home season at Miller Park. The Cougars close the MWC season next week at the Air Force Academy.