Second Place New Mexico Comes to Provo

Aiming to move up the conference ladder, BYU takes on second place New Mexico in a three-game series at Larry H. Miller Field beginning Thursday.

Thursday and Friday's games begin at 7 p.m. with a noon start on Saturday.

The Cougars enter the series after winning four straight including a three-game sweep of Utah last week in Provo. BYU sits five games behind Mountain West Conference leader UNLV and 3 1/2 behind the Lobos with a 9-9 conference record and are 19-25 overall.

New Mexico ended the month of April in 1st place in the conference, but fell in the standings after losing two of three to San Diego State last week, dropping to 14-7 in the conference and 18-23-1 overall. Earlier this year in Albuquerque, the Lobos swept the Cougars in a three-game series. BYU is 61-38-1 all-time versus New Mexico and 4-6 in the last 10 meetings.

Once again, Patrick Wells (5-3, 5.53) is scheduled to start on Thursday and Nick Lemon (1-3, 5.04) on Friday with Saturday's starter to be determined. Against Utah last week, none of the starters received a decision with the bullpen recording all three victories.

Ryan Chambers enters the series carrying a hot bat. The junior outfielder comes in with a seven-game winning streak and has watched his batting average steadily increase to .278 and .366 in conference play. Against Utah, Chambers went 7-for-15 with six RBI, five runs scored and one home run. Largely responsible for Saturday's 14-9 win, Chambers finished with four RBI and went 4-for-6 in the final series game.

All three games will be broadcast live by KOVO 960 AM with veteran broadcaster Brent Norton calling the play-by-play. Saturday's broadcast is also available on the BYU Radio channel on DirecTV and the Dish Network as well as over the Internet. Live stats are available for all three games. Links to the webcasts and audiocast can be found on the BYU baseball's schedule page at www.byucougars.com.

A family pass for individual games is available for $60 to the general public or $50 for Cougar Club members or $30 to BYU students or employees. Individual Cougar Card prices are $30 to the general public or $20 for Cougar Club members or $15 to BYU students or employees through the Cougar Card option. Holders of these cards need to exchange tickets in advance the week of the game to obtain reserve tickets.

Individual game prices are $5 for adults or $4 students/BYU faculty or staff or $2 apiece for groups of 15 or more.