Two of the nation's winningest baseball teams square off Tuesday when BYU hosts Lewis-Clark State at 3 p.m., at Larry H. Miller Field.
The Cougars, 23-8-2, host the Warriors, who bring a 28-5 record and a No. 2 ranking in the NAIA division to Provo.
You can nearly count on just two hands the teams who have beaten these two teams. In BYU's case it is UC Irvine, Oklahoma State, Oral Roberts, New Mexico, and UNLV, all teams which it has also beaten, and Oregon State. For the Warriors, their losses have been only to British Columbia, Portland, Washington State, Oregon Tech and Eastern Oregon.
LCSC has also beaten Utah Valley State, 18-3, and the Warriors will play at UVSC the day after competing at BYU. Lewis and Clark State has won 13 NAIA National championships (1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2002, and 2003).
After the Cougars play LCSC, BYU then hosts San Diego State in a three-game Mountain West Conference series starting on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Matt Jensen (4-0, 4.18) is scheduled to start on the mound for BYU against LCSC on Tuesday. Reigning MWC Pitcher of the Week, Dave Horlacher (3-1, 2.94), will start for BYU on Thursday. Brandon Christiansen (3-0, 4.00) is the Cougars' starting pitcher for Friday. Saturday's BYU hurler is yet to be determined due to the ankle injury to Blake Torgerson (4-2, 5.36).
Friday's BYU-SDSU game at 7 p.m., will also be televised live nationally on BYUTV and locally by KBYU channel 11 with Jay Monsen and Gary Sheide calling the action.
This weekend at Miller Park there will be doubleheaders with BYU baseball and softball. The Cougar softball team hosts Colorado State at 5 and 7 p.m., then on Saturday it hosts New Mexico at 2 and 4 p.m.
BYU's baseball team is now receiving votes in two of the four national baseball polls, again in the NCBWA (National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association) and now the Sports Weekly/ESPN College Baseball Coaches Poll.
A multi-page release can be found by downloading the PDF file at the top of this story, which gives a detailed analysis of the Cougars.