PROVO -- Jesse Craig's arm and a pair of home runs delivered the 12-1 win for BYU against Southern Utah University on Tuesday night.
Southern Utah's (11-40) starting pitcher Kyle Melling got into some trouble early, walking leadoff batter Leon Johnson and that was all BYU (29-17) needed to produce some runs. The next batter Stephen Wells hit a double to left field that brought Johnson in to score. After Melling walked Apana Nakayama, Kent Walton came to the plate and blasted a three-run home run over the left field wall, giving the Cougars a commanding 4-0 lead after the first inning.
Craig had another dominating performance on his way to the win improving him to 9-2 on the year. Walton's home run in the first inning extends his current hitting streak to six games. It also gave him a share of the team-high of 38 RBI on the season. Nakayama, who shares that team-high, hit a homer in the sixth that gave him his team leading 10th on the year. Wells went three-for-three with three RBI and was just a home run short of a cycle, just like Nakayama last game at New Mexico.
"We've really worked our hitting in practice," Wells said. "I felt good at the plate tonight and as a team we didn't want to lose to Southern Utah again."
Craig gave up a lead-off single to the Thunderbirds in the first, but his infield defense came up big turning a double play and picking up a ground ball out to end the SUU threat.
BYU retired the SUU side in order in the second with Craig striking out one and forcing the other two to ground out. The Cougars added to their lead in the bottom frame as shortstop Dan Vargas scored on a fielder's choice making the score 5-0 in favor of BYU.
"Our pitching staff has done a really great job," said Coach Vance Law. "It was a key for us tonight. Craig is a very good pitcher, he's very dominant. I'm anxious to see what happens with the draft in June, I feel like Craig is one of the top pitchers out there."
In the top of the third the Cougar defense once again came up big behind Craig turning another double play. BYU was stifled offensively in the bottom of the inning as for the first time in the game it wasn't able bring a run in to score.
Steve Parker made a fabulous throw from third to first to end the top of the fourth, as the BYU defense continued to play well behind Craig. J.T. Musso started things off with a bang for the Cougars offensively hitting a leadoff triple, followed by a Vargas single, followed by a Johnson single that scored Musso and advanced Vargas to third. With a man on first and third, Wells hit a sacrifice fly to score Vargas and give BYU a 7-0 lead.
Southern Utah finally got on the scoreboard in the top of the fifth with a single to right field by Keli'i Zablan that brought in Robert Sandstrom to score. Johnson prevented any further damage as he made a diving catch in center field to end the inning.
David Parry replaced Craig in the sixth and got off to a difficult start walking the leadoff man. Parry settled down though, striking out two and forcing another batter to pop out to end the top of inning. In the bottom of that inning the Cougars added a couple of runs highlighted by a solo shot over the right field wall by Nakayama making the score 9-1.
With the T-birds threatening with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh, Parry came up big forcing the batter to fly out to right field. In the bottom frame the Cougars loaded the bases with one out and had Austin Hall up to bat. Hall delivered reaching on an error as a run came across the plate. Wells was up next and hit a sacrifice fly to score another run. With a man on first and third and two outs, Nakayama delivered hitting a single to score another run extending the BYU lead to 12-1.
Clayton Barnes came in to pitch in the eighth for the Cougars and looked sharp striking out one and only allowing one man on due to a walk.
Up next for BYU they head to San Diego State for a three-game series. SDSU is currently third in the Mountain West Conference trailing second place BYU by two-and-a-half games. The first game will take place on Thursday at 6 p.m. Sophomore Jordan Muir, 5-3, will be on the mound for the Cougars. Craig pitches again on Saturday in the game televised live by The Mountain at 1 p.m., PDT.
Southern Utah at Brigham Young Univ.
May 08, 2007 at Provo, Utah (Larry H.Miller Field)
Southern Utah 1 (11-40)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
ZABLAN, Keli`i ss........ 4 0 2 1 0 0 2 3 0
BEZZANT, Matthew ph..... 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
NELSON, Cameron c........ 5 0 2 0 0 0 4 1 2
WILSON, Chester 3b....... 3 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 0
ALVAREZ, Ricardo pr/cf.. 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
FORD, Colby 2b.......... 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 1 0
AONA, Bucky 1b........... 4 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 4
WRIGHT, Joe lf........... 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
PENA, Derek lf.......... 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
SANDSTROM, Robert rf..... 4 1 1 0 0 2 3 0 0
ROMNEY, Jacob cf......... 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 2
NIELSEN, Tyler dh........ 2 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1
NELSON, Mac 2b/3b........ 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 4 0
RICHARDS, Robbie ph..... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
MELLING, Kyle p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
JOB, Derek p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
HAMMAN, Kyle p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
EVERETT, Devin p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 33 1 8 1 3 5 24 10 11
Brigham Young Univ. 12 (29-17)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
JOHNSON, Leon rf......... 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0
HALL, Austin rf......... 1 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 0
WELLS, Stephen cf........ 3 2 3 3 0 0 4 0 0
NAKAYAMA, Apana lf....... 3 2 2 3 2 0 0 0 0
JENSEN, Matt lf......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
WALTON, Kent 2b.......... 5 1 1 3 0 0 4 4 3
PARKER, Steve 3b......... 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 2
KO, Kasey 1b............. 2 0 1 0 1 0 7 0 0
BILLS, Thomas 1b........ 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0
FRAMPTON, Chase dh....... 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
MC KEEVER, Mike ph...... 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0
MUSSO, J.T. c............ 3 1 1 0 0 1 4 0 1
GUENTHER, Wes c......... 2 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0
VARGAS, Dan ss........... 4 3 2 0 1 1 1 3 3
CRAIG, Jesse p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
PARRY, David p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
BARNES, Clayton p....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
PEREZ, Jacob p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 36 12 15 11 7 5 27 11 9
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Southern Utah....... 000 010 000 - 1 8 2
Brigham Young Univ.. 410 202 30X - 12 15 1
-------------------------------------------
E - SANDSTROM(2); NELSON, M.(2); MUSSO. DP - Thunderbirds 2; BYU Cougars 2.
LOB - Thunderbirds 11; BYU Cougars 9. 2B - WELLS(9). 3B - WELLS(5);
MUSSO(5). HR - NAKAYAMA(11); WALTON(7). HBP - PENA; ROMNEY. SF - WELLS 2(4).
SB - JOHNSON, L.(23); WELLS(4); NAKAYAMA(7). Reached on CI - NIELSEN.
Southern Utah IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
MELLING, Kyle....... 3.0 8 7 7 3 1 16 19
JOB, Derek.......... 2.0 1 0 0 2 1 5 8
HAMMAN, Kyle........ 1.1 3 5 3 2 2 7 9
EVERETT, Devin...... 1.2 3 0 0 0 1 8 9
Brigham Young Univ. IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
CRAIG, Jesse........ 5.0 5 1 1 0 2 18 20
PARRY, David........ 2.0 2 0 0 2 2 8 11
BARNES, Clayton..... 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 3 4
PEREZ, Jacob........ 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 4 4
Win - CRAIG (9-2). Loss - MELLING (0-3). Save - None.
WP - HAMMAN(2). HBP - by CRAIG (ROMNEY); by PARRY (PENA). CI - MUSSO.
Umpires - HP: Jon Clark 1B: Blyden Loutensock 3B: Matt Marziale
Start: 6:06 pm Time: 2:46 Attendance: 888
Game notes:
Game 3 of this season between SUU and BYU.
MELLING faced 3 batters in the 4th.
Southern Utah starters: 7/ss ZABLAN; 18/c NELSON, C.; 28/3b WILSON, C.; 36/1b AONA;
12/lf WRIGHT; 25/rf SANDSTROM; 9/cf ROMNEY; 10/dh NIELSEN; 13/2b NELSON, M.; 17/p
MELLING;
Brigham Young Univ. starters: 14/rf JOHNSON, L.; 1/cf WELLS; 24/lf NAKAYAMA; 9/2b
WALTON; 5/3b PARKER; 22/1b KO; 16/dh FRAMPTON; 10/c MUSSO; 13/ss VARGAS; 35/p CRAIG;
Southern Utah 1st - ZABLAN singled up the middle. NELSON, C. grounded into
double play 2b to ss to 1b; ZABLAN out on the play. WILSON, C. singled down the lf
line. AONA grounded out to 2b. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 1st - JOHNSON, L. walked. WELLS doubled to left field,
RBI; JOHNSON, L. scored. NAKAYAMA walked. NAKAYAMA stole second; WELLS stole third.
WALTON homered to left field, 3 RBI; NAKAYAMA scored; WELLS scored. PARKER flied out
to cf. KO singled to shortstop. FRAMPTON flied out to cf. MUSSO struck out swinging,
out at first c to 1b. 4 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Southern Utah 2nd - WRIGHT grounded out to ss. SANDSTROM struck out swinging.
ROMNEY grounded out to p. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 2nd - VARGAS singled to shortstop. JOHNSON, L. grounded
out to 3b; VARGAS advanced to second. WELLS singled to right field; VARGAS advanced
to third. NAKAYAMA reached on a fielder's choice, RBI; WELLS out at second 2b to ss;
VARGAS scored. WALTON popped up to 2b. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Southern Utah 3rd - NIELSEN reached on catcher's interference. NELSON, M.
flied out to cf. ZABLAN lined into double play 2b to 1b; NIELSEN out on the play.
0 runs, 0 hits, 1 error, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 3rd - PARKER walked. KO grounded into double play ss to
1b; PARKER out on the play. FRAMPTON flied out to rf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0
LOB.
Southern Utah 4th - NELSON, C. singled to left field. WILSON, C. flied out to
rf. AONA grounded out to 3b; NELSON, C. advanced to second. WRIGHT grounded out to
3b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 4th - PENA to lf for WRIGHT. MUSSO tripled to right
center. VARGAS singled to shortstop. JOHNSON, L. singled up the middle, RBI; VARGAS
advanced to third; MUSSO scored. JOB to p for MELLING. WELLS flied out to rf, SF,
RBI; VARGAS scored. JOHNSON, L. stole second. NAKAYAMA walked. WALTON flied out to
rf. PARKER flied out to lf. 2 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Southern Utah 5th - SANDSTROM singled to left field. ROMNEY hit by pitch;
SANDSTROM advanced to second. NIELSEN struck out swinging. NELSON, M. reached on a
fielder's choice; ROMNEY out at second ss to 2b; SANDSTROM advanced to third. ZABLAN
singled to right field, RBI; NELSON, M. advanced to second; SANDSTROM scored.
NELSON, C. flied out to cf. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 5th - KO walked. FRAMPTON singled to third base; KO
advanced to second. MUSSO grounded into double play ss to 2b to 1b; FRAMPTON out on
the play. VARGAS struck out swinging. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Southern Utah 6th - PARRY to p for CRAIG. WILSON, C. walked. AONA flied out
to cf. PENA hit by pitch; WILSON, C. advanced to second. SANDSTROM struck out
swinging. ROMNEY struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 6th - HAMMAN to p for JOB. JOHNSON, L. struck out
swinging. WELLS tripled to left center. WELLS scored on a wild pitch. NAKAYAMA
homered to right field, RBI. WALTON popped up to 2b. PARKER grounded out to 2b. 2
runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Southern Utah 7th - HALL to rf for JOHNSON, L.. BILLS to 1b for KO. GUENTHER
to c for MUSSO. NIELSEN walked. NELSON, M. reached on a fielder's choice; NIELSEN
out at second 2b unassisted. ZABLAN flied out to rf. NELSON, C. singled to right
field; NELSON, M. advanced to second. WILSON, C. singled to second base; NELSON, C.
advanced to second; NELSON, M. advanced to third. ALVAREZ pinch ran for WILSON, C..
AONA flied out to rf. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 3 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 7th - FORD to 2b for ALVAREZ. ALVAREZ to cf for FORD.
FORD to 2b for ROMNEY. NELSON, M. to 3b. BILLS walked. MC KEEVER pinch hit for
FRAMPTON. MC KEEVER struck out looking. GUENTHER singled to right field, advanced to
second on a fielding error by rf; BILLS advanced to third. VARGAS walked. EVERETT to
p for HAMMAN. HALL reached on a fielding error by 3b, RBI; VARGAS advanced to
second; GUENTHER advanced to third; BILLS scored. WELLS flied out to cf, SF, RBI;
VARGAS advanced to third; GUENTHER scored, unearned. NAKAYAMA singled to right
field, RBI; HALL advanced to second; VARGAS scored, unearned. WALTON reached on a
fielder's choice; NAKAYAMA out at second 3b to 2b. 3 runs, 2 hits, 2 errors, 2
LOB.
Southern Utah 8th - BARNES to p for PARRY. PENA grounded out to 2b. SANDSTROM
flied out to rf. FORD to 2b for ROMNEY. FORD walked. NIELSEN struck out swinging.
0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 8th - ALVAREZ to cf for JENKINS. PARKER grounded out to
2b. BILLS singled to right field. MC KEEVER singled to left field; BILLS advanced to
second. GUENTHER struck out looking. VARGAS reached on a fielder's choice; MC KEEVER
out at second ss to 2b. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Southern Utah 9th - PEREZ to p for BARNES. RICHARDS pinch hit for NELSON, M..
JENSEN to lf for NAKAYAMA. RICHARDS flied out to lf. BEZZANT pinch hit for ZABLAN.
BEZZANT singled to left field. NELSON, C. flied out to cf. ALVAREZ reached on a
fielder's choice; BEZZANT out at second 3b to 2b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1
LOB.