SAN -- Righthander Matt Jensen came in relief of extra innings to lead BYU to a 4-3 victory Friday over San Diego State.
Lefty Apana Nakayama had a lead-off double in the 13th to right-center. He scored two outs later when lefty Kasey Ko hit a deep single to second, putting BYU, now 30-18 and 13-7 in the Mountain West Conference, up 4-3 in the 13th inning.
"This was a big game for us to grind it out," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "I thought we had it won in the ninth with Blaine Howell cruising along. Jake Wortham gave us seven great innings."
It was a game of lefties in regulation play, with the Cougars being the beneficiary of left-handed batting from Leon Johnson and portside pitching of Wortham and Howell, but it went South in the ninth thanks to lefty Brandon Glover.
After striking out his first batter in the ninth, Howell gave up a single to the left-center alley to Glover. The combination of Glover and Brian Lucas worked for the second time in the game as Lucas singled up the middle to tie it up 3-3
Law shook up his lineup at the start of the game seeking more offense, moving Kent Walton to left field and starting Austin Hall at second base.
Leon Johnson led off the first inning with a home run to right field. He scored again in the third with a two-out double down the rightfield line and was driven in by Stephen Wells' single to put BYU up 2-1. Wells now leads the Cougars with an eight-game hitting streak.
The Aztecs first tied the score in the fourth when Glover hit a one-out double, then was driven in by Lucas' single up the middle. They tied the score again in the fifth when Pat Colwell singled, stole second and scored off
With the score tied two-all, BYU lost a golden scoring opportunity to regain the lead in the seventh. In that inning the Aztecs lost their starting pitcher and used two relievers to escape a bases loaded with one out situation.
The Cougars regained the lead, 3-2, in the eighth when Steve Parker hit a two-out single off the third Aztec reliever. Parker's poke was to the gap in left-center and drove in Wells, who had walked and stolen second.
Howell took the mound for the Cougars in the eighth, replacing Wortham, who surrendered five hits and struck out seven in as many innings. Howell retired the Aztecs, three-up, three-down.
With Jensen on the mound, the Cougars got a double play to end the 10th. They turned another double play to end the 11th when Austin Hall caught a pop-up and threw to first to get Glover out.
The Aztecs ended BYU's hope in the 11th when Well's warning-track blast to center was caught and Danny Vargas was thrown out at home. Vargas had gotten on board with a throwing error from his shortstop counterpart. Then Leon Johnson beat out a bunt single down the third baseline.
The two teams meet in a rubber match on Saturday at 1 p.m. PDT in a game televised live on The Mountain.
Brigham Young at San Diego State
May 11, 2007 at San Diego, Calif. (Tony Gwynn Stadium)
Brigham Young 4 (30-18,13-7 MWC)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
JOHNSON, Leon rf......... 6 2 3 1 0 0 2 0 4
WELLS, Stephen cf........ 5 1 1 1 1 0 3 0 1
NAKAYAMA, Apana dh....... 5 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1
WALTON, Kent lf.......... 6 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1
PARKER, Steve 3b......... 5 0 1 1 1 2 0 5 0
KO, Kasey 1b............. 5 0 1 1 1 1 14 1 1
HALL, Austin 2b.......... 4 0 0 0 1 2 4 4 1
MUSSO, J.T. c............ 4 0 0 0 1 2 14 1 0
VARGAS, Dan ss........... 5 0 0 0 0 2 1 3 0
WORTHAM, Jake p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
HOWELL, Blaine p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
JENSEN, Matt p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 45 4 7 4 6 12 39 17 9
San Diego State 3 (28-27,12-11 MWC)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
HANZAWA ss............... 6 0 1 1 0 3 3 2 1
SPIERS 1b................ 5 0 2 0 1 0 5 2 0
ROMERO 3b................ 5 0 0 0 1 2 2 1 1
LONIGRO c................ 6 0 0 0 0 2 13 0 0
GLOVER cf................ 5 2 3 0 0 1 3 1 0
LUCAS dh................. 3 0 2 2 1 0 0 0 0
DECKER pr............... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
GREEN 2b................. 5 0 2 0 0 0 8 2 2
COLWELL rf............... 5 1 1 0 0 2 3 0 1
CHASSE lf................ 3 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 0
JOHNSON ph.............. 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 2
HIRSCHFELD p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
MURPHY p................ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
SOLOW p................. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
KOONS p................. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
STRASBURG p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Totals................... 46 3 11 3 3 14 39 10 7
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------------
Brigham Young....... 101 000 010 000 1 - 4 7 0
San Diego State..... 010 010 001 000 0 - 3 11 2
-------------------------------------------------
E - HANZAWA; GREEN. DP - BYU 2; SDSU 1. LOB - BYU 9; SDSU 7. 2B - JOHNSON,
L.; NAKAYAMA; GLOVER 2. HR - JOHNSON, L.(4). SH - HALL. SB - WELLS 2;
COLWELL. CS - SPIERS 2.
Brigham Young IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
WORTHAM, Jake....... 7.0 5 2 2 2 7 25 27
HOWELL, Blaine...... 1.1 3 1 1 0 2 7 7
JENSEN, Matt........ 4.2 3 0 0 1 5 14 15
San Diego State IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
HIRSCHFELD.......... 6.0 3 2 2 4 4 20 24
MURPHY.............. 0.2 0 0 0 1 1 1 3
SOLOW............... 0.2 0 1 1 1 0 2 3
KOONS............... 0.2 1 0 0 0 1 3 3
STRASBURG........... 5.0 3 1 1 0 6 19 19
Win - JENSEN (5-4). Loss - STRASBURG (1-3). Save - None.
BK - WORTHAM; JENSEN.
Umpires - HP: Bill Van Raaphorst 1B: Ryan West 3B: Ray Belfiore
Start: 6:08 pm Time: 3:42 Attendance: 655
Brigham Young starters: 14/rf JOHNSON, L.; 1/cf WELLS; 24/dh NAKAYAMA; 9/lf WALTON;
5/3b PARKER; 22/1b KO; 18/2b HALL; 10/c MUSSO; 13/ss VARGAS; 28/p WORTHAM;
San Diego State starters: 1/ss HANZAWA; 3/1b SPIERS; 5/3b ROMERO; 40/c LONIGRO;
24/cf GLOVER; 15/dh LUCAS; 6/2b GREEN; 10/rf COLWELL; 23/lf CHASSE; 35/p HIRSCHFELD;
Brigham Young 1st - JOHNSON, L. homered to right field, RBI. WELLS flied out
to rf. NAKAYAMA fouled out to 3b. WALTON popped up to 2b. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors,
0 LOB.
San Diego State 1st - HANZAWA struck out looking. SPIERS grounded out to p.
ROMERO struck out looking. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young 2nd - PARKER struck out swinging. KO popped up to 2b. HALL
struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
San Diego State 2nd - LONIGRO flied out to cf. GLOVER doubled down the lf
line. LUCAS singled up the middle, RBI; GLOVER scored. GREEN grounded out to 3b;
LUCAS advanced to second. COLWELL struck out swinging. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1
LOB.
Brigham Young 3rd - MUSSO struck out looking. VARGAS struck out looking.
JOHNSON, L. doubled down the rf line. WELLS singled through the right side, RBI;
JOHNSON, L. scored. WELLS stole second. NAKAYAMA flied out to lf. 1 run, 2 hits,
0 errors, 1 LOB.
San Diego State 3rd - CHASSE struck out looking. HANZAWA grounded out to p.
SPIERS singled to left field. SPIERS out at second p to 1b to ss, caught stealing.
0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young 4th - WALTON popped up to 2b. PARKER grounded out to 1b
unassisted. KO flied out to cf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
San Diego State 4th - ROMERO walked. ROMERO advanced to second on a balk.
LONIGRO flied out to cf. GLOVER struck out swinging. LUCAS walked. GREEN grounded
out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Brigham Young 5th - HALL walked. MUSSO reached on a fielder's choice, bunt;
HALL out at second 1b to ss. VARGAS reached on a fielder's choice; MUSSO out at
second 3b to 2b. VARGAS out at first p to 1b, picked off. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0
errors, 0 LOB.
San Diego State 5th - COLWELL singled through the left side. CHASSE struck
out swinging; COLWELL stole second. HANZAWA singled through the right side, RBI,
advanced to second on the throw; COLWELL scored. SPIERS grounded out to 3b. ROMERO
grounded out to 2b. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young 6th - JOHNSON, L. flied out to rf. WELLS popped up to ss.
NAKAYAMA walked. WALTON reached on a fielder's choice; NAKAYAMA out at second 2b
unassisted. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
San Diego State 6th - LONIGRO grounded out to 2b. GLOVER flied out to lf.
LUCAS grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young 7th - PARKER walked. KO walked; PARKER advanced to second.
MURPHY to p for HIRSCHFELD. HALL out at first 1b to 2b, SAC, bunt; KO advanced to
second; PARKER advanced to third. MUSSO walked. VARGAS struck out swinging. SOLOW to
p for MURPHY. JOHNSON, L. reached on a fielder's choice; MUSSO out at second ss
unassisted. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 3 LOB.
San Diego State 7th - GREEN flied out to rf. COLWELL grounded out to 3b.
CHASSE struck out looking. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young 8th - WELLS walked. NAKAYAMA flied out to rf. KOONS to p for
SOLOW. WELLS stole second. WALTON struck out swinging. PARKER singled to left
center, RBI; WELLS scored. KO grounded out to 2b. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1
LOB.
San Diego State 8th - HOWELL to p for WORTHAM. HANZAWA struck out looking.
SPIERS grounded out to ss. ROMERO grounded out to 1b unassisted. 0 runs, 0 hits,
0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young 9th - STRASBURG to p for KOONS. HALL flied out to cf. MUSSO
grounded out to ss. VARGAS reached on a fielding error by 2b. JOHNSON, L. reached on
a fielder's choice; VARGAS out at second 2b unassisted. 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 error,
1 LOB.
San Diego State 9th - LONIGRO struck out swinging. GLOVER doubled to left
center. LUCAS singled up the middle, RBI; GLOVER scored. GREEN singled to second
base; LUCAS advanced to second. DECKER pinch ran for LUCAS. JENSEN to p for HOWELL.
COLWELL popped up to 2b. JOHNSON pinch hit for CHASSE. JOHNSON struck out looking.
1 run, 3 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Brigham Young 10th - JOHNSON to lf. WELLS fouled out to 3b. NAKAYAMA struck
out looking. WALTON struck out looking. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
San Diego State 10th - HANZAWA struck out swinging. SPIERS walked. ROMERO
grounded into double play 3b to 2b to 1b; SPIERS out on the play. 0 runs, 0 hits,
0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young 11th - PARKER flied out to lf. KO struck out swinging. HALL
struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
San Diego State 11th - LONIGRO grounded out to 3b. GLOVER singled to left
field. DECKER to dh. DECKER flied into double play 2b to 1b; GLOVER out on the play.
0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young 12th - MUSSO struck out swinging. VARGAS reached on a throwing
error by ss. JOHNSON, L. singled to third base, bunt; VARGAS advanced to second.
WELLS flied into double play cf to 2b to c; VARGAS advanced to third, out on the
play. 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 error, 1 LOB.
San Diego State 12th - GREEN singled up the middle. COLWELL struck out
looking. JOHNSON lined out to cf. GREEN advanced to second on a balk. HANZAWA flied
out to rf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young 13th - NAKAYAMA doubled to right center. WALTON grounded out to
p. PARKER struck out swinging. KO singled up the middle, RBI; NAKAYAMA scored. HALL
reached on a fielder's choice; KO out at second ss to 2b. 1 run, 2 hits, 0
errors, 1 LOB.
San Diego State 13th - SPIERS singled to second base. SPIERS out at second c
to 2b, caught stealing. ROMERO struck out looking. LONIGRO struck out looking. 0
runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.