Wortham Paces Win Over Aztecs

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PROVO -- Two home runs and 13 hits solidified the BYU baseball team's (20-32, 8-12) 10-4 victory over San Diego State (29-22, 15-8) on Friday.

Both Stever Parker and Sean McNaughton blasted the ball out of the park. McNaughton shined throughout the evening. He went 3-for-4 and currently claims a .362 batting average.

The entire team proved to be hot at the plate and outplayed the Aztecs offensively, earning 13 hits over San Diego State's nine.

"We did a good job tonight at the plate," said BYU head coach Vance Law. "We executed well, especially with our situational hitting. Some real good things happened at the plate."

As a result, pitcher Jake Wortham said he was able to relax a bit. He now is at 6.75 ERA after throwing 129 pitches in six of the nine innings enroute to improving his record to 4-4.

"Everything felt pretty good tonight," Wortham said. "It's always good when the guys come out firing. It's really easy to settle down and throw strikes.

The Cougars stepped out early in the game when lead-off batter, McNaughton hit a single up the middle. Later in the inning Kent Walton hit a sacrifice fly to center, allowing McNaughton to score.

Though BYU jumped out to a lead in the first, the Cougars got hot at the plate during the second, scoring five runs off four hits on the inning. The momentum started when Parker, the first Cougar to take the bat, hit a solo home run to right field. With the bases loaded Andrew Law hit a single to right field, allowing Brandon Relf and Jonathan Cluff to score.

"One of the key at bats tonight was when Andrew [Law] hit a base hit to the right side," coach Law said. "It ended up being a big at bat. We were able to get two runs out of it and continue to score after that. It was exceptional."

Even after a pitching change by the San Diego State, BYU still kept scoring. The first run came off a sacrifice fly by Walton, allowing J.T. Musso to advance home. That run proved to be the game winning RBI. On the same play Law scored on a fielding error. The Cougars topped the Aztecs 6-0 at the close of the second inning.

San Diego State responded in the fourth scoring. With Aztec's Brandon Decker in scoring position, Nick Romero hit a RBI single to right field. As runners stood on the corners, the very next batter grounded out to third base allowing another run for San Diego State. The Aztecs again scored in the fifth as they hit another RBI single.

After three scoreless innings, the Cougars stepped up offensively again in the bottom of the sixth. BYU scored four runs off five hits in the inning alone. Much like the second inning, the hot hitting got started when McNaughton blasted a two-run homer to left field. Later Kasey Ko hit a two-run double down the rightfield line. The Cougars finished the inning leading the Aztecs 10-3.

San Diego State reduced the scoring margin in the seventh as the Aztecs scored one run on the inning. But, it wasn't enough as the Cougars finished the game.

Though the Cougars still have one more home game, the BYU team is now looking forward to its competition next week. The Cougars will go head-to-head with University of Utah in the Deseret First Duel. The three-game series with the Utes will start on Thursday at 6 p.m. in Salt Lake.

Wortham said the team is ready to face its in-state rival one last time.

"Any time we play up there everyone steps it up a little bit," Wortham said. "We know we can beat any team, but pitchers have to throw strikes and batters have to be ready to hit, just play a clean game."

The Cougars will finish the three-game series against the Aztecs on Saturday at 1 p.m. It will be the final home game of the season for BYU.

San Diego State at Brigham Young Univ.

May 09, 2008 at Provo, Utah (Larry H.Miller Field)

San Diego State 4 (29-22,15-8 MWC)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB

------------------------------------------------------

COLWELL, Pat rf.......... 5 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 3

DECKER, Brandon lf....... 4 1 1 0 1 0 3 0 0

HANZAWA, Troy ss......... 5 1 2 1 0 1 3 2 0

ROMERO, Nick 3b.......... 5 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 3

GREEN, Garett 2b......... 4 0 0 1 0 0 1 3 0

GLOVER, Brandon cf....... 3 0 1 0 1 1 2 0 0

RUDDY, Bubba c........... 3 0 1 0 1 0 6 2 0

VAUGHN, Cory dh.......... 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 3

WILLEFORD, Mike 1b....... 2 1 1 0 2 0 6 2 0

MCLAUGHLIN, James p...... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

MURPHY, J.R. p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

BERGER, Jon p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

PULLEN, Brandon p....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0

Totals................... 35 4 9 4 5 3 24 12 9

Brigham Young Univ. 10 (20-32,8-12 MWC)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB

------------------------------------------------------

MCNAUGHTON, Sean lf...... 4 2 3 2 1 0 0 0 0

VARGAS, Dan ss........... 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 3 0

WALTON, Kent cf.......... 3 1 1 2 0 1 3 0 1

KO, Kasey 1b............. 3 0 1 2 2 2 15 0 0

PARKER, Steve 3b......... 4 1 1 1 0 1 0 4 0

CLUFF, Jonathan rf....... 3 1 2 0 1 0 3 0 0

RELF, Brandon dh......... 3 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1

MUSSO, J.T. c............ 4 1 1 0 0 1 3 0 3

LAW, Andrew 2b........... 4 2 2 2 0 0 3 6 0

HERMOSILLO, Kiko 2b..... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0

WORTHAM, Jake p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0

AMERSON, Sean p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Totals................... 32 10 13 9 5 6 27 17 6

Score by Innings R H E

-------------------------------------------

San Diego State..... 000 210 100 - 4 9 1

Brigham Young Univ.. 150 004 00X - 10 13 0

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E - HANZAWA(11). DP - BYU Cougars 1. LOB - SDSU 9; BYU Cougars 6. 2B -

VAUGHN(6); KO(11); CLUFF(17). HR - MCNAUGHTON(14); PARKER(8). SH -

VARGAS(6). SF - WALTON 2(5). SB - MCNAUGHTON(21); WALTON(14). CS -

MCNAUGHTON(8); VARGAS(6).

San Diego State IP H R ER BB SO AB BF

-----------------------------------------------

MCLAUGHLIN, James... 1.0 5 6 5 2 1 6 10

MURPHY, J.R......... 4.0 4 2 2 3 3 14 18

BERGER, Jon......... 0.0 3 2 2 0 0 3 3

PULLEN, Brandon..... 3.0 1 0 0 0 2 9 9

Brigham Young Univ. IP H R ER BB SO AB BF

-----------------------------------------------

WORTHAM, Jake....... 6.1 7 4 4 4 2 25 29

AMERSON, Sean....... 2.2 2 0 0 1 1 10 11

Win - WORTHAM (4-4). Loss - MCLAUGHLIN (3-1). Save - None.

WP - WORTHAM 2(2). PB - RUDDY(6).

Umpires - HP: Ray Belfiore 1B: Jeff Richardson 3B: Keith Bailey

Start: 7:08 pm Time: 3:13 Attendance: 921

MCLAUGHLIN faced 6 batters in the 2nd.

MURPHY faced 2 batters in the 6th.

BERGER faced 3 batters in the 6th.

San Diego State starters: 10/rf COLWELL; 2/lf DECKER; 1/ss HANZAWA; 5/3b

ROMERO; 6/2b GREEN; 24/cf GLOVER; 40/c RUDDY; 21/dh VAUGHN; 9/1b WILLEFORD;

31/p MCLAUGHLIN;

Brigham Young Univ. starters: 15/lf MCNAUGHTON; 13/ss VARGAS; 9/cf WALTON;

22/1b KO; 5/3b PARKER; 8/rf CLUFF; 4/dh RELF; 10/c MUSSO; 6/2b LAW; 28/p

WORTHAM;

San Diego State 1st - COLWELL grounded out to 2b. DECKER grounded out to

2b. HANZAWA struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.

Brigham Young Univ. 1st - MCNAUGHTON singled up the middle. MCNAUGHTON

stole second. VARGAS reached on a fielder's choice, SAC, bunt; MCNAUGHTON

advanced to third. VARGAS out at first p to 1b to ss to 1b, picked off. WALTON

flied out to cf, SF, RBI; MCNAUGHTON scored. KO struck out swinging. 1 run,

1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.

San Diego State 2nd - ROMERO grounded out to 2b. GREEN flied out to cf.

GLOVER flied out to cf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.

Brigham Young Univ. 2nd - PARKER homered to right field, RBI. CLUFF

singled to left field. RELF walked; CLUFF advanced to second. MUSSO singled to

pitcher; RELF advanced to second; CLUFF advanced to third. LAW singled to right

field, 2 RBI; MUSSO advanced to third; RELF scored; CLUFF scored. MCNAUGHTON

walked; LAW advanced to second. MURPHY to p for MCLAUGHLIN. VARGAS fouled out

to 1b. WALTON flied out to cf, SF, RBI; MCNAUGHTON advanced to second; LAW

advanced to third, scored on a fielding error by ss, unearned; MUSSO scored.

MCNAUGHTON advanced to third on a passed ball. KO walked. MCNAUGHTON out at

home c to ss to c, caught stealing. 5 runs, 4 hits, 1 error, 1 LOB.

San Diego State 3rd - RUDDY singled to right field. VAUGHN grounded into

double play 3b to 2b to 1b; RUDDY out on the play. WILLEFORD grounded out to

3b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.

Brigham Young Univ. 3rd - PARKER grounded out to 2b. CLUFF doubled to

left field. RELF flied out to rf. MUSSO struck out looking. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0

errors, 1 LOB.

San Diego State 4th - COLWELL grounded out to 2b. DECKER walked. HANZAWA

singled to center field; DECKER advanced to second. ROMERO singled to right

field, RBI; HANZAWA advanced to third; DECKER scored. GREEN grounded out to 3b,

RBI; ROMERO advanced to second; HANZAWA scored. GLOVER walked. GLOVER advanced

to second; ROMERO advanced to third on a wild pitch. RUDDY walked. VAUGHN flied

out to rf. 2 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 3 LOB.

Brigham Young Univ. 4th - LAW flied out to lf. MCNAUGHTON singled to

right field. VARGAS flied out to lf. WALTON struck out swinging, out at first c

to 1b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.

San Diego State 5th - WILLEFORD walked. COLWELL grounded out to p;

WILLEFORD advanced to second. DECKER grounded out to ss; WILLEFORD advanced to

third. HANZAWA singled up the middle, RBI; WILLEFORD scored. HANZAWA advanced

to second on a wild pitch. ROMERO grounded out to 3b. 1 run, 1 hit, 0

errors, 1 LOB.

Brigham Young Univ. 5th - KO walked. PARKER reached on a fielder's

choice; KO out at second 2b to ss. CLUFF walked; PARKER advanced to second.

RELF struck out swinging. MUSSO lined out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 2

LOB.

San Diego State 6th - GREEN grounded out to p. GLOVER struck out

swinging. RUDDY grounded out to 2b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.

Brigham Young Univ. 6th - LAW singled to center field. MCNAUGHTON

homered to left field, 2 RBI; LAW scored. BERGER to p for MURPHY. VARGAS

singled to shortstop. WALTON singled through the right side; VARGAS advanced to

third. WALTON stole second. KO doubled down the rf line, 2 RBI; WALTON scored;

VARGAS scored. PULLEN to p for BERGER. PARKER struck out swinging. CLUFF flied

out to rf. RELF grounded out to 2b. 4 runs, 5 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.

San Diego State 7th - VAUGHN singled to third base. WILLEFORD singled

down the rf line; VAUGHN advanced to third. COLWELL reached on a fielder's

choice, RBI; WILLEFORD out at second ss to 2b; VAUGHN scored. DECKER singled to

right field; COLWELL advanced to second. AMERSON to p for WORTHAM. HANZAWA

popped up to 2b. ROMERO struck out swinging. 1 run, 3 hits, 0 errors, 2

LOB.

Brigham Young Univ. 7th - MUSSO flied out to lf. LAW grounded out to p.

MCNAUGHTON popped up to 2b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.

San Diego State 8th - HERMOSILLO to 2b for LAW. GREEN grounded out to

2b. GLOVER singled to right center. RUDDY flied out to rf. VAUGHN doubled down

the rf line; GLOVER advanced to third. WILLEFORD walked. COLWELL flied out to

cf. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 3 LOB.

Brigham Young Univ. 8th - VARGAS singled to right field. VARGAS out at

second p to 1b to ss, caught stealing. WALTON flied out to rf. KO struck out

looking. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.

San Diego State 9th - DECKER flied out to rf. HANZAWA grounded out to

2b. ROMERO grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.