March 22, 2002
Provo, Utah - San Diego State came from behind twice, then held on to defeat Brigham Young, 9-7, in game two of the schools' three-game series at Larry Miller Field in Provo Friday night. The win gave the Aztecs (20-9) their 20th win of the season and moved them into sole possession of first place in the Mountain West Conference at 4-1, a half-game ahead of New Mexico (3-1) which lost to Air Force earlier in the day. The Cougars saw their record fall to 9-14-1 overall and 3-2 in league play.
SDSU starter Rory Shortell was touched up for three runs over the first two innings as Brigham Young jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Included in that run was a two-run home run by first baseman David Jenson in the opening inning, the first of his two homers on the night.
The Aztecs fought back to take the lead with four runs in the fifth as they batted around and scored four times with two out. A bases-loaded fielder's choice by Carlo Cota drove in SDSU's opening run and was followed by a two-RBI single off the bat of Chad Corona. After a walk to Jon Stephens, Jake McLintock put the Aztecs ahead with an RBI single to right.
The lead was short-lived, however, as Brigham Young answered back with two runs in their half of the fifth. Jensen led off the inning with his second homer of the game to knot the score at 4-4. After second baseman Rob Itri singled with one out, a wild pickoff throw by Shortell moved him to third base. Daryl Harang then came on in relief for SDSU, only to uncork a wild pitch, scoring Itri with the go-ahead run.
San Diego State came back to take the lead in the next inning, scoring twice on a Garrett Cook RBI double and a pair of Cougar errors that allowed to Cook to score later in the frame. The Aztecs padded their lead with three in the seventh with the big blow a two-out-two-RBI single by Cota.
BYU fought back with single runs in each of their final two at bats, but SDSU called upon closer Royce Ring to throw the final 1.2 innings. It was the ninth time he was called upon in a save situation this season, and again he was successful.
Ring gave up a pair of hits, one unearned run and struck out two to record his ninth save of the year to equal his total of the 2001 season. In the process, he established a new career save mark of 18, surpassing the old mark held by former Baltimore Orioles pitcher Mark Williamson.
Sophomore Daryl Harang, who threw the middle two innings and allowed only one hit while striking out one batter, picked up the win to improve his record to 2-1 on the year.
All told, SDSU racked up 15 hits on the night led by Taber Lee, Carlo Cota and Garrett Cook with three apiece. It marked the fourth consecutive game in which the Aztecs have reached double figures in hits.
San Diego State and Brigham Young will wrap up their three-game series on Saturday (March 23) at 1:00 p.m. (MST) in Provo. The game can be heard live on the Internet beginning 10 minutes prior to start time with the Aztec pre-game show hosted by Alan Horton.
San Diego State 9, Brigham Young 7SDS 000 042 300 - 9 15 3BYU 210 020 011 - 7 13 4Shortell, Harang (5), Fiedler (7), Ring (8) and ManfredAdams, Stone (6), Fernley (6), Ray (8), Dabo (9) and Birkeland, Weingarten (9)W - Harang (2-1)L - Stone (0-4)Sv - Ring (9)HR - BYU: Jensen (1st-one on and 5th-none on)Att. - 1,748Time - 3:26