May 24, 2002
Provo, Utah - Landon Burt's double to the right field wall in the bottom of the ninth scored Riley Barrett from first base and gave San Diego State an 11-10 victory over Brigham Young at the Mountain West Conference Tournament in Provo, Utah, Friday afternoon. Burt's heroics thwarted a Cougar comeback that saw them rally from a 9-4 deficit to take a 10-9 lead in the eighth inning.
San Diego State (43-21) moves on to the title game Saturday while BYU (26-29-1) must face the winner of the UNLV-Utah game later Friday night for the right to play for the tourney championship tomorrow against the Aztecs.
After BYU had taken a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, the Aztecs tied the game in the bottom of that inning on Jake McLintock's leadoff home run, his second of the tournament and eighth of the season. They added three more in that frame to take a 4-1 lead.
The Cougars put up a three-spot in the third, but SDSU answered back with four more in the bottom of the inning, then added one in the fourth to assume a 9-4 advantage. From that point, BYU reliever Jeff Stone kept the Aztec offense in check until late in the contest.
For the Aztecs, sophomore Drew Jenson turned in an impressive relief performance himself, allowing three runs on three hits over 4.1 innings of work. It was Jenson's longest outing as an Aztec and almost equaled his previous season total of 4.2 innings over 10 appearances.
Brigham Young began its comeback with a pair of runs in the sixth, and added two more in both the seventh and eighth innings to take a 10-9 lead. The Aztecs finally got to Stone for a run in the bottom of the eighth. Singles by Carlo Cota and Jon Stephens set the stage for McLintock's two-out RBI single up the middle to knot the score at 10-10.
SDSU relief specialist Royce Ring came on in the ninth with one out and a runner on second, and proceeded to retire the two batters he faced. He was credited with the win and improved to 5-1 on the season.
The Cougars' Tyler Dabo (2-2), who had come on in the eighth, opened the bottom of the ninth with a walk to SDSU designated hitter Ryan Wilson. Riley Barrett then came on as pinch runner, and the junior from Red Deer, Alberta, raced home on Burt's hit.
McLintock finished his day with five hits including a triple, home run, two RBI and three runs scored. Burt had two hits with three RBI on the day while four others, including Cota with three runs batted in, had two hits apiece
The win advances the Aztecs to the championship game Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. (MDT). SDSU will play the survivor of the two elimination games set for later Friday involving UNLV, Utah and Brigham Young. The Aztecs will need to win only once on Saturday to claim the tourney title while the team coming out of the losers bracket will have to defeat San Diego State twice to win it all.
Saturday's action can be heard live on the Internet at www.goaztecs.com beginning with the Aztec Pregame Show ten minutes prior to game time (1:50 p.m. Pacific time).
San Diego State 11, Brigham Young 10BYU 013 002 220 - 10 15 1SDS 044 100 011 - 11 17 2Fernley, Stone (3), Dabo (8) and BirkelandHarrand, Jenson (3), Carque (7), Harang (7), Human (8), Ring (9) and ManfredW - Ring (5-1)L - Dabo (2-2)Sv - NoneHR - BYU: Stubblefield (6th-none on) SDS: McLintock (2nd-none on)Time - 3:26