April 15, 2005
PROVO, Utah - Brigham Young designated hitter Apana Nakayama capped off a four-run ninth-inning rally with a two-RBI double to left center that enabled the Cougars to defeat San Diego State, 13-12, Friday night at Larry H. Miller field in Provo, Utah. It was a game that saw the Aztecs go ahead early, fall behind, come back to take the lead, and eventually lose in the final frame.
The victory propelled Brigham Young (25-9-1; 11-3 MWC) back into first place in the Mountain West Conference standings after UNLV dropped its game at Utah earlier in the day. SDSU (10-23; 5-6 MWC), meanwhile, dropped back into fourth place in the league standings.
San Diego State jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first thanks to the graciousness of the Cougar defense, which committed two errors in the frame. The visitors added single runs in the second and fourth to take a 6-0 advantage as starter Bruce Billings sailed through the first three innings.
But Billings was the victim of an SDSU error and a ball lost in the twilight as BYU rallied for five runs in the bottom of the fourth. The big blow in the inning was a grand slam by third baseman Brandon Taylor.
The Cougars took a 7-6 lead in the next frame on RBIs from Jeff Hiestand and Ryan Chambers, but SDSU battled back with four in the seventh as it got RBIs from Tim O'Brien, Jake McLintock and Sam Pepper to make it a 10-7 contest.
BYU added single tallies to its total in both the seventh and eight to close the score to 10-9, but the Aztecs added what looked to be a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth on a two-run homer by James Guerrero.
But Brigham Young had the final word as it scored four times in its final at bat with the game-winning run coming at the expense of freshman reliever Andres Esquibel (2-5). Cougar left-hander Lance Beus (1-0), who had come on in the seventh, was the beneficiary of the ninth-inning rally as he picked up his first win of the season.
For San Diego State, Guerrero finished his night with three hits including a double, triple, home run and four runs batted in. Quintin Berry, who extended his hitting streak to 21 games, had a four-hit game while senior right fielder Jake McLintock had three hits (single, double, triple) and drove in a pair of runs.
The Aztecs and Cougars will play the rubber game of their three game series on Saturday, April 16, beginning at 1:00 p.m. (MDT) in Provo.
Brigham Young 13, San Diego State 12SDS 410 100 402 - 12 14 3BYU 000 520 114 - 13 13 4Billings, Bruckart (7), Douglas (7), Coon (8), Esquibel (9) and SwaydanChristiansen, Bingham (5), Su'a (7), Beus (7) and ClowardW - Beus (1-0)L - Esquibel (2-5)Sv - NoneHR - SDS: Guerrero (2) BYU: Taylor (12)Time - 3:41Att. - 2,369