May 11, 2006
PROVO, Utah - Brigham Young came from behind twice, scoring the final five runs of the game as it defeated San Diego State, 9-5, Thursday night at Larry H. Miller Field in Provo. The loss dropped the Aztecs two games behind first-place TCU in the loss column and allowed both BYU and New Mexico to gain ground on SDSU's hold on second place in the league standings.
San Diego State (20-33; 13-7 MWC) came out swinging in the first inning, loading the bases on consecutive singles by Paul Smyth, Brock Ungricht and Curt Mendoza with two outs. Second baseman Nick Romero then shot a double down the right field line, clearing the bases and staking the visitors to a 3-0 lead.
SDSU starting pitcher Justin Masterson sailed through the first three innings, retiring eight in a row after giving up a one-out single in the first. However, he ran into trouble in the fourth as a double by Marcos Villezcas was followed by a two-run homer by first baseman Jeff Hiestand to cut SDSU's lead to 3-2.
Two innings later, the Cougars (25-25; 10-7 MWC) took their first lead of the night, scoring a pair of runs. With the bases loaded and one out, Nick Romero made a fine play on a grounder behind second, flipping the ball to Lance Zawadzki covering second as a run scored. Zawadzki then threw to third in an attempt to pick off the runner, but his throw sailed into the BYU dugout, allowing another run to come in and make it 4-3 in favor of the home team.
SDSU came back in the top of the seventh, retaking the lead on a two-run bases-loaded single by Smyth. But it was the Aztecs' last meaningful hit of the evening as reliever Josh Barrett effectively shut down the San Diego State offense from that point.
Brigham Young responded in the bottom of the inning, scoring three times on RBI singles by Villezcas and Ben Saylor plus a wild pitch on which Villezcas scored from third later in the frame to take a 7-5 lead. Villezcas spelled trouble for the Aztecs all night as he went 5-for-5 with a pair of doubles, two runs scored and two RBI.
The Cougars added a pair of insurance runs in the eighth off Masterson, who saw his record fall to 6-6. Barrett (2-0) claimed the victory, going the final 2.2 innings while striking out three.
Paul Smyth was SDSU's top hitter with three hits and two RBI while teammate Brock Ungricht had two hits and scored once.
San Diego State and Brigham Young will continue their three-game series on Friday (May 12) at 7:00 p.m. (MDT).
Brigham Young 9, San Diego State 5SDS 300 000 200 - 5 10 2BYU 000 200 32x - 6 12 1Masterson, Simon (8) and SwaydanMuir, Barrett (7) and NelsonW - Barrett (2-0)L - Masterson (6-6)Sv - NoneHR- BYU: Hiestand-9 (4th-one on)Att. - 1,619Time - 2:42