Friday, February 22, 2002

Brigham Young
brings it on

The Cougars score a run
in the seventh inning to break
a tie and beat the 'Bows

---

By Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.com

Jeff Mousser struck out the side, including two Rainbows looking, in the bottom of the ninth inning to complete five innings of two-hit relief for Brigham Young to secure a 7-6 victory over Hawaii last night in the first game of the nonconference series.

The Cougars broke a 6-6 tie with a run in the seventh inning for the win. It marked the first time they have won consecutive games this season. Hawaii fell to 5-6 for the season. BYU is 4-10.

BYU tied the score at 6 in the fourth on a double to left-center field by Ranger Wiens and Doug Jackson's line single to center.

The Cougars took the lead in the seventh when Rob Itai singled to center, stole second and scored on Dave Jensen's two-out single to center.

The Rainbows had scoring opportunities in the seventh and eighth innings but couldn't produce a key hit against Mousser.

Brent Cook walked to start the seventh and stole second, but remained there as Gregg Omori grounded out and Scooter Martines flied out to right. Cortland Wilson then reached on an error and Chad Boudon walked to load the bases, but Lane Nogawa grounded out.

In the eighth, Brian Bock singled to center and was sacrificed to second by Arthur Guillen. Pinch hitter Derek Honma took three consecutive pitches for strikes and sat down. Cook beat out a slow roller toward third, sending Bock to third, but Omori grounded into a fielder's choice, forcing Cook at second, ending the inning.

"They came to play with passion and we didn't. If you can't play with passion against a team like this, conference champs, you're going to get beat," said UH coach Mike Trapasso. "Their guy (Mousser) put up five zeros and a lot of credit goes to him, but we came out flat."

UH starter Bryan Lee labored early and the Cougars took advantage with five runs in the first three innings.

Cameron Coughlan singled with one out in the first and took second when Nogawa bobbled Matt Carson's grounder and had to settle for the out at first instead of trying for the double play.

Itai followed with a homer over the right-field wall on a 1-2 pitch. The hit came one pitch after his foul fly to right dropped in front of Boudon, who slowed down, perhaps losing the ball in the lights.

The Rainbows came back in the second inning on Boudon's one-out single to right and Bock's two-out home run over the left-field wall. It was Bock's second homer in two games and came in consecutive at-bats.

BYU roughed Lee up again in the top of the third inning which started with a walk to Coughlan, who moved to third on Itai's single to center. Lee then wild pitched Coughlan home and Itai to second.

After fanning Kainoa Obrey, Lee gave up a bloop double down the left-field line to Jensen that scored Itai. Jake Stubblefield followed with a single to right, scoring Jensen. Lee got out of the inning, but was replaced by William Quaglieri to start the fourth.

"Bryan just didn't have it from the start. He didn't have it in the bullpen," said Trapasso.

Hawaii answered with four runs in the bottom of the third to take a brief 6-5 lead.

Cook walked, took second on Omori's single to left and stole third. Martines' single to left scored Cook and advanced Omori to second. Wilson walked, loading the bases. The runners moved up a base and Omori scored on Boudon's groundout. On Nogawa's bouncer to third, Obrey threw high to first for a two-base error allowing Martines and Wilson to score.

BYU 7, Hawaii 6 BYU (4-10) AB R H BI Hawaii (5-6) AB R H BI Jackson cf 5 0 1 0 Mocny dh 3 0 0 0 Coughlan lf 4 2 2 0 Honma ph 1 0 0 0 Carson rf 5 0 0 0 Cook 3b 3 1 2 0 Itri 2b/3b 5 3 3 1 Omori 1b 4 1 1 0 Obrey 3b 3 0 1 0 Martines lf 5 1 1 1 Yi 2b 1 0 0 0 Wilson ss 4 1 0 0 Jensen 1b 4 1 2 2 Bouden rf 3 1 1 1 Stubblefield dh 4 0 1 1 Nogawa 2b 4 0 0 2 Birkeland c 4 0 0 0 Bock c 3 1 2 2 Wiens ss 4 1 3 0 Guillen cf 3 0 0 0 Totals 39 7 13 5 Totals 33 6 7 6 BYU 203 100 100 -- 7 13 2 Hawaii 024 000 000 -- 6 7 0 E--Obrey, Yi. DP--BYU none, Hawaii 1. LOB--BYU 7, Hawaii 9. 2B--Jensen, Wiens. 3B--none. HR--Itri, Bock (2). SH--Guillen. SF--none. SB--Coughlan, Itri, Wiens, Cook 2, Omori, Boudon. CS--Mocny, Boudon. BYU IP H R ER BB SO Stone 4.0 5 6 4 4 0 Mousser (W, 2-1) 5.0 2 0 0 2 6 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Lee 3.0 6 5 5 2 2 Quaglieri (L, 1-2) 6.0 7 2 2 0 1 Le Ducq 0.2 0 0 0 0 2 WP--Mousser. S--none. PB--Birkeland. HBP--Boudon (Mousser), Bock (Mousser). Umpires--Gary Montalbo (home), Mike Evans (first), Jim LeBeau (third). T--2:50. A--795.