By PETER CHRISTENSE
The bats finally came alive for the BYU baseball team over the weekend. Unfortunately, pitching went into hibernation.
The Cougars split a doubleheader in Grand Junction, Colo., with Mesa State College Saturday, winning the first game 16-12 and dropping the nightcap 13-7.
After several weeks of sporadic hitting, the Cougars were able to put together two solid offensive performances.
“We made much better contact and we really cut down our strikeouts,” BYU head coach Gary Pullins said.
Brad Winget broke out of an early season slump to lead the Cougars Saturday. Winget hammered Mesa St. pitching in the first game, going 3-4 with two home runs and six RBI’s. His first-inning grand slam helped give BYU a quick 5-0 lead.
Mesa State, however, came back in the third inning with five runs of its own. Cougar ace Scott Haws proved he is human, surrendering eight hits and seven runs in five innings of work.
Subsequent pitchers did not fare much better as the Cougars found themselves down three runs heading into the ninth inning. BYU, however, battled back and scored seven runs to take a four-run lead into the final frame.
John Harmer, making only his second appearance in a Cougar uniform, got the final four outs of the game to pick up his first win.
The second game resembled the first, in that neither team pitched well. “There wasn’t much pitching going on for either side today,” Pullins said.
The Cougars had its chances in the second game, with a great opportunity in the sixth inning. With the bases loaded, BYU’s Ryan Roberts hit a shot to the left side, but Mesa State’s shortstop snagged it to thwart a Cougar rally.
Pullins said he feels good about his team as it begins WAC play this weekend against New Mexico.
“I think we’ve made good progress,” he said. “In those five losses there were two games — the one yesterday (Saturday) and the one against Southern Utah — that we most certainly could have and should have won. But those losses don’t keep us from winning the Eastern Conference of the WAC.”
