By Christopher Moore
After a couple of its toughest losses of the year, Cougar baseball is coming back to make amends.
The Cougars are 22-17 overall and 10-5 in the Mountain West Conference, good for second place.
BYU will host UNLV in a three-game series starting Thursday at 2 p.m.
Friday’s game will also begin at 2 p.m. Saturday’s game has a noon start time.
Home games have proven to be an advantage for the team, as it has run up a 8-3 record at cozy Cougar Field.
For UNLV, first baseman Trent Kitsch and pitcher Ryan Olson were just named Mountain West Conference Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively.
Though the Runnin’ Rebels are a measly 3-10 in the conference, including a March sweep at the hands of BYU, Cougar coach Vance Law is not taking any chances.
“I’ve always thought UNLV was a decent team,” Law said in a news release. “We played them in a couple of games that could have gone either way.”
“Our bats are coming around now and our pitching has done a nice job for us, but we need to improve our concentration later in games. With some strong teams now making the trip to our ballpark, we have a chance to improve,” Law added.
BYU’s play could hardly be described as shabby. The Cougars are hitting at a .331 clip.
All-America candidate Nick Day leads the Cougars with a .398 average and is second in hits with 45.
Freshman Matt Carson leads the team with 48 hits. Both Carson and Kainoa Obrey have made huge contributions in this their first year.
Time has also brought players back. Junior shortstop Seth King and sophomore first baseman Michael Wirrick could be in the lineup this week after recovering from wrist injuries.
The probable pitching rotation for BYU will be Jeff Stone (7-3, 5.29) in Thursday’s game; Micah Mangrum (5-5, 4.24) in Friday’s game; and James Ray (3-2, 4.88) in Saturday’s game.
All of the UNLV games will be broadcast live on KSRR Radio (1400 AM).
