By Brett Larsen
The BYU baseball team dominated eight of nine innings against the University of Utah on Thursday, April 19.
But unfortunately for the Cougars, it was the one inning that killed them.
The visiting Utes erupted for seven runs in the fifth inning, then held off a BYU comeback for an 8-7 victory under the lights of Miller Park.
“We won all the other innings,” said BYU assistant coach Hank Taylor. “Take away that one, and we won the game.”
The Cougars, 25-16 overall and 13-6 in the Mountain West Conference, looked like they had everything under control early on. Riding a pair of homers by Kainoa Obrey and Jeff Hiestand, BYU jumped out to a 3-0 lead after four innings.
That”s when Nate Fernley, the Cougars” pitching ace, had what Taylor called a “un-Nate Fernley-like” inning.
Coming into the game as the nation”s winningest pitcher and owning a 3.00 ERA, Fernley gave up seven hits and seven runs in the disastrous fifth inning.
Utah coach Tim Esmay was pleased with the way his players bounced back after getting nothing going early on.
“You can”t sit back on Fernley because he eats you up,” Esmay said. “Our guys just executed when they needed to.”
On the first pitch of the sixth inning, the Utes” Brit Pannier extended their lead to 8-3 with a deep shot over the right field wall.
Instead of giving up, the Cougars took the game over again, putting up four runs in the sixth and seventh while shutting out Utah the rest of the way. An important part of the BYU comeback was the pitching of reliever Justin Su”a. He came into the game during the height of the Utes” offensive burst and allowed only two runs before James Ray replaced him late in the ninth.
“I felt good,” Su”a said. “I really wanted this game against the University of Utah, and I tried to get things turned around.”
Although he didn”t record any strikeouts, his steady performance allowed the Cougars to get back in the game.
BYU fell only a few inches shy of a complete comeback when Pannier snagged a potential game-tying hit by Obrey before it could clear the fence in the seventh inning.
The Cougars, who swept the Utes in Salt Lake City two weeks ago, will get a chance to avenge the loss Friday, April 20, and Saturday, April 21, at Miller Park. Friday”s game starts at 6 p.m., while first pitch Saturday is scheduled for 1 p.m.
The official grand opening ceremonies for Miller Park are scheduled before the game Saturday.
