By David Headrick
The Cougar baseball team will take on in-state rival Southern Utah University April 8, after splitting two games against Utah over the weekend.
The Utes scored 12 runs in the first inning of the game on April 5. BYU allowed 14 Utes to step to the plate before ending the inning. Ten Utes batted before Utah''s first out.
'Throughout all my years,' coach Vance Law said, 'I''ve never seen a team go through a lineup without getting a guy out.'
The second largest crowd ever at Larry H. Miller Field, 2,863 fans, saw two brothers go head-to-head in a game that Utah won 17-3.
Sophomore Jake Chrisman pitched twice to his older brother, Jed, in the seventh and eighth.
Senior Utah outfielder Jed Chrisman said he was looking forward to the meeting with his younger brother.
'I knew that if he got in, I would get in,' he said.
Jed Chrisman popped out on his first at bat and struck out on the second.
'I couldn''t stop smiling,' he said. 'It was always the older brother pounds on the younger brother, except for now.'
The younger brother also said he anticipated pitching against his brother.
'The plan was to hit him on the pitch,' Chrisman said jokingly. 'But I decided to strike him out.'
Chrisman said he felt his performance was by far his best of the season. He pitched four innings, giving up two runs on five hits, and striking out four Utes.
Saturday''s contest ended early Sunday morning, April 6, in a 12-inning, four-hour marathon.
The Cougars improved their record to 13-17-1 overall, and 7-4 in the Mountain West Conference, as they beat the Utes 10-9.
Utah scored the first run in the first, but fell behind as BYU scored two in the same inning.
Sophomore first baseman Dave Jensen hit a sacrifice fly, scoring junior left fielder Doug Jackson.
Sophomore third baseman Rob Itri hit a single to score junior second baseman Cameron Coughlan, giving BYU a 2-1 lead.
The Utes came back with two runs in the second, and three in the third, giving them a 6-2 lead.
BYU closed the gap at 6-4 when Jackson and Coughlan hit two runners home.
'I was about ready to chew my guys out in the fifth,' Law said after the Utes scored their seventh run. 'I was already getting my post-game speech ready. Then, somebody must have read my mind in the sixth. It was like someone flipped a switch.'
The Cougars scored five runs in three consecutive innings.
Freshman center fielder Ryan Chambers hit a two-run single, sending junior right fielder Matt Carson and Jensen home, and giving BYU a 9-8 lead going into the ninth.
To the dismay of most of the 2,611 fans at Miller Field, senior Utah second baseman Adam Castleton doubled, allowing the tying run.
Junior relief pitcher Tyler Dabo took the mound for BYU and kept the score tied 9-9.
The Cougars took control of the twelfth inning. Coughlan hit a single but reached second base on a Ute error. Carson reached first on a bunt and Jensen walked to load the bases.
With two outs, Snyder walked Chambers, giving the Cougars an anticlimactic 10-9 win.
The April 8 game against SUU starts at 3 p.m. and Tuesday, April 9 game at 1 p.m.