By Christopher Graham
ALBUQUERQUE – The BYU baseball team faltered late in its second game of the Mountain West Conference Tournament, losing to San Diego State 6-0 on Thursday, May, 22.
Jeff Mousser started on the mound for BYU in what began as a pitchers duel with SDSU pitcher Joe Carque.
Both pitchers amassed six strikeouts each through six innings.
“Jeff pitched a great ball game.” Said BYU head coach Vance Law, “Usually when I don”t pull Jeff until the eighth inning it means we have won a ball game, but that wasn”t the case today.”
SDSU got off to an early 1-0 lead when Landon Burt singled to center filed and Anthony Gwynn brought him home after a triple to left field.
BYU”s usually strong offense was absent in the game as the Cougars totaled only two hits through five innings and finished the game with a disappointing four hits.
“This is the first time we didn”t hit a bunch of balls at anybody.” Law said.
Casey Cloward and Kainoa Obrey both singled to center field to chalk up the two BYU hits in the second and third inning respectively.
Both teams had only 10 batters each through three innings.
BYU center fielder Brock Jacobsen highlighted the Cougar”s defensive play in the bottom of the fifth inning as he sprinted to catch a long fly ball hit by Gwynn. After catching the ball, Jacobsen slammed into the outfield wall full speed and was slow to get up.
BYU finally got some offensive action in the sixth inning as the Cougars got the bases loaded on a walk to Ryan Chambers and Jake Stubblefield and Obrey earned his second hit of the game.
This brought Jacobsen to the plate who struck out swinging ending the Cougar”s effort and the inning with SDSU still leading 1-0.
SDSU dominated the Cougars in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Aztecs mounted an offensive charge on Mousser hitting three singles, two doubles and a triple, allowing SDSU to score four runs in the inning and giving them a commanding 5-0 lead.
SDSU topped off its win in the eighth inning as Kyle Floquet earned his second double of the game and Jordan Swaydan brought him home with a triple RBI.
BYU will now face Utah today at 3.
“Utah always plays us tough so I look forward to it.” Law said.
A BYU win will mean a doubleheader game at 7 p.m. against the loser of the UNLV and SDSU game.
A loss will mean the Cougars will be sent home early.
In earlier games on Thursday, May 22, host New Mexico and Air Force were eliminated from the tournament after UNM lost to UNLV and Air Force lost to Utah. The MWC tournament is a double-elimination setup.
