By Daniel Lund
BYU baseball coach Vance Law collected his 200th career-coaching win as the Cougars swept the New Mexico State Aggies in three games at Miller Park last week.
'To me that''s a function of having pretty good players and an administration that backs you and allows you to be here long enough to do that,' Law said. 'It''s nice to remember and it''s nice to get this far and I hope there''s another couple hundred in there.'
Since starting the season 0-8, the Cougars have turned things around and have won six of their last 10 games.
Thursday''s game, March 17, 2006, began strong for the Cougars as pitcher Patrick Wells only faced nine batters in three innings. In the first inning Wells struck out each hitter. Innings two and three saw the Cougars defense step up as each batter went out with pop-up balls to the outfield.
Adrian Molina put the Cougars on the board first when he reached home on a Stetson Banks'' grounder. Infielder Marcos Villezcas later setup himself up in scoring position in the sixth when he hit a double to centerfield. Slugger Jeff Hiestand then hit an RBI single to right field, allowing Molina to score. In the eighth, Ben Saylor sealed the game for the Cougars when he scored after Blake Crosby hit a long fly ball to centerfield. Saylor originally reached first after being hit by an errant pitch.
The Cougars won game two of the series 10-3 on Thursday in an impressive scoring performance. Pitcher Jesse Craig got his first win of the season by allowing only three hits in his six innings of play. The start of the game was delayed for two hours because of rain.
'Our pitching staff has been great this season,' Law said. 'They have really gelled well together.'
Saturday''s game, March 18, 2006, three saw the Cougars start off strong with six runs in the first inning. Molina also had a homerun in the fifth inning. The Cougars held on to win the game 8-6.
Next up for the Cougars are three more home games next week. Tuesday night, March 21, 2006, they will face Southern Utah followed by Northern Colorado on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.