Cougars take second in MWC tourney

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    By Nicholas Cottle

    Top seeded TCU knocked off BYU for the second time in MWC tournament play Saturday (May 27, 2006) as they claimed the title and an automatic berth into the NCAA post season tournament with their 9-6 victory over the Cougars.

    “They are a quality team, but I wouldn”t trade my guys with the way we came on at the end of the season,” said BYU head coach Vance Law.

    The Cougars came on strong in the first round of tournament play, downing Air Force in the first round with ease, 7-5.

    “They pitched and played well,” said Law of Air Force”s play. “We played well enough to preserve a lot of our pitching staff.”

    Tough Cougar pitching against AFA moved BYU to face Utah for a fourth straight time within a week. Despite Utah”s best efforts, BYU stole the game away from them in the last out of the game winning 9-8 and sending Utah into the loser”s bracket.

    “We did what was necessary for us to be successful,” said Law. “We continued to play for 27 outs.”

    Unfortunately for the Utes, the Cougars only needed 26 of their outs.

    With the Cougs win in the second round they squared off against top seeded TCU on Thursday. Despite BYU taking its first initial lead in 12 games, TCU battled back to win 13-6 and ended BYU”s six-game winning streak.

    “We never really found the answer to (Brad) Furnish,” said BYU Coach Vance Law of TCU”s pitcher who scattered eight hits in as many innings.

    The Cougars bounced right back from the TCU lose when they played UNLV on Friday for another chance at TCU in the championship game.

    Behind the complete game pitching of Patrick Wells and the flawless hitting of Jeff Hiestand, who hit for the cycle, the Cougars clawed their way to the championship game by beating the Aztecs 10-4.

    “He [Hiestand] is one of the unlikely guys to hit for a cycle,” said Law. “He got the right carom off the outfield wall for his triple. That”s the fastest I”ve seen him move around second. He wanted it pretty bad.”

    BYU fed off of Hiestand”s hitting in the early innings of the MWC championship game against TCU Saturday, but they where unable to hold on to their lead as TCU came from behind leaving BYU with a second place finish in the tournament and a 33-28 overall season record.

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