By Jillian Williams
BYU will face rival University of Utah today, March 20, 2007, at 6 pm., in a non-league game, at Franklin Covey Field in Salt Lake.
“We try to see stress every game being an important one,” BYU coach Vance Law said. “Certainly, the [team] knows who they”re playing.”
The Cougars face the Utes after winning a three game series against UNLV over the weekend. BYU is 13-7, second in the Mountain West Conference standings. Utah is 6-14, sixth in the MWC standings.
Utah comes home after a 2-1 series win over Portland over the weekend.
Utah is 0-1 at home, losing to Gonzaga in extra innings earlier in the season.
The game will be the first played at Franklin Covey Field this season. The field has been unplayable in previous games, forcing the Utes to either cancel or play at Ute Field.
The teams have shared three mutual opponents so far this season, and BYU is 4-2 facing those opponents, while Utah is 5-3.
The Cougars season has been much brighter than the Utes. BYU leads the MWC with the highest batting average, .313. Utah is hitting .286, which is fifth in the MWC teams statistics.
BYU also boasts the lowest team ERA, 3.39, while Utah comes in fourth with a 5.13 ERA.
BYU is down one player. Shortstop Danny Vargas injured his knee in a game against UNLV Thursday.
“We”re hurting obviously hurting a little bit,” Law said. “One of our main concerns is whether or not we”re going to lose him for three weeks or all season.”
The Cougars will feel the loss of Vargas. He is hitting .345 and started in every game before he was injured. Vargas has a .945 fielding percentage.
Austin Hall replaced Vargas in the infield during the remaining UNLV games, although he may place Chris Johnson in that roll. Hall is hitting .429 in the eight games he has appeared in. Johnson is hitting .455 for the seven games he has appeared in.
The game will be broadcast on AM 960 and BYU radio. Fans can listen live at www.BYURadio.org. Live stats are available online at www.BYUCougars.com.
