BYU's Lance Beus (Photos by Jaren Wilkey/MWC)
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BYU Holds Off San Diego State To Advance In MWC Tournament

The Cougars held the No. 3-seeded Aztecs at bay, 4-3, advancing to the semifinals.

May 26, 2005

Box Score

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - The second-seeded Brigham Young Cougars held the No. 3-seeded San Diego State Aztecs at bay in advancing to the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference baseball tournament Thursday afternoon, 4-3.

The Cougars improve to 38-17-1 for the year and will play the winner of the UNLV/Utah game, scheduled for 3 p.m., today. The Aztecs fall to 24-34, playing the New Mexico Lobos tonight at 7 p.m.

Lance Beus gets the win and ups to 3-1 on the year. Ryan Chambers came on in the eighth and got his third save of the year. Starter Brett Douglas (2-4) is tagged with the loss.

BYU pounced out to a 4-0 lead, plating three runs in the third and the would-be game-winner in the fourth. SDSU staged a bit of a rally in trailing 4-2 in the ninth. The Aztecs converted on an RBI single to cut BYU's lead to one. They failed to tie it when James Guerrero grounded out to end the game, leaving two runners in scoring position.

Jeff Hiestand

A trio of BYU batters had two-hit outings today. Leading the way was Chambers who was 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored. Quintin Berry led the Aztecs in going 2-for-5 at the plate with an RBI and run scored.

Game No. 4 Notes
BYU's Jeff Hiestand went 1-for-3 from the plate today with an RBI single, marking the 42nd consecutive game and 46th out of his last 47th game overall that he has reached base.

BYU is now 4-5 vs. San Diego State in MWC Tournament play. Three of the Cougars' four wins vs. the Aztecs in tournament play have come in championship games (one in 2001 and two in 2002). Of their nine tournament games, three have been decided by one run and two have been decided by two runs.

BYU's Brandon Taylor knocked in his 81st RBI of the season vs. SDSU, moving him into a tie for third place in the MWC record book with New Mexico's Aaron Sisk for RBI in a single season. His RBI double in the third inning turned out to be the game winning RBI which gives him a team-best six game-winning RBI on the season.

BYU's Ryan Chambers went 2-for-3 with a home run, an RBI and two runs scored vs. the Aztecs. He also pitched 0.2 innings, giving up one hit and no runs to record his third save of the year, marking the second time this season that he has collected both a home run and a save in the same game. Chambers also accomplished this feat on March 15 vs. CSU-Pueblo.

BYU advances to the semifinals of the MWC Tournament for the fifth time in six years.

San Diego State's Quintin Berry went 1-for-4 vs. the Cougars, extending his MWC best hitting streak to 14 games.

Game No. 4 Quotes
BYU Head Coach Vance Law
"My heart fluttered on that last play, but the ball was far enough in front of him that he was able to make a play."

"Lance dominated the strike zone. He had great velocity today and did a great job for us."

"We had a couple of clutch base hits but we've done that all year. I'm proud of how our guys battled nine innings and didn't give up when we had two outs, and so did San Diego State, that was a good ball game. "

SDSU Head Coach Tony Gwynn
"My guys battled hard today. In the 3rd inning they had some good hits. We had our opportunities especially in the 9th inning. I had my three best guys coming to the plate and we just fell a little bit short."

"Anytime you lost it puts pressure on your bullpen. We just need our guys to step up now. Right now it gets tougher. Once you lose you have to just focus on winning the next game."

"BYU is a really good offensive club and to hold them to four runs gave us a chance to win."