BYU rallies vs. Utah, takes season series

PROVO — If BYU is to make a move in the Mountain West baseball standings, now is the time to do it. So far, the Cougars have taken care of business.

On Saturday, the Cougars trailed 5-1 and 8-6 against rival Utah but rallied for a 14-9 win in front of 2,102 fans at BYU's Miller Park to sweep the season series for the second straight year.

The Cougars' (19-25, 9-9 MWC) reign over the Utes (13-26, 5-13 MWC) on the diamond now stretches to 13 games.

"We've always played good against Utah," BYU's Ryan Chambers said. "This is big that we took three from Utah. But it's not only big to take three from Utah but from any team. Momentum is really what is important. Winning three gives us a lot of confidence."

UNLV currently sits in first place in the conference, but fourth-place BYU only trails the Rebels by four and a half games with nine of its final 12 games taking place in the friendly confines of Miller Park. BYU trails second-place San Diego State and New Mexico by three games.

This weekend BYU hopes to gain ground on the Lobos with a three-game series beginning Thursday at Miller Park. The Cougars have won four straight games and five of their last six.

"Right now we are playing as well as we have," BYU coach Vance Law said. "The success we are starting to have breeds confidence. I'd like to have seen us play this kind of baseball all year long."

If BYU swings the bats next week like it did on Saturday, they just might find themselves sitting close to the top of the conference standings.

BYU pounded out 19 hits and took advantage of five Utah fielding errors to earn the win. Every player had at least one hit with Chambers recording four and Jeff Hiestand finishing with three hits. Chambers finished with four singles and four RBIs.

Hiestand was a triple away from hitting for the cycle and finished with a single, double, a fourth-inning home run and two RBIs.

"I'm extremely happy with the way our guys played," Law said. "We remained positive and battled again. It shows we are gaining confidence offensively."

A combined nine pitchers were used, four by Utah and five by BYU. J.D. Stambaugh earned his third win of the season by throwing two and one-third innings before being relieved by Paul Jacinto in the final inning.

Trailing 9-8 in the bottom of the seventh, BYU scored four runs to take the lead for good at 12-9 lead. Adam Wilkes led off an inning in which every Cougar batter reached base until the final out. BYU's first two outs came on the base paths.

BYU then padded its lead with another two runs in the eighth to take a 14-9 lead.

BYU starting pitcher Tyler Heid lasted only one inning as Utah jumped out to a 3-0 after the top half of the first inning. BYU plated a run in the bottom of inning but the Utes added two more runs in the second to take a 5-1 lead.

Utah starting pitcher Ben Buck kept the BYU batters in check until the fourth inning when the Cougars scored four runs to take a 6-5 lead. Adam Wilkes led the inning off with a single. Wade Vest followed by reaching base on a Utah fielding error.

Chambers drove home Wilkes and Vest on a two-RBI single to cut the Ute lead to 5-4. Then with two outs, Hiestand drilled a two-run home run over the centerfield fence to give BYU the 6-5 lead.

The Utes countered BYU's scoring to take their final lead at 8-6 in the fifth inning.