Athletic Media Relations 30 Smith Fieldhouse • Provo, Utah • 84602 801-422-9769 • fax 801-422-0633 BASEBALL Weekly Release - Mar. 2, 2004 Cougars Face No. 7 Long Beach State and Cal State Northridge Media Relations Information BYU makes its final trip to California before starting conference play at home. The Baseball contact: Ralph Zobell Cougars (4-13) return to California for two games against Cal Northridge split E-Mail: [email protected] between a match-up with No. 7 Long Beach State. In the final game of the Battle at Date Opp/Event Time at site of game the Beach Tournament in Malibu, Calif., BYU lost 6-3 to Northridge (6-11). They 1/29-30 California Berkeley, CA + L, 1-11 will play the Matadors again on Thursday at 2 p.m. (PST) and Saturday at 1 p.m. 1/30 California Berkeley, CA + L, 3-13 (PST). On Friday, the Cougars meet ranked Long Beach State (9-3) at 6:30 p.m. 1/31 California Berkeley, CA + L, 4-7 (PST). The 49ers will throw their ace Jered Weaver (4-0, 0.95). We a v e r, the bro t h e r 2/5-7 Pacific Invitational Stockton, CA of Dodgers pitcher Jeff We a v e r, is a First-team Baseball America Preseason A l l - 2/5 St. Mary’s Stockton, CA + L, 5-9 American. The Long Beach State game is available for live audio. A link to the 2/6 Pacific Stockton, CA +% L, 4-5 webcast can be found at www.byucougars.com. None of the games with Cal 2/7 Nevada Stockton, CA +% W, 3-1 Northridge are available for live stats or live audio. 2/9 Santa Clara Santa Clara, CA + L, 3-9 2/10 Santa Clara Santa Clara, CA + W, 11-10 A Quick Look at the Cougars 2/12 UC Riverside Riverside, CA L, 1-8 2/13 UC Riverside Riverside, CA L, 2-4 Fifth year coach Vance Law returns five position starters and Paul Jacinto, the 2/14 UC Riverside Riverside, CA L, 4-6 MWC Pitcher of the Year. Players to watch include third-team Preseason All- 2/19 San Jose St. San Jose, CA L, 3-4 American Ranger Wiens, Ryan Chambers, Rob Itri, Jeff Hiestand, Ben Saylor 2/20 San Jose St. San Jose, CA L, 1-2 and Casey Cloward. Pitchers to watch are Paul Jacinto, junior college transfer 2/21 San Jose St. San Jose, CA W, 3-2 Patrick Wells and Justin Su’a. 2/26-28 Battle at the Beach Tournament Malibu, CA 2/26 Pepperdine Malibu, CA % W, 5-0 Probable Pitching Rotation 2/27 Nevada Malibu, CA + L, 0-13 Mar. 4 Cal Northridge Patrick Wells (2-2, 4.01) Northridge, CA, 2 p.m. 2/28 Cal Northridge Malibu, CA L, 3-6 Mar. 5 Long Beach Sate Nathan Hess (1-1, 1.64) Long Beach, CA, 6:30 p.m. 3/4 Cal Northridge Northridge, CA 2 p.m. Mar. 6 Cal Northridge Justin Su’a (1-1, 3.97) Northridge, CA, 1 p.m. 3/5 Long Beach Long Beach, CA % 6:30 p.m. 3/6 Cal Northridge Northridge, CA 1 p.m. All-Time vs. Opponent 3/8-13 Fresno Tournament Fresno, CA 3/8 Dallas Baptist Fresno, CA 10 a.m. School BYU’s record Last Meeting 3/9 Chicago St. Fresno, CA 1:30 p.m. Cal Northridge 3-5 Feb. 28, 2004 – BYU lost 6-3 in Malibu, Calif. 3/10 Fresno St. Fresno, CA % 6:35 p.m. Long Beach St. 8-8-1 March 9-11, 1995 - BYU lost 9-0, 5-3 and tied 3/11 Monmouth Fresno, CA 1:30 p.m. 3-3 in six innings 3/12 Portland Fresno, CA 10 a.m. 3/13 TBA Fresno, CA TBA Probable Lineup 3/18 UNLV* Provo +% 6:30 p.m. 1B–#1-Tim Law 2B–#5 Wade Vest SS–#2 Brandon Taylor 3/19 UNLV * Provo +% 6:30 p.m. 3B–#21 Rob Itri or #6 Blair Lucas RF–#25 Ben Saylor 3/20 UNLV * Provo +% Noon CF–#22 Ryan Chambers LF–12 Kory Knell or #10 Kevin Bills 3/25-26 Utah * Salt Lake City + 6 p.m. C–#9 Casey Cloward or #24 Adam Wilkes 3/27 Utah * Salt Lake City + 1 p.m. 4/1-2 New Mexico * Albuquerque + 6 p.m. DH–#16 Jeff Hiestand or #8 Ranger Wiens 4/3 New Mexico * Albuquerque + Noon 4/8-9 UNLV * Las Vegas +% 6:30 p.m. Radio Coverage 4/10 UNLV * Las Vegas +% 2 p.m. BYU radio coverage begins once league play starts in March. Prior to then 4/15 San Diego St* Provo 7 p.m. selected games will be available via live audio streaming on the Internet from 4/16 San Diego St* Provo $ 7 p.m. host schools. Once BYU’s live radio coverage begins, the play-by-play will 4/17 San Diego St* Provo Noon come again from Brent Norton, BYU’s veteran broadcaster. 4/22-23 Air Force * Colorado Spgs. + 2 p.m. 4/24 Air Force * Colorado Spgs. + Noon TV Coverage 4/29-30 Utah * Provo 7 p.m. Two of BYU’s home games will be televised by BYUTV. The opponents are San 5/1 Utah * Provo $ Noon Diego State on Friday, April 16 and Utah on Saturday, May 1. 5/6-7 New Mexico * Provo 7 p.m. 5/8 New Mexico * Provo Noon Coach Law on the Season 5/12-14 San Diego St* San Diego +% 6 p.m. 5/18 Utah Valley Provo 7 p.m. “We have a close-knit unit and continue to add more depth. We do not have a 5/20-21 Air Force * Provo 7 p.m. pitcher in our program outside of Paul Jacinto who posted a victory for us last 5/22 Air Force * Provo Noon season because Michel Bergeron(6-3, 5.37) and Anthony Bingham (1-0, 5.93) are 5/26-29 MWC Tourn. Las Vegas TBA seeking a medical redshirt.” * MWC Games, %Internet Audio +web cast $BYUTV www.byucougars.com BYU Baseball Release Page 2 Season Awards BYU Quick Facts Patrick Wells became the first Cougar to be named MWC Pitcher of the Week in Location: Provo, Utah 84602 2004 after his 3-1 complete game against Nevada on Feb. 7. The southpaw is the Enrollment: 30,069 (Daytime) first BYU pitcher to go the distance since Paul Jacinto’s one-hitter against UNLV Founded: Oct. 15, 1875, by The Church of Jesus on March 21, 2003. Christ of Latter-day Saints Colors: Blue and White Recent Action Nickname: Cougars The Cougars went 1-2 last week in the Battle at the Beach Tournament hosted by Mascot: Cosmo (the Cougar) P e p p e rdine in Malibu, Calif. BYU shutout Pepperdine in the tournament’s open- Affiliation: NCAA Division I ing game on Thursday, 5-0. Patrick Wells (2-2, 4.01) went seven strong innings, scattering five hits. The shutout is the first since BYU blanked Washington State 4- Conference: Mountain West 0 on Feb. 27, 2003. On Friday, Nevada’s Travis Sutton threw a seven-inning 13-0 Field: Larry H. Miller Field (2,300) shutout against BYU. The Cougars had previously beaten the Wolf Pack this year President: Cecil O. Samuelson at the Pacific Tournament in Stockton, Calif. The game ended after seven innings Men’s AD: Val Hale due to the tournament’s 10-run rule. Luke Riordan’s two home runs and four RBI Ticket Office Phone: (801) 378-BYU1 or d e l i v e red Cal State Northridge a 6-3 victory over the Cougars on Saturd a y. 1-800-322-BYU1 R i o rdan hit a solo shot and a tie-breaking thre e - run homer. Baseball Staff: Head Coach: Vance Law (BYU, 1978) Scouting This Week’s Opponents Cal State Northridge – After claiming the Big West Conference championship Office Phone: (801) 422-5049 in 2002 and losing to BYU in the NCAA Regional Tournament, Cal State Record: 128-106-1, fifth season Northridge (6-11) fell to a 14-42 mark last season. The Matadors are picked to Assistant Coaches: finish seventh in their conference. Cal Northridge went 1-2 in the Battle at the Ryan Roberts (BYU, 1998) Beach Tournament in Malibu, Calif., beating BYU but losing 7-4 to Pepperdine Bobby Applegate (U of Southern Colorado, 1996) and 2-0 to Nevada. Sophomore Michael Paulk is hitting .339 with three home Seth King (BYU) runs and 14 RBI. John Voita leads the team with four home runs. After beating Trainer: Spencer Mack BYU, Craig Baker heads into the series 3-1 with a 3.00 ERA. Baseball Facts: 2003 Record: 30-24-1 (14-4 home,16-20 away) Long Beach State – Ranked No. 7 by Baseball America, Long Beach State (9-3) is led by former University of Utah head coach (1980-81) Mike Weathers. Last Conference Finish: 18-12, Second place in MWC week Long Beach won two of three at the University of Houston. Before losing Final National Ranking: NA to Houston on Sunday, the 49ers had won six straight. The 49ers host three Starters Returning (5): teams this week beginning with Pepperdine on Tuesday, BYU on Friday and Ryan Chambers, 6-0, Jr., OF Cal State Northridge on Sunday. Long Beach is picked to finish second in the Casey Cloward, 5-11, Jr., C Big West Conference behind Cal State Fullerton.