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Cougars Split With Air Force
BYU stays atop the Mountain West standings with a 16-5 conference record.
April 30, 2005 USAF ACADEMY, Colo. -- Apana Nakayama hit a two-out double in the nine-run seventh inning to lead BYU in a 17-9 victory Saturday over the Air Force Academy. Nakayama's game-winning RBI broke open a contest that was tied 7-7, reminiscent of the score of Friday's suspended game which was also completed Saturday. The Falcons won that suspended game, 8-7 in the 11th inning. The split leaves BYU still atop the Mountain West Conference standings with a 16-5 record and a 31-13-1 overall mark, while AFA falls to 6-36 overall and 1-20 in the league. The Cougars got untracked in game three, starting with a three-run homer by Jeff Hiestand in the first inning for their initial lead. AFA tied the game at four-all in the first inning when Price Paramore doubled to left field, but was thrown out trying to extend it to a triple. Ryan Chambers led off the second inning with a homer to right field to put BYU up 5-4. Paramore tied the game at seven-all with two unearned runs on a homer to right field with two out in the fifth. Nakayama's double off the right-centerfield wall in the seventh put BYU on top again, 9-7. Hiestand followed that play with another double to score Nakayama. Then the floodgates opened with Knell and Chambers doubling as the Cougars ended up scoring nine runs that inning to take a 16-7 lead. The Falcons used four of their seven pitchers of the game in that inning to stop BYU. Brandon Taylor cranked his 17th homer of the season in the eighth. "When you let these guys hang around they are just feisty enough to bite you," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "The middle of the order really came through for us in the third game. Apana (Nakayama) came through for us again,. It was a huge one because we were letting these guys hang on again. No lead is safe here. " Karl Bolt hit a 2-0 pitch over the left centerfield in the 11th inning to give Air Force an 8-7 victory Saturday in the completion of a suspended game from Friday at the Academy. Bolt's walk-off homer provided the first conference victory in regular season for AFA since 2003, a team that had been 0-47 the past two seasons. The Falcons' last regular season victory was a 17-11 win over BYU in 2003 at the Academy. BYU was retired in order in the top of the 10th and the 11th as game two continued on Saturday. AFA got two hits in the 10th, including a one-out double down the rightfield line, but the Falcon coach held the runner at third. Justin Su'a struck out two Falcons with men on the corners. The Cougars next fact Utah Valley State on Monday at 7 p.m., at the Parkway Crossing Stadium in Orem before returning home to host New Mexico in a three-game series starting Thursday. Game 2
BYU 013 100 200 00--7 9 1 Christiansen, Jensen (5), Barrett (7), Su'a (10) and Nelson. Couch, Pratt (7), Brown (8), DePierre (10) and Polston WP- DePierre, 1-2. LP-Su'a, 4-2. 2B-Villezcas 2 (B), Saylor (B), Salazar (A), Polston (A) 3B-Paramore (A) HR-Nakayama (B), Taylor (B), Iorg (B), Kasel (A), Bolt (A) Game 3
BYU 420 100 910--17 18 1 Torgerson, Beus (7) and Cloward. DePierre, Tetrault (2), Vignola (3), Yamamoto (7), Garrison (7), Fugler (7), Goss (7) and Polston, Meents (8). WP-Torgerson, 6-2. LP-Yamamoto, 0-1. 2B-DeRohan (A), Paramore (A), Tittle (A), Villezcas (B), Saylor (B), Nakayama (B), Hiestand (B), Knell (B), Chambers (B)
HR-Hiestand (B), Chambers (B), Saylor (B), Taylor (B), Paramore (A), DeRohan (A)
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