University Southern California Trojans
BYU Eliminates Maine, 12-5 In NCAA Baseball Regional
June 01, 2002 | Baseball
June 1, 2002
LOS ANGELES- BYU used a 7-run fifth inning to overtake Maine and then was never threatened as it eliminated the Black Bears, 12-5, in the third game of the NCAA Baseball Los Angeles Regional before 347 fans at USC's Dedeaux Field on Saturday afternoon (June 1).
BYU, which now plays again on Saturday at 7 p.m. in an elimination game against the loser of Saturday's USC-Cal State Northridge contest, improved to 30-30-1. Maine concluded its season with a 40-17 mark.
The Cougars posted 14 hits against 3 different Maine pitchers.
"I wasn't sure how the team would react after losing a heartbreaker to USC last night," said BYU coach Vance Law, whose squad lost in the 12th inning to USC on Friday (May 31), 5-4. "I'm real proud with how we played today. We were a little stagnant in the first three innings but seemed to bounce back when the chips were down."
BYU struck quickly off of Maine starter Mike Collar, loading the bases with one out in the top of the first on a walk by Cameron Coughlan, a single by Dave Jensen, another walk to Jake Stubblefield and then an RBI fielder's choice by Rob Itri.
The Black Bears tied it in the third. Mike Livulpi and Aaron Young singled, with Livulpi scoring one out later on Alain Picard's fielder's choice.
BYU responded in the fourth, as Lars Birkeland singled with two outs, stole second and scored on Ranger Wiens' double.
But Maine went ahead 5-2 in the bottom of the fourth. Joe Drapeau opened the inning with a double, Mike Ross walked one out later, then Pat Tobin's double scored Drapeau and Mark Reichley's single brought in Ross. Livulpi's sacrifice fly plated Tobin, then Young singled and Brett Ouellette was hit by a pitch to load the bases and knock starter Jason Garcia out of the game. Reliever Scott Koffman walked Picard, the first batter he faced, to bring in Reichley.
The Cougars, however, sent 11 hitters to the plate in the fifth and scored 7 runs, including the first 4 with no outs, to go up 9-5. They loaded the bases with no outs as Coughlan walked, Jensen singled and Stubblefield was hit by a pitch. Itri doubled home Coughlan and Jensen, Stubblefield came in on Ryan Chambers' single and Itri scored on a wild pitch. Kevin Bills walked and, after Chambers was forced out at third on a bunt by Birkeland, Wiens' single scored Bills and knocked Collar out of the game. Doug Jackson greeted reliever Paul Bruder with a single to score Birkeland. Wiens scored on a fielder's choice by Coughlan.
BYU added 3 more runs in the seventh. Birkeland singled, then an out later Jackson and Coughlan both walked. Reliever Greg Creek entered the game and Jensen doubled on the first pitch, scoring Birkeland and Jackson. Coughlan then came in on Stubblefield's sacrifice fly. Jensen and Wiens each had 3 hits for the Cougars (2 of Wiens' hits were doubles), while Itri had 3 RBI. Koffman picked up the win by throwing 1-hit ball for 5 1/3 innings, upping his record to 4-4. Garcia gave up 8 hits in 3 2/3 innings.
For Maine, Young was 4-for-5. Collar, who allowed 9 hits and 9 earned runs while walking 4 in 4 1/3 innings, took the loss and fell to 8-4.
"Once we got behind, we might have got down a little and lost some of our focus at the plate," said Young. "Overall, we played as hard as we could and I'm happy with our effort."
Added Maine coach Paul Kostacopoulos: "Our kids will look back, maybe not today, but in time and can say they played in a national tournament at USC. It's an invaluable experience."
