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Rick Cornu tied the school record with three home runs. He has hit four dingers over the last two games.
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March 13, 2009
PROVO, Utah - The Utah baseball team outlasted BYU in a 15-13 thriller on Friday, March 13.
Rick Cornu hit three home runs in a 3-for-5 effort. He also drove in four runs. The three home runs ties the school record, which had been done six times before, most recently by Dustin Hennis in 2007.
Michael Beltran was 3-for-6 with five RBI, including a bases-loaded triple in the first inning. Nick Kuroczko went 3-for-5 and scored two runs. Jo Jo Sharrar was 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two.
With the score tied, 13-13, Utah plated two runs in the top of the inning to take the 15-13 lead. Kuroczko led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on a fielding error by the center fielder. He would come around to score on a throwing error as Cooper Blanc hit into a fielders choice. Blanc moved to third on Sharrar's sacrifice bunt, then scored when Beltran singled.
Robert Chimpky picked up his third save of the year in the ninth inning, shutting down the side with two strikeouts. Joe Pond, who entered the game in the seventh and pitched 1.1 innings with two K's, earned his first career win.
"You don't ever feel safe on the road," head coach Bill Kinneberg said. "If you score 11 runs in the first three innings you should win the ball game. Rick Cornu hit three balls really hard. Those were important home runs for us. He had two in the late innings to get us ahead and keep us ahead. Robert Chimpky was his old self to close it out for us."
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Utah took an 11-0 lead by the third inning. Sharrar had a two RBI single in the first inning along with Beltran's triple. Cornu hit his first home run in the third, a two run shot over the center field fence to second two runs across the plate.
BYU slowly whittled away at the lead, scoring three runs in the bottom of the third while sending six runs across the plate in the fourth, cutting the Utah lead to 11-9.
Cornu added a solo shot in the top of the sixth before BYU tied the game, 12-12, in the bottom of the seventh with three runs, including a two RBI single from Kent Walton.
Cornu struck again in the top of the eighth with his third dinger of the day. The Cougars J.T. Musso responded in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single, keeping the score tied, 13-13, before Utah rallied to win in the top of the ninth.
On the mound, Andrew Wilding started for Utah, going 3.1 innings. Bryn Card pitched a part of the fourth inning, while Stephen Streich went three innings after entering in the fourth.
Brandon Micon picked up the loss on the mound for the Cougars. Musso led BYU at the plate with a 4-for-5 performance, scoring three runs and driving in three RBI.
The series concludes on Saturday, March 14, at 1:00 p.m.
