PROVO -- Jason Garcia and a burst of offense helped BYU defeat Southern Utah University 12-3 on Monday.

In his first start as a Cougar, Garcia pitched 6.2 innings giving up three runs on eight hits with three strike outs and most importantly, no walks, to help the Cougars climb to a 20-25-1 overall record.

"We needed to have a quality outing from Jason (Garcia) today," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "We didn't want to go deep in the bullpen. This should keep us fresh even into the Utah series."

BYU offense helped out as well. In the second inning while down 1-0 after a solo home run by Chris Nelson in the first, Jake Stubblefield drew a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Freshman Han Yi followed with his first home run at BYU, picking up two RBI and gaining a lead that BYU would never lose.

Cougar sluggers lengthened the lead in the third. With Matt Carson on first, Rob Itri hit the first of a back-to-back set. After Itri's two-run blast to right field, Ranger Wiens hit a solo shot to left.

"Han's hit was big," Law said. "It gave us the lead back. We had the hit-and-run on when Itri hit it over. The ball does carry better in the day time."

SUU made it interesting in the fourth. With the score 5-1 in favor of the Cougars, cleanup hitter Aaron Lancaster homered to left field. The Thunderbirds kept up the momentum, following the solo shot with a manufactured run off of a Ryan Duvall single to cut BYU's lead to 5-3. But that would be the last run of the game for SUU.

The Cougars took over the game in the fifth. Stubblefield kept his bat hot with an RBI double in the fifth, knocking in Wiens from first base.

In the sixth, the Cougars scored five runs to improve the lead to eight. Doug Jackson started off the inning with one of his two doubles to right center. Cameron Coughlan singled to right, moving Jackson to third, then stole second base to put two runners in scoring position. Dave Jensen drew a walk, setting the table for a bases-clearing three-RBI double by Carson. Wiens followed with an RBI triple, one of his two hits and two RBI on the night, and scored his third run of the game on an RBI groundout by Stubblefield.

The Cougars held the lead secure with solid pitching by Garcia and a perfect relief effort from Matt Ward , only allowing three base runners and not allowing an SUU run after the fourth. Ward went 2.1 innings without allowing a runner to reach first base.

The Cougars finish the two-game set with SUU, now 12-30, Tuesday night at 7 p.m., before heading to Salt Lake City to take on rival Utah in a three-game series at Franklin-Covey Field on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. All three games will begin at noon and can be heard locally on KOVO 960 AM by BYU radio broadcaster Brent Norton.

Southern Utah Univ. at Brigham Young Univ.

May 06, 2002 at Provo, Utah (Larry H.Miller Field)

Southern Utah Univ. 3 (12-30)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB

------------------------------------------------------

Kemp, Kelcey 3b.......... 5 0 1 0 0 0 1 5 2

Reynolds, Jake lf........ 4 0 2 0 0 0 4 0 0

Nelson, Chris dh......... 3 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 2

Droubay, Jona ph........ 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0

Lancaster, Aaron 1b...... 4 1 1 1 0 1 10 2 2

Meek, Jared c............ 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0

Wilkerson, McKay ss...... 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0

Doezie, Ty 2b............ 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 0

Ford, Tom rf............. 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

Hunter, Tyler rf........ 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0

Duvall, Ryan cf.......... 3 0 1 1 0 1 4 0 0

Anderson, Caleb p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Ball, Bryan p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Gardner, Chris p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0

Sollami, James p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Totals................... 36 3 8 3 0 3 24 13 7

Brigham Young Univ. 12 (20-25-1)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB

------------------------------------------------------

JACKSON, Doug cf......... 5 1 2 1 1 0 3 0 2

COUGHLAN, Cameron 2b..... 3 1 1 0 1 0 0 3 1

THURGOOD, Ryan 2b....... 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2

JENSEN, Dave 1b.......... 2 1 0 0 3 1 11 1 0

CARSON, Matt rf.......... 5 2 2 3 0 0 5 0 0

ITRI, Rob 3b............. 5 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 4

WIENS, Ranger ss......... 4 3 2 2 1 0 2 4 0

STUBBLEFIELD, Jake dh.... 3 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 0

BILLS, Kevin ph......... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

BIRKELAND, Lars c........ 3 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 0

WILKES, Adam c.......... 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0

YI, Han lf............... 4 1 2 2 1 0 2 0 2

GARCIA, Jason p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0

WARD, Matt p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

Totals................... 38 12 13 12 9 1 27 9 11

Score by Innings R H E

-------------------------------------------

Southern Utah Univ.. 100 200 000 - 3 8 2

Brigham Young Univ.. 023 015 01X - 12 13 1

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E - Ford 2; ITRI. DP - So. Utah 1. LOB - So. Utah 7; BYU Cougars 11. 2B -

JACKSON 2; CARSON M.; STUBBLEFIELD; BIRKELAND. 3B - WIENS. HR - Nelson(7);

Lancaster(9); ITRI(2); WIENS(1); YI(1). HBP - Duvall. SB - JACKSON;

COUGHLAN.

Southern Utah Univ. IP H R ER BB SO AB BF

-----------------------------------------------

Anderson, Caleb..... 2.2 4 5 5 5 0 13 18

Ball, Bryan......... 2.1 3 3 3 2 1 9 11

Gardner, Chris...... 2.0 3 3 3 2 0 10 12

Sollami, James...... 1.0 3 1 1 0 0 6 6

Brigham Young Univ. IP H R ER BB SO AB BF

-----------------------------------------------

GARCIA, Jason....... 6.2 8 3 3 0 3 29 30

WARD, Matt.......... 2.1 0 0 0 0 0 7 7

Win - GARCIA (1-1). Loss - Anderson, C. (0-2). Save - None.

WP - Anderson, C.. HBP - by GARCIA (Duvall).

Umpires - HP: Blyden Loutensock 1B: Jim Paronto 3B: Blake Jensen

Start: 4:01 Time: 2:46 Attendance: 1178

Game notes:

Game 1 of 2...VIP & All-Session passes on sale now for MWC Tournament

hosted at Larry H. Miller Field, call 1-800-322-BYU1 or visit website

at www.byutickets.com ... single game tickets go on sale May 15...get

your reserved seat now.

Ball faced 2 batters in the 6th.

Games with Southern Utah in Provo and at the University of Utah make one of the busier weeks for BYU's baseball team.

First the Cougars host Southern Utah in single games on Monday at 4 p.m., and on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Neither of these games will be broadcast on the radio since they are non-conference games, but they will be available via live webcast. The live webcasts of the BYU-SUU games are at Game One and for Game Two.

The three-game series at the University of Utah are all noon games on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. All of these games will be broadcast live locally over KOVO Radio (960 AM), but there will not be any webcasts as previously advertised.

Scheduled to pitch for BYU in Monday's game against SUU in Provo is junior transfer Jason Garcia (0-1, 6.39). Senior lefty Jeff Stone (0-5, 9.54) is BYU's probable starter for Tuesday's game at 7 p.m.

The Cougars bring a 19-25-1 overall record into the week and a second place tie with a 12-11 record in the Mountain West Conference. SUU brought a 12-29 overall record into Provo. Utah stands at 28-22 overall and is 12-12 in the league, a half-game behind the Cougars.

BYU is tied with the Air Force Academy in the league standings, three and-one-half games behind San Diego State, whom the Falcons swept last weekend in Colorado Springs.

Jeff Mousser (7-4, 4.78) is scheduled to start on the mound for the Cougars in Thursday's game. Scott Koffman (2-3, 6.24) is the likely starter for Friday's contest. Paul Jacinto (2-2, 6.75) is the probable pitcher for Saturday's game.

The Cougars' defensive lineup is bolstered by the return of Cameron Coughlan to second base. Coughlan had missed nine games previous to last week's UNLV series with an elbow injury, but had been able to swing the bat as a designated hitter. Dave Jensen continues to lead the Cougars with a .386 batting average and has hit safely in his past 16 games.

Following the games with Utah at Franklin Covey Field, BYU returns to Provo to host its final three-game series with New Mexico before entertaining the MWC Tournament.