PROVO -- Southpaw Jeff Stone moved to fourth place in career wins, helping BYU defeat Southern Utah University 9-4 in a non-league game Tuesday.

Stone threw six innings, giving up three unearned runs on six hits with five strikeouts and only one walk. He is now tied with Scott Nielsen with 27 wins in his career. The Cougars climb to a 21-25-1 record. Southern Utah fell to 12-31 on the season.

?I?m pleased for Jeff (Stone),? said BYU Coach Vance Law. ?It?s been a rough year for him. Tonight he was getting ahead of hitters and continuing to go after them with his fastball.?

BYU?s offense stayed hot with help from Dave Jensen and Rob Itri. Jensen went 5-for-5 with a home run, a double, five RBI and three runs scored. Itri went 3-for-5 with an RBI.

?Jensen continues to swing the bat as well as he can,? Law said. ?That last one was a prodigious shot. He really pounded it.?

After holding the Thunderbirds scoreless in the first, BYU jumped out to a lead that would last all night. Doug Jackson doubled to center field in the first, then advanced to third on a wild pickoff attempt by SUU pitcher Wes Matthews that escaped into center field. Jensen followed with his first hit and RBI. Later in the first, Itri got his RBI with a single to right, scoring Matt Carson.

Stone retired the next seven SUU hitters in order, holding the Thunderbirds in check while the offense brought the runs. Jensen got his second hit and second RBI in the second inning.

Southern Utah put a run on the board in the fourth. After reaching base and advancing to second on a throwing error, Bryan Ball scored on an RBI single by James Anderson. But Stone found a way out of the inning, picking Anderson off of second base for the third out.

With one out, Cameron Coughlan and Jensen hit back-to-back doubles, Jensen's third RBI. Itri followed with his second hit and first RBI, hitting in Jensen from third.

Jake Reynolds increased his team record in triples to eight in the fifth, getting an RBI and scoring a run, cutting the BYU lead to 5-3 and giving the Thunderbirds their best chance to catch the Cougars.

But it never got closer than that. The Cougars responded with a solo home run by Kevin Bills in the fifth and a two-run homer by Jensen in the eighth. Matt Carson added an RBI double to center field, scoring Jensen.

BYU next takes the field against Utah at Franklin Covey field in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. All three games will be at noon and can be heard live on KOVO Radio (960 AM).

Southern Utah Univ. at Brigham Young Univ.

May 07, 2002 at Provo, Utah (Larry H.Miller Field)

Southern Utah Univ. 4 (12-31)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB

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

Reynolds, Jake lf........ 5 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0

Nelson, Chris c.......... 5 0 2 1 0 1 6 2 0

Lancaster, Aaron 1b...... 5 0 0 0 0 1 9 0 3

Ball, Bryan rf........... 4 1 0 0 0 3 1 0 0

Anderson, James ss....... 4 0 2 1 0 0 0 5 0

Wilkerson, McKay 2b...... 2 1 1 0 2 0 2 2 0

Droubay, Jona dh......... 4 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 1

Duvall, Ryan cf.......... 4 1 1 1 0 1 5 0 2

Matthews, Wes p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Stoker, Steven p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

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

Totals................... 38 4 10 4 2 8 24 10 9

Brigham Young Univ. 9 (21-25-1)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB

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JACKSON, Doug lf......... 5 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0

COUGHLAN, Cameron 2b..... 5 1 1 0 0 1 2 3 0

JENSEN, Dave 1b.......... 5 3 5 5 0 0 9 1 0

CARSON, Matt rf.......... 5 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1

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

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

BILLS, Kevin dh.......... 3 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0

WEINGARTEN, Mike c....... 2 0 0 0 2 0 7 1 3

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

STONE, Jeff p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0

CHRISMAN, Jacob p....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

RAY, James p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

DABO, Tyler p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

Totals................... 37 9 14 9 4 7 27 12 8

Score by Innings R H E

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Southern Utah Univ.. 000 120 010 - 4 10 1

Brigham Young Univ.. 210 211 02X - 9 14 2

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E - Matthews; ITRI; WIENS. LOB - So. Utah 9; BYU Cougars 8. 2B - JACKSON;

COUGHLAN; JENSEN 2; CARSON M.. 3B - Reynolds. HR - JENSEN(9); BILLS(5). SB -

ITRI; WIENS. CS - ITRI.

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

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Matthews, Wes....... 5.2 12 7 7 3 4 28 31

Stoker, Steven...... 1.1 0 0 0 1 3 4 5

Sollami, James...... 1.0 2 2 2 0 0 5 5

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

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STONE, Jeff......... 6.0 6 3 0 2 5 25 27

CHRISMAN, Jacob..... 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 4 4

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

DABO, Tyler......... 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 3 3

Win - STONE (1-5). Loss - Matthews (0-1). Save - None.

Umpires - HP: Blake Jensen 1B: Terry Balser 3B: Mike Andrews

Start: 7:01 Time: 2:26 Attendance: 948

Game notes:

Game 2 of 4, last game in series for 2002...VIP & All-Session passes on

sale now for MWC Tournament hosted by BYU on May 22-25, call 1-800-322-

BYU1 or visit www.byutickets.com ... single game passes on sale May 15