FRESNO -- Senior Nate Fernley continued to boost BYU's RPI with a 4-1 victory Thursday evening over Fresno State.

The righthander pitched his first complete game of the season, surrendering only a leadoff home run to Tom Creighton on the third pitch in the first inning, a line drive barely over the 330-mark in right field. Fernley, who also only gave up one run in BYU's season opening victory at Arizona, allowed only five FSU hits thereafter and tallied 10 strikeouts and one walk.

BYU's scoring started in the first inning, too, when Shane Belliston and Matt Carson each singled and were driven in by Aaron Whitley's two-out double. The Cougars added a pair of runs in the fourth when Lars Birkeland scored off Brad Hales' two-out double and Hales scored off Cameron Coughlan's triple. Eight of the 10 Cougar batters each had a hit in the game.

BYU, who was errorless in the game, improved its record to 2-1, while the Bulldogs are now 1-3. FSU hosts the Cougars again on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.

Cougars at Fresno State
                   Feb 01, 2001 at Fresno, Calif. (Pete Beiden Field)
Cougars 4 (2-1)                               Fresno State 1 (1-3)
Player                      AB  R  H BI       Player                      AB  R  H BI
---------------------------------------       ---------------------------------------
Coughlan dh................  3  0  1  1       T. Creighton 2b............  4  1  1  1
Belliston cf...............  4  1  1  0       Labandeira ss..............  3  0  0  0
Carson rf..................  5  1  1  0        Fritz ph/c................  1  0  0  0
Obrey 3b...................  3  0  0  0       Gemoll 1b..................  4  0  2  0
Whitley lf.................  4  0  1  2       Garcia 3b..................  3  0  1  0
 Jackson lf................  0  0  0  0       Tafoya lf..................  4  0  1  0
Perry 2b...................  4  0  1  0       Guzman cf..................  4  0  0  0
Haguewood 1b...............  4  0  1  0       Prieto dh..................  2  0  0  0
Birkeland c................  2  1  1  0        McGehee ph/dh.............  1  0  1  0
Hales ss...................  4  1  1  1       Riday-White rf.............  2  0  0  0
Fernley p..................  0  0  0  0        Efrid ph/rf...............  1  0  0  0
                                              Harper c...................  2  0  0  0
                                               Beshears ph...............  1  0  0  0
                                               Lopez ss..................  0  0  0  0
                                              Minor p....................  0  0  0  0
                                               Gonzalez p................  0  0  0  0
Totals..................... 33  4  8  4       Totals..................... 32  1  6  1
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Cougars............. 200 200 000 -  4  8  0
Fresno State........ 100 000 000 -  1  6  2
-------------------------------------------
E - T. Creighton(1), Fritz(1). DP - Bulldogs 1. LOB - BYU 8, Bulldogs 5. 2B -
Whitley(1), Haguewood(1), Hales(1). 3B - Coughlan(2). HR - T. Creighton(1). CS -
Coughlan(2).
Cougars                        IP  H  R ER BB SO  WP BK HP IBB  AB BF  FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fernley  W,2-0.............   9.0  6  1  1  1 10   0  0  0  0   32 33  11  5
Fresno State                   IP  H  R ER BB SO  WP BK HP IBB  AB BF  FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Minor  L,0-1...............   8.0  8  4  4  4  6   0  0  0  0   30 34  10  6
Gonzalez ..................   1.0  0  0  0  2  1   0  0  0  0    3  5   0  1
Strikeouts - Carson 2, Obrey 2, Whitley, Haguewood, Birkeland, Labandeira 3, Tafoya,
Prieto 2, Riday-White, Efrid, Harper, Beshears. Walks - Coughlan 2, Belliston,
Obrey, Birkeland 2, Garcia.
Umpires -
Start: 7 p.m   Time: 2:07   Attendance: 2545
Game: BYU1

Winning baseball records are the quest of host Fresno State and BYU in a three-game series which begins Thursday evening.

BYU, 1-1, travels to Fresno State, 1-2, to start its 11-game road trip which will also include games at the University of San Francisco, Cal Berkeley and Cal-Fullerton.

The 25-man Cougar travel squad will use the same pitching rotation from last week's games. In Thursday's 7 p.m. game, senior Nate Fernley (1-0, 0.00) will try to extend his superb eight-inning outing last week at Arizona. Fernley's 11 strikeouts paved the way for BYU's 8-4 victory over the Wildcats.

Scheduled to start Friday's 7 p.m. game is junior southpaw James Ray (0 1, 19.64) who was tagged with BYU's 15-7 loss at Arizona. Freshman Jeff Stearman is looking for his first appearance on Saturday at 1 p.m., because the third game at Arizona in which he was scheduled to start was postponed.

"I was pleased with the way Nate (Fernley) pitched and the way we swung the bats," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "Seth King is off to a great start and we got good performances from players like Lars Birkeland."

King, a senior shortstop, is leading the Cougar regulars with a .600 batting average, while BYU as a team is batting .346. Birkeland is batting .571.

All three games this week will be carried live on internet audiostream courtesy of Fresno State's radio stations by logging into http://kfsr.org/ for Thursday's game and

www.kmj580.com/ for Friday and Saturday. Or fans can click on the website at gobulldogs.fansonly.com/sports/m basebl/fres-m-basebl-sched.html