PROVO -- Jake Wortham struck out 10, and Kasey Ko went 3-for-4 to lead BYU to a 7-4 victory Friday night over the Air Force Academy.

In the bottom of the third BYU (24-16, 9-5) opened up a big lead as Apana Nakayama singled with runners on first and third. Collin Fanning, on first, then proceeded to steal second safely and Nakayama then blasted that single to right scoring the pair. Steve Parker was up next and hit a deep triple to score Nakayama. The Cougars then hit back-to-back doubles by Ko and Stephen Wells that gave them the 7-2 lead.

"After the first inning I felt Jake pitched really well," Coach Law said. "He had his breaking ball going and really did well."

Wortham started off the game by issuing a lead-off walk, the next batter laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runner to second. Karl Bolt then came to the plate for Air Force (7-35, 0-16) and hit a single up the middle to bring the runner around to score. The very next batter hit into a beautifully executed double-play by the Cougars defense. However, the BYU offense went down in order.

In the second Wortham came out and settled down striking out two and forcing the other batter to ground out.

BYU got their first scoring opportunity in the bottom of the third as Ko hit a double into the gap in center. Wells came up next and ripped a single to left that brought a hustling Ko around to score and make it even at 1-1. Thomas Bills was up next, and after a wild pitch advanced Wells to second, Bills grounded out. But catcher J.T. Musso was up next and delivered with a triple to give BYU the 2-1 lead.

"Coach (Law) has really worked us on hitting and seeing the pitches," Ko said. " I feel really comfortable at the plate and hitting right now."

Air Force had a man on third in the top of the third inning and another single by Bolt brought him in to score an unearned run and tie the score at 2-2. Wortham prevented any further damage by striking out the final Air Force batter.

In the fourth the Falcons tried to rally back as the lead-off man Geno Salazar hit a home run, and after a forced ground out they got another single, but any hope of a rally was put to rest as Wortham struck out the next two batters to end the inning with the score 7-3.

Wortham retired the side in the fifth. In the bottom frame BYU wasn't able to capitalize with the bases loaded and hit into a double play to end the inning.

Wortham held strong in the sixth retiring the side while striking out another pair of Falcons.

In the seventh BYU found itself in a jam as Air Force had a man on first and third, but Musso gunned down the man on third, who was caught leading off.

Wortham, 5-4, picked up the win and his 10 strikeouts were good for a season high for BYU. Jesse Craig held the previous season high with nine strikeouts.

The series finale will be held on Saturday at 1 p.m. Craig, 6-2, will be on the mound for the Cougars.

Air Force Academy at Brigham Young Univ.
Apr 27, 2007 at Provo, Utah (Larry H.Miller Field)
Air Force Academy 4 (7-35,0-16 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
DERBIGNY, Chay cf........  3  2  1  0   2  1  2  0   0
RANDHAWA, K.J. ss........  5  1  3  0   0  0  1  3   0
BOLT, Karl rf............  5  0  2  2   0  2  0  0   2
ALEXANDER, Matt dh.......  4  0  1  0   0  2  0  0   1
SALAZAR, Geno 2b.........  4  1  1  2   0  1  2  4   0
GENTRY, Addison 1b.......  3  0  0  0   0  1 12  1   0
GRIGGS, Jason 3b.........  3  0  1  0   1  0  1  5   2
MEENTS, Josh c...........  3  0  1  0   0  2  3  0   1
 McBRIDE, Tyler ph.......  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
HALL, Shea lf............  3  0  0  0   0  2  2  0   1
TRUESDALE, Alex p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 BROWN, Mitch p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  3   0
Totals................... 34  4 10  4   3 11 24 16   8
Brigham Young Univ. 7 (24-16,9-5 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
WALTON, Kent 2b..........  3  1  0  0   1  0  0  5   0
FANNING, Collin rf.......  4  1  1  0   0  0  2  0   1
NAKAYAMA, Apana lf.......  4  1  1  2   0  0  0  0   0
PARKER, Steve 3b.........  4  1  1  1   0  2  1  2   0
KO, Kasey 1b.............  4  2  3  1   0  0 11  1   0
WELLS, Stephen cf........  3  1  2  2   1  1  1  0   0
BILLS, Thomas dh.........  3  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   2
 JOHNSON, Jason ph.......  1  0  1  0   0  0  0  0   0
MUSSO, J.T. c............  3  0  1  1   0  0  9  2   0
VARGAS, Dan ss...........  4  0  0  0   0  0  2  4   2
WORTHAM, Jake p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  2   0
 KIDD, Brad p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 33  7 10  7   2  3 27 16   5
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Air Force Academy... 101 100 010 -  4 10  2
Brigham Young Univ.. 025 000 00X -  7 10  1
-------------------------------------------
E - DERBIGNY(1); SALAZAR(10); NAKAYAMA(4). DP - AFA Falcons 1; BYU Cougars
1. LOB - AFA Falcons 8; BYU Cougars 5. 2B - KO 2(12); WELLS(5). 3B -
PARKER(4); JOHNSON, J.(1); MUSSO(3). HR - SALAZAR(6). HBP - GENTRY; MUSSO.
SH - HALL(2). SB - BOLT(9); GRIGGS(9); FANNING(18). CS - WELLS(4).
Air Force Academy      IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
TRUESDALE, Alex.....  2.0  5  5  5  1  1 11 12
BROWN, Mitch........  6.0  5  2  2  1  2 22 24
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
WORTHAM, Jake.......  7.0  7  3  2  2 10 25 28
KIDD, Brad..........  2.0  3  1  0  1  1  9 11
Win - WORTHAM (5-4).  Loss - TRUESDALE (0-7).  Save - None.
HBP - by BROWN (MUSSO); by KIDD (GENTRY). BK - WORTHAM(1). PB - MEENTS(6);
MUSSO(8).
Umpires - HP: Ron Ridd  1B: Blyden Loutensock  3B: Ray Leible
Start: 6:04 pm   Time: 2:27   Attendance: 1532
Game notes:
Game 2 of 3
TRUESDALE faced 3 batters in the 3rd.
Air Force Academy starters: 5/cf DERBIGNY; 1/ss RANDHAWA; 13/rf BOLT; 30/dh
ALEXANDER; 2/2b SALAZAR; 24/1b GENTRY; 17/3b GRIGGS; 8/c MEENTS; 4/lf HALL; 3/p
TRUESDALE;
Brigham Young Univ. starters: 9/2b WALTON; 17/rf FANNING; 24/lf NAKAYAMA; 5/3b
PARKER; 22/1b KO; 1/cf WELLS; 30/dh BILLS; 10/c MUSSO; 13/ss VARGAS; 28/p WORTHAM;
Air Force Academy 1st - DERBIGNY walked. RANDHAWA out at first 1b to p;
DERBIGNY advanced to second. BOLT singled up the middle, RBI; DERBIGNY scored.
ALEXANDER grounded into double play 2b to ss to 1b; BOLT out on the play. 1 run,
1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 1st - WALTON grounded out to ss. FANNING grounded out to
3b. NAKAYAMA popped up to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Air Force Academy 2nd - SALAZAR grounded out to ss. GENTRY struck out
swinging. GRIGGS walked. GRIGGS stole second. MEENTS struck out swinging. 0 runs,
0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 2nd - PARKER struck out looking. KO doubled to left
center. WELLS singled to left field, RBI; KO scored. WELLS advanced to second on a
passed ball. BILLS grounded out to 3b. MUSSO tripled to right center, RBI; WELLS
scored. VARGAS popped up to 2b. 2 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Air Force Academy 3rd - HALL struck out swinging, out at first c to 1b.
DERBIGNY struck out swinging, reached first on a passed ball. RANDHAWA singled, out
at second 2b to 3b to ss; DERBIGNY advanced to third. BOLT singled through the left
side, RBI; DERBIGNY scored, unearned. BOLT stole second. ALEXANDER struck out
swinging. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 3rd - WALTON walked. FANNING singled; WALTON advanced to
second, advanced to third on a fielding error by cf. FANNING stole second. NAKAYAMA
singled to right center, 2 RBI; FANNING scored; WALTON scored. BROWN to p for
TRUESDALE. PARKER tripled to left center, RBI; NAKAYAMA scored. KO doubled to center
field, RBI; PARKER scored. WELLS doubled down the lf line, RBI; KO scored. BILLS
grounded out to 3b. WELLS out at third p to 2b to 3b, caught stealing. MUSSO out at
first 1b to p. 5 runs, 5 hits, 1 error, 0 LOB.
Air Force Academy 4th - SALAZAR homered to left field, RBI. GENTRY grounded
out to 2b. GRIGGS singled to right field. MEENTS struck out swinging. GRIGGS
advanced to second on a balk. HALL struck out swinging. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors,
1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 4th - VARGAS flied out to cf. WALTON grounded out to ss.
FANNING grounded out to p, bunt. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Air Force Academy 5th - DERBIGNY grounded out to 3b, bunt. RANDHAWA grounded
out to p. BOLT struck out looking. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 5th - NAKAYAMA grounded out to 2b. PARKER reached on a
fielding error by 2b. KO singled to center field, advanced to second on the throw;
PARKER advanced to third. WELLS walked. BILLS grounded into double play 3b to 2b to
1b; WELLS out on the play. 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 error, 2 LOB.
Air Force Academy 6th - ALEXANDER struck out swinging. SALAZAR struck out
swinging. GENTRY grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 6th - MUSSO hit by pitch. VARGAS flied out to cf. WALTON
flied out to lf. FANNING grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Air Force Academy 7th - GRIGGS flied out to rf. MEENTS singled to second
base. HALL grounded out to p, SAC, bunt; MEENTS advanced to second. DERBIGNY singled
to shortstop; MEENTS advanced to third. MEENTS out at third c to 3b, picked off.
0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 7th - NAKAYAMA fouled out to lf. PARKER struck out
swinging. KO grounded out to p. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Air Force Academy 8th - KIDD to p for WORTHAM. RANDHAWA singled to right
field. BOLT flied out to rf. ALEXANDER singled to left field, advanced to second on
the throw; RANDHAWA advanced to second, advanced to third on a throwing error by lf.
SALAZAR grounded out to ss, RBI; ALEXANDER advanced to third; RANDHAWA scored,
unearned. GENTRY hit by pitch. GRIGGS grounded out to 2b. 1 run, 2 hits, 1 error,
2 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 8th - WELLS struck out swinging. JOHNSON, J. pinch hit
for BILLS. JOHNSON, J. tripled to right field. MUSSO grounded out to ss. VARGAS
grounded out to 2b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Air Force Academy 9th - McBRIDE pinch hit for MEENTS. McBRIDE grounded out to
2b. HALL flied out to cf. DERBIGNY walked. RANDHAWA singled to right center;
DERBIGNY advanced to third. BOLT struck out swinging. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 2
LOB.

Rotation for BYU's starting pitchers has changed as the Cougars ready to host the Air Force Academy this week.

Senior Jesse Craig (6-2, 3.43) will now be pitching on Saturday at 1 p.m.. He had been BYU's lead-off and middle pitcher in previous weeks, but will now return to the Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday for games.

The Cougars take their 22-16 record (7-5 in the Mountain West) into this Thursday's three-game homestand against Air Force (7-33 and 0-14) in a contest that has been pushed back one hour to 7 p.m., because of Vice President Dick Cheney's graduation visit.

Cougar Apana Nakayama is the current team member who is graduating this semester. Nakayama, an outfielder, is graduating in sociology. Former BYU baseball players graduating include: Joshua Barrett, communications; Anthony Bingham, political science; Jeff Hiestand, health science; Adrian Molina, sociology; James Platt, exercise science; and Patrick Wells, health science.

Sophomore pitchers Jordan Muir (4-3, 6.38) will start Thursday's game and Jake Wortham (4-4, 5.44), a lefty,will start Friday's game at 6 p.m.

Shortstop Danny Vargas returned to the starting lineup last week after a month's absence from a knee injury. The Cougars are in a third-place tie with Utah in the Mountain West Conference standings.

For more information on BYU's baseball team for this week, click on the PDF link at the top of this page.