PROVO -- A Brandon Relf double down the left field line scored three runners to help BYU defeat St. John’s 5-4 on Friday afternoon.

“Our offensive execution was evident today,” said BYU head coach Vance Law. “We were able to move runners with effective batting and advancing guys on sacrifice bunts or anything we needed to do to help the team.”

The Red Storm got off to a quick 2-0 start in the first inning as Joe Panik singled in two runs on a left-field bloop. The Cougars responded with a run in the bottom of that frame with a Sean McNaughton sacrifice fly scoring Kent Walton from third. BYU scored another run in the second inning on a Walton sac fly to bring in Relf and tie the score at two apiece.

Relf’s double down the line in the third inning scored McNaughton, Jonathan Cluff and Steve Parker to give BYU a 5-2 lead in the snow-flurried weather in the season’s first live televised game at Larry H. Miller Field.

After a Red Storm run, the BYU defense came up big to stop another scoring attempt when rightfielder Michael Bowen threw to Andrew Law, who zipped it to catcher J.T. Musso to tag out an incoming runner at home plate to maintain a 5-3 lead. The Cougars dodged another close call in the seventh inning when a Red Storm runner was on third base, but a ground out secured the BYU lead.

Junior college transfer Jeremy Toole had a solid afternoon on the mound, averaging between 89-94 m.p.h. on his fastball and striking out five St. John’s players before Jake Wortham relieved him in the eighth.

“Toole had a slow start but he always seems to battle through and gets better as the game goes on,” Law said of his ace hurler who threw 127 pitches on the 35-degree afternoon. “He’s not walking as many players and we are fortunate to have him in our program.”

The Cougars had an unfortunate injury in the eighth when first baseman Alex Wolfe went down at the plate and grabbed his knee in pain. Coach Law said Wolfe may have a torn ACL in his left knee.

“You hate to see bad things happen to good people,” Law said. “He’s overcome challenges before and we hope he can have a quick recovery.”

St. John’s threatened to tie the game once more in the ninth inning with bases loaded, but a 6-4-3 double play (Relf to Law to Thomas Bills) executed by the Cougar infield secured the victory. With that double play, reliever Jordan Muir secured his second save in as many games, his third of the season.

Relf led the Cougars by going 2-for-4 from the plate with three RBI, while Bowen had a solid game with a 2-for-3 effort.

BYU improves to 5-6 on the season while St. John’s falls to 2-4. The two teams square off again Saturday in a doubleheader. Game times are at 1 and 4 p.m. MT.

“I’m pleased with how we took care of business today,” Law said. “We were mentally tough and faced the cold weather without any problems. We hope to have another good day on Saturday.”

St. John's at BYU
Mar 06, 2009 at Provo, Utah (Larry H.Miller Field)
St. John's 4 (2-4)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
KEMP, Brian cf...........  4  0  0  0   1  1  1  0   2
MORRIS, Tim 1b...........  5  2  2  0   0  0  8  1   2
 FERRARA, Scott pr.......  0  1  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
PARQUE, Jimmy rf.........  4  1  3  1   0  0  1  0   0
HOPKINS, Greg 3b.........  5  0  1  1   0  1  0  1   0
PANIK, Joe ss............  3  0  2  2   2  0  1  3   0
BENEDETTI, Danny c.......  4  0  0  0   1  2  9  0   5
DEL ROSARIO, Carlos lf...  4  0  1  0   0  1  3  0   2
KARMAS, Paul dh..........  4  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
MATIAS, Gino 2b..........  3  0  1  0   1  0  1  1   0
LUISI, Nick p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  3   0
 ARMENTO, Rich p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 36  4 10  4   5  6 24  9  11
BYU 5 (5-6)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
WALTON, Kent dh..........  3  1  1  1   0  0  0  0   0
LAW, Andrew 2b...........  4  0  0  0   0  2  1  6   1
McNAUGHTON, Sean lf......  3  1  0  1   1  2  3  0   0
WOLFE, Alex 1b...........  2  0  0  0   1  2 11  0   0
 KO, Kasey ph............  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
 BILLS, Thomas 1b........  0  0  0  0   0  0  2  0   0
CLUFF, Jonathan cf.......  4  1  2  0   0  0  0  0   0
PARKER, Steve 3b.........  3  1  0  0   1  1  0  0   2
 BANKS, Stetson pr.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 SLOAN, Kevin 3b.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
RELF, Brandon ss.........  4  1  2  3   0  0  4  3   1
BOWEN, Michael rf........  3  0  2  0   0  0  1  1   0
MUSSO, J.T. c............  2  0  0  0   0  1  4  4   1
TOOLE, Jeremy p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  2   0
 WORTHAM, Jake p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 MUIR, Jordan p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 29  5  7  5   3  9 27 16   5
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
St. John's.......... 200 010 001 -  4 10  1
BYU................. 113 000 00X -  5  7  1
-------------------------------------------
E - MORRIS(1); RELF(5). DP - Cougars 1. LOB - STJ 11; Cougars 5. 2B -
HOPKINS(4); PANIK(2); MATIAS(4); RELF(1). 3B - MORRIS(1). HBP - PARQUE. SH -
MUSSO(2). SF - WALTON(1). SB - CLUFF(3). CS - BOWEN(2).
St. John's             IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF  NP
--------------------------------------------------
LUISI, Nick.........  6.0  7  5  5  3  7 22 27 101
ARMENTO, Rich.......  2.0  0  0  0  0  2  7  7  27
BYU                    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF  NP
--------------------------------------------------
TOOLE, Jeremy.......  7.0  8  3  3  4  5 29 33 130
WORTHAM, Jake.......  1.1  2  1  1  1  1  6  8  23
MUIR, Jordan........  0.2  0  0  0  0  0  1  1   4
Win - TOOLE (2-1).  Loss - LUISI (0-1).  Save - MUIR (3).
WP - LUISI(1); TOOLE 2(4). HBP - by WORTHAM (PARQUE). BK - LUISI(1); TOOLE(1).
PB - MUSSO(3). Pitches/strikes: LUISI 101/60; ARMENTO 27/20; TOOLE 130/81;
WORTHAM 23/14; MUIR 4/3.
Umpires - HP: Jason Rogers  1B: Bradley Hungerford  3B: Matt Marziale
Start: 3:04   Time: 2:30   Attendance: 197
Weather: snow flurries, 37 degrees
Game notes:
Game one of three.
Play-by-Play
St. John's 1st - KEMP walked (3-0). MORRIS reached on a fielder's choice
(1-2); KEMP out at second p to ss. PARQUE singled to right field (0-2); MORRIS
advanced to second. HOPKINS flied out to lf (0-0). PARQUE advanced to second;
MORRIS advanced to third on a balk. PANIK singled to left field, 2 RBI (2-2);
PARQUE scored; MORRIS scored. BENEDETTI reached on a fielder's choice (0-0);
PANIK out at second 2b to ss. 2 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
BYU 1st - WALTON singled to center field (2-2). WALTON advanced to
second on a wild pitch. LAW, An. grounded out to ss (2-2); WALTON advanced to
third. McNAUGHTON grounded out to ss, RBI (1-0); WALTON scored. WOLFE walked
(3-1). CLUFF singled to right field (1-1); WOLFE advanced to second. PARKER
struck out swinging (1-2). 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
St. John's 2nd - DEL ROSARIO singled to left field (1-2). DEL ROSARIO
advanced to second on a wild pitch. KARMAS grounded out to ss (1-1). MATIAS
walked (3-2); DEL ROSARIO advanced to third on a wild pitch. KEMP reached on a
fielder's choice (0-2); MATIAS out at second p to ss. MORRIS lined out to p
(0-0). 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
BYU 2nd - RELF singled to center field (0-0). BOWEN singled to right
field (0-0); RELF advanced to second. MUSSO grounded out to 3b, SAC, bunt
(0-1); BOWEN advanced to second; RELF advanced to third. WALTON flied out to
lf, SF, RBI (0-0); BOWEN advanced to third; RELF scored. LAW, An. struck out
looking (2-2). 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
St. John's 3rd - PARQUE lined out to 2b (1-1). HOPKINS struck out
swinging, out at first c to 1b (2-2). PANIK grounded out to 2b (1-0). 0
runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
BYU 3rd - McNAUGHTON walked (3-0). WOLFE struck out swinging (3-2).
McNAUGHTON advanced to second on a balk. CLUFF singled to pitcher (1-1);
McNAUGHTON advanced to third. CLUFF stole second. PARKER walked (3-0). RELF
doubled down the lf line, 3 RBI (0-0); PARKER scored; CLUFF scored; McNAUGHTON
scored. BOWEN flied out to cf (0-1); RELF advanced to third. MUSSO fouled out
to 1b (2-0). 3 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
St. John's 4th - BENEDETTI struck out swinging (1-2). DEL ROSARIO struck
out swinging (3-2). KARMAS reached on a fielding error by ss (1-0). MATIAS
doubled down the lf line (3-1); KARMAS advanced to third. KEMP grounded out to
c (1-0). 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 error, 2 LOB.
BYU 4th - WALTON grounded out to p (1-2). LAW, An. struck out swinging
(0-2). McNAUGHTON struck out swinging (2-2). 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0
LOB.
St. John's 5th - MORRIS tripled to center field (0-2). PARQUE singled to
left field, RBI (1-0); MORRIS scored. HOPKINS flied out to rf (0-2). PANIK
doubled to right field, advanced to third (2-1); PARQUE advanced to third, out
at home rf to 2b to c. BENEDETTI walked (3-2). DEL ROSARIO lined out to 1b
(0-0). 1 run, 3 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
BYU 5th - WOLFE struck out swinging (1-2). CLUFF grounded out to p
(2-0). PARKER grounded out to ss (3-2). 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
St. John's 6th - KARMAS grounded out to 1b unassisted (1-1). MATIAS
flied out to lf (3-2). KEMP struck out looking (2-2). 0 runs, 0 hits, 0
errors, 0 LOB.
BYU 6th - RELF flied out to lf (0-1). BOWEN singled to center field
(3-2). BOWEN out at second p to 1b to ss, caught stealing. MUSSO struck out
swinging (2-2). 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
St. John's 7th - MORRIS flied out to lf (2-2). PARQUE singled to center
field (2-2). HOPKINS grounded out to ss (0-0); PARQUE advanced to second.
PARQUE advanced to third on a passed ball. PANIK walked (3-1). BENEDETTI struck
out swinging, out at first c to 1b (2-2). 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 2
LOB.
BYU 7th - ARMENTO to p for LUISI. WALTON popped up to 2b (0-2). LAW, An.
grounded out to 2b (0-1). McNAUGHTON struck out swinging (2-2). 0 runs, 0
hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
St. John's 8th - WORTHAM to p for TOOLE. DEL ROSARIO fouled out to 1b
(0-0). KARMAS struck out swinging, out at first c to 1b (0-2). MATIAS grounded
out to 2b (2-2). 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
BYU 8th - KO pinch hit for WOLFE. KO struck out swinging (3-2). CLUFF
flied out to lf (1-1). PARKER reached on a throwing error by 1b (1-2). BANKS
pinch ran for PARKER. RELF popped up to rf (0-0). 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 error, 1
LOB.
St. John's 9th - BILLS to 1b for KO. SLOAN to 3b for BANKS. KEMP
grounded out to 2b (1-1). MORRIS singled to right field (0-1). FERRARA pinch
ran for MORRIS. PARQUE hit by pitch (2-0); FERRARA advanced to second. HOPKINS
doubled to left field, RBI (0-1); PARQUE advanced to third; FERRARA scored.
PANIK walked (3-1). MUIR to p for WORTHAM. BENEDETTI grounded into double play
2b to ss to 1b (1-2); PANIK out on the play. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2
LOB.

Game time has changed to 3 p.m., for Friday’s baseball tilt between BYU and St. John’s to start a three-game series in Provo.

Friday’s game and the first game on Saturday at 1 p.m., will both be televised live by BYUTV with Jarom Jordan calling the play-by-play and former BYU pitcher Justin Su`a as color analyst.

The Cougars, now 4-6, host the Red Storm, 2-3, from the Big East Conference with junior Jeremy Toole (1-1, 5.40) starting on the mound on Friday. Junior Blake Torgerson (0-2, 5.91) gets the nod on the mound for the first game on Saturday and Adam Miller (1-0, 0.96) follows on the hill for the nightcap.

Following the three-game series with St. John’s, the Cougars then ready to host Southern Utah on Tuesday at 3 p.m. Admission to the SUU-BYU game will be free.

Please see multi-page PDF file at the top of this page for more information.