SAN DIEGO -- First-place San Diego State lost 6-2 Thursday night to BYU’s baseball team as Cougar righthander Jeremy Toole improved his record to 4-1.

Toole recorded eight strikeouts in as many innings before being relieved by Jordan Muir who struck out the side in order in the ninth. The Cougars improved to 12-7 and are tied with SDSU at 3-1 in the Mountain West Conference.

“Our team plays confident when Jeremy is on the mound,” said BYU coach Vance Law.

Behind 1-0, the Cougars got a two-out double down the leftfield line by Brandon Relf cleared the loaded bases in the third inning to give them a 3-1 lead. All those runs were unearned coming from Andrew Law’s high-chopping single over third base, an error at shortstop on Sean McNaughton’s at bat and a walk by Steve Parker.

Parker doubled down the leftfield line in the fifth and scored off Michael Bowen’s two-out single to increase BYU’s lead to 4-1.

Aztec Erik Castro hit a two-out double to center field which scored one run, but a relay throw from Cluff to Relf helped J.T. Musso apply the tag to put Brandon Decker out at the plate as the fifth inning ended, 4-2.

“That was the highlight for me,” said Relf of the peg at home. “It was something I’ve been working on in practice.”

The Cougars picked up a pair of insurance runs in the ninth when Relf walked with the bases loaded to score Kent Walton. Then Bowen hit a sac-fly to bring in McNaughton.

The Aztecs fall to 13-7 as they ready to host BYU Friday night behind All-American pitcher Stephen Strasburg. The game will be broadcast live locally over KSRR Radio (1400 AM).

BYU at San Diego State
Mar 19, 2009 at San Diego, Calif. (Tony Gwynn Stadium)
BYU 6 (12-7,3-1 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
WALTON, Kent dh..........  3  1  1  0   2  0  0  0   0
LAW, Andrew 2b...........  4  1  1  0   0  1  3  4   2
McNAUGHTON, Sean lf......  4  2  0  0   0  1  1  0   0
PARKER, Steve 3b.........  3  2  2  0   2  0  0  1   0
RELF, Brandon ss.........  4  0  2  4   1  0  0  5   0
BOWEN, Michael rf........  3  0  1  2   0  1  2  0   1
CLUFF, Jonathan cf.......  5  0  0  0   0  3  2  1   5
BILLS, Thomas 1b.........  4  0  1  0   0  2  7  0   2
MUSSO, J.T. c............  4  0  0  0   0  3 12  1   0
TOOLE, Jeremy p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 MUIR, Jordan p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 34  6  8  6   5 11 27 12  10
San Diego State 2 (13-7,3-1 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
COLWELL cf...............  4  2  2  0   0  1  4  0   2
DECKER lf................  2  0  0  0   2  0  2  0   0
MEREDITH 1b..............  3  0  0  0   1  1  2  2   0
CASTRO 3b................  3  0  1  2   1  0  0  1   0
VAUGHN rf................  4  0  0  0   0  3  0  0   2
BLACKBURN 2b.............  4  0  2  0   0  1  5  1   0
WILSON dh................  4  0  1  0   0  2  0  0   0
PARKER c.................  3  0  0  0   0  3 10  1   0
O'SULLIVAN ss............  2  0  0  0   1  0  3  2   0
SOLOW p..................  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  1   0
 MCLAUGHLIN p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Totals................... 29  2  6  2   5 11 27  9   5
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
BYU................. 003 010 002 -  6  8  0
San Diego State..... 100 010 000 -  2  6  2
-------------------------------------------
E - VAUGHN; O'SULLIVAN. DP - BY 3. LOB - BY 10; SDSU 5. 2B - PARKER; RELF;
COLWELL; CASTRO. HBP - McNAUGHTON; BOWEN. SH - LAW, An.. SF - BOWEN. SB -
COLWELL. CS - MUSSO; WILSON.
BYU                    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF  NP
--------------------------------------------------
TOOLE, Jeremy.......  8.0  6  2  2  5  8 26 31   -
MUIR, Jordan........  1.0  0  0  0  0  3  3  3   -
San Diego State        IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF  NP
--------------------------------------------------
SOLOW...............  6.1  8  4  1  2  8 27 31   -
MCLAUGHLIN..........  2.2  0  2  0  3  3  7 12   -
Win - TOOLE (4-1).  Loss - SOLOW (0-2).  Save - None.
WP - SOLOW. HBP - by SOLOW (BOWEN); by SOLOW (McNAUGHTON). PB - MUSSO.
Pitches/strikes: None.
Umpires - HP: Bill Speck  1B: Dale Luker  3B: Kelly Gonzales
Start: 6:04 pm   Time: 2:34   Attendance: 683
Weather: Warm, mild, 62 degrees
Play-by-Play
BYU 1st - WALTON flied out to lf. LAW, An. lined out to p. McNAUGHTON
struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
San Diego State 1st - COLWELL singled to right field. COLWELL stole
second. DECKER grounded out to 2b; COLWELL advanced to third. MEREDITH walked.
CASTRO grounded out to 2b, RBI; MEREDITH advanced to second; COLWELL scored.
VAUGHN struck out swinging. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
BYU 2nd - PARKER singled up the middle. RELF singled to left field;
PARKER advanced to second. BOWEN struck out swinging. CLUFF reached on a
fielder's choice; RELF out at second 1b to ss; PARKER advanced to third. BILLS
flied out to cf. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
San Diego State 2nd - BLACKBURN singled to left field. BLACKBURN
advanced to second on a passed ball. WILSON struck out swinging. PARKER struck
out swinging. O'SULLIVAN walked. COLWELL lined out to lf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0
errors, 2 LOB.
BYU 3rd - MUSSO struck out, out at first c to 1b. WALTON grounded out to
3b. LAW, An. singled through the left side. McNAUGHTON reached on a fielding
error by ss; LAW, An. advanced to third. McNAUGHTON advanced to second on a
wild pitch. PARKER walked. RELF doubled down the lf line, 3 RBI; PARKER scored,
unearned; McNAUGHTON scored, unearned; LAW, An. scored, unearned. BOWEN hit by
pitch. CLUFF struck out swinging. 3 runs, 2 hits, 1 error, 2 LOB.
San Diego State 3rd - DECKER grounded out to ss. MEREDITH flied out to
cf. CASTRO walked. VAUGHN struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1
LOB.
BYU 4th - BILLS struck out swinging. MUSSO struck out swinging. WALTON
singled to center field. LAW, An. struck out looking. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0
errors, 1 LOB.
San Diego State 4th - BLACKBURN grounded out to ss. WILSON singled up
the middle. PARKER struck out swinging, hit into double play c to 2b; WILSON
out on the play, caught stealing. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
BYU 5th - McNAUGHTON popped up to 2b. PARKER doubled down the lf line.
RELF out at first ss to 2b; PARKER advanced to third. BOWEN singled to center
field, RBI; PARKER scored. CLUFF struck out looking. 1 run, 2 hits, 0
errors, 1 LOB.
San Diego State 5th - O'SULLIVAN grounded out to 3b. COLWELL doubled to
center field. DECKER walked. MEREDITH struck out looking. CASTRO doubled, RBI;
DECKER advanced to third, out at home cf to ss to c; COLWELL scored. 1 run,
2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
BYU 6th - BILLS singled to third base. MUSSO reached on a fielder's
choice, bunt; BILLS out at second 2b to ss. MUSSO out at second p to 1b to ss,
caught stealing. WALTON walked. LAW, An. reached on a fielder's choice; WALTON
out at second 2b unassisted. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
San Diego State 6th - VAUGHN flied out to rf. BLACKBURN singled up the
middle. WILSON grounded into double play ss to 2b to 1b; BLACKBURN out on the
play. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
BYU 7th - McNAUGHTON hit by pitch. PARKER flied out to cf. MCLAUGHLIN to
p for SOLOW. RELF flied out to lf. BOWEN reached on a fielder's choice;
McNAUGHTON out at second ss to 2b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
San Diego State 7th - PARKER struck out looking. O'SULLIVAN fouled out
to rf. COLWELL struck out looking. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
BYU 8th - CLUFF flied out to cf. BILLS struck out swinging. MUSSO struck
out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
San Diego State 8th - DECKER walked. MEREDITH grounded into double play
ss to 2b to 1b; DECKER out on the play. CASTRO flied out to cf. 0 runs, 0
hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
BYU 9th - WALTON walked. LAW, An. out at first p to 2b, SAC, bunt;
WALTON advanced to second. McNAUGHTON reached on a fielding error by rf,
advanced to second; WALTON advanced to third. PARKER intentionally walked. RELF
walked, RBI; PARKER advanced to second; McNAUGHTON advanced to third; WALTON
scored, unearned. BOWEN flied out to cf, SF, RBI; RELF advanced to second;
PARKER advanced to third; McNAUGHTON scored, unearned. CLUFF struck out
looking. 2 runs, 0 hits, 1 error, 2 LOB.
San Diego State 9th - MUIR to p for TOOLE. VAUGHN struck out swinging.
BLACKBURN struck out swinging. WILSON struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0
errors, 0 LOB.

This week’s four-game series in California is the first extended road trip since the beginning of the season for BYU’s baseball team.

The Cougars, now 10-7, have a single game on Tuesday afternoon at Cal State Northridge, 6-10, before returning to Mountain West Conference action on Thursday at San Diego State. BYU is 2-1 in MWC action, while SDSU is 3-0.

Freshman Nathan Bunch (1-0, 4.70) is the likely starter for BYU against the CSUN Matadors.

For the two evening games at San Diego State, the Cougar probable starters are Jeremy Toole (3-1, 3.58) and Blake Torgerson (1-2, 7.71) on Thurssday and Friday, respectively. Saturday afternoon’s probable BYU starter is freshman Adam Miller (2-0, 0.84). All of the BYU-SDSU games will be broadcast live locally over KSRR Radio (1400 AM).

Freshmen Bunch, Miller and Marc Oslund are a combined 5-0 thus far.

Following the California trip the Cougars return to host Utah Valley University on March 24.

For more information, please download the multi-page PDF document at the top of this page.