Mangrum, Fernley, Davies Help Upset Second-ranked Alabama
TUSCALOOSA -- Pitchers Micah Mangrum and Nate Fernley scattered six hits Friday night to lead BYU to an 8-3 upset over second-ranked Alabama.
Mangrum, whose record improved to 1-1, threw six innings and gave up five hits to snap the 15-game winning streak of the Crimson Tide. When Nate Fernley came in to start the seventh inning he worked himself out of a jam with runners on second and third by striking out three batters in a row to earn his first save of the season.
"Our pitching was outstanding," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "Micah and Nate hit their spots. After we went up 4-0 I told the team to be aggressive and don't play to lose or try to hold on. I believe in this team and they are starting to believe in themselves. Playing top-notch teams so far has seasoned us."
BYU, now 3-5, jumped out to a 4-0 first inning lead from consecutive lead-off doubles by Shane Belliston and Craig Peterson to the dismay of 6,166 fans, the sixth-largest crowd the Cougars have played before. Nick Day's infield single scored Belliston before DH Michael Davies drilled a home run over the left field 325-foot sign.
Mangrum threw 90 pitches to give Alabama its first home loss since last April to LSU, but the five pro scouts who witnessed the Tide's 11-1 victory Thursday had departed to watch a top prospect at Auburn tonight.
"I kept them off balance," said Mangrum. "Last year I got too pumped up. This year Coach Law helped me stay within myself. My curve, fastball, slider and changeup were all on tonight."
The victory put a damper on Alabama's quest to capitalize on No. 5 Florida State upsetting top-ranked Stanford earlier Friday. However, Stanford transfer Nick Day helped BYU upset Alabama.
Day led the Cougars with three hits, including a double in the ninth, but more importantly made one of two critical eighth-inning catches in the outfield. In the eighth, Alabama DH Kelly Gulledge flew out to Day on the run and Aaron Clark flew out to Matt Carson. Carson alertly threw from right field to double up Jeremy Brown who had left first early.
Insurance runs for BYU came in the fourth and sixth innings when Seth King drove in Tyler Perry and in the two-run ninth. In the ninth, Tyler Haguewood singled to drive in Belliston on a hit and run from second and Day scored off Davies single.
Alabama, now 1-1, hosts BYU on Saturday afternoon. Former BYU and Alabama athletic director Glen Tuckett was the color analyst for College Sports Southeast television production of Friday night's Cougar victory.
BYU Cougars at ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDEFeb 11, 2000 at TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA (Sewell-Thomas)
BYU Cougars 8 (3-5)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
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Shane Belliston cf....... 4 2 1 0 1 1 3 0 2
Craig Peterson 1b........ 2 1 1 1 0 1 5 1 0
Ty Haguewood ph/1b...... 2 0 1 1 1 0 4 1 0
Nick Day lf.............. 5 2 3 0 0 0 2 0 0
Michael Davies dh........ 5 1 2 4 0 0 0 0 1
Cameron Coughlan pr..... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Matt Carson rf........... 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1
Tyler Perry 2b........... 3 2 2 0 1 0 1 3 0
Kainoa Obrey 3b.......... 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
Seth King ss............. 4 0 2 2 0 1 1 1 0
Casey Cloward c.......... 3 0 0 0 1 2 9 1 1
Micah Mangrum p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0
Steve Fernley p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 36 8 13 8 4 5 27 11 5
ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE 3 (1-1)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
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Sam Bozanich 2b.......... 5 0 0 0 0 4 2 3 2
Erik Smallwood cf........ 4 1 1 1 0 1 3 0 0
Brent Boyd 3b............ 4 1 1 1 0 1 0 5 3
Jeremy Brown 1b.......... 3 0 0 0 0 0 10 1 0
Kelley Gulledge dh....... 4 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 0
Aaron Clark lf........... 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
Rock Mills c............. 3 0 0 0 0 1 5 1 1
Jeff Dragg ph........... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Ben King rf.............. 4 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 0
Casey Lambert ss......... 2 1 1 0 1 1 2 2 0
Kevin Marzion p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0
Michael Rainwater p..... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Matt Goldsmith p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jonathan Blankenship p.. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Bryce Heath p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 34 3 6 3 1 10 27 14 7
Score by Innings R H E
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BYU Cougars......... 400 101 002 - 8 13 3
ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE 200 010 000 - 3 6 2
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E - Peterson 2(2); Fernley(1); Brown 2(2). DP - BYU 2; ALABAMA 2. LOB - BYU
5; ALABAMA 7. 2B - Belliston(2); Peterson(1); Day(3); Perry(1);
Smallwood(1); Boyd(1); Lambert(1). HR - Davies(1). HBP - Brown; Lambert. SB
- Belliston(2). CS - Haguewood(1); Coughlan(1).
BYU Cougars IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
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Micah Mangrum....... 6.0 5 3 1 0 4 24 25
Steve Fernley....... 3.0 1 0 0 1 6 10 12
ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Kevin Marzion....... 4.0 7 5 5 1 2 17 18
Michael Rainwater... 1.1 3 1 0 1 1 7 8
Matt Goldsmith...... 3.0 1 1 1 2 2 10 12
Jonathan Blankenship 0.1 2 1 1 0 0 2 2
Bryce Heath......... 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Win - Mangrum (1-1). Loss - Marzion (0-1). Save - Fernley (1).
WP - Mangrum(1); Marzion(1). HB - Mangrum; Fernley. PB - Cloward(2).
Umpires - Home:Morris Hodges 1st:Larry Short 3rd:Ricky Armstrong
Start: 7:08 PM Time: 2:50 Attendance: 6166
Game notes:
The loss snaps Alabama's 15-game home winning streak, dating back to April,
17, 1999...Brown two errors tonight after making only three errors in 69
games last year...Game three of series at 2 p.m. Saturday...
