Box Score
TUCSON, Ariz.- The Arizona baseball team dropped its 2001 home opener to Brigham Young 8-4 Thursday afternoon. Cougar starter Nate Fernley (1-0) held the Wildcat bats in check for eight innings, surrendering only three hits and one unearned run en route to striking out 11 UA batters to earn his first victory of the season.
After failing to score with the bases loaded in the first, BYU tallied two runs in the top of the second and plated a third in fourth off Wildcat starter Sean Rierson.
Down by three, the Wildcats bounced back, scoring an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth on an errant throw by BYU's catcher Lars Birkeland on Ernie Durazo's steal of second that plated Justyn St. Clair.
The Cougars would add another run in the sixth before breaking the game open with back-to-back home runs by Seth King and Matt Carson in the top of the eighth. Birkeland added a solo shot for BYU in the ninth to make the score 8-1.
The Wildcats would rally for three runs in the home-half of the ninth on an RBI double by Matt Abram and RBI singles by Erik Torres and Jason Shroyer, but would see the rally fall short, stranding runners on the corners to end the game.
Offensively, Erik Torres led the Cats with a pair of hits and added an RBI in losing effort. BYU's King led all players with four hits while knocking in two runs and scoring two. Rierson (0-1) picked up the loss for the Cats.
The two schools will meet again tomorrow for the second game of the three game set. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
