LINCOLN -- Twice BYU came back to tie the score against Rutgers, but the Scarlet Knights rallied to get a 4-3 victory Friday at the NCAA Baseball Regionals.

The Cougars, now 38-21, face a do-or-die situation on Saturday at 11 a.m. CDT when they play Northern Iowa, 34-27. The winner of that game plays again Saturday versus the loser of the Nebraska-Rutgers game at 7 p.m. CDT.

Despite seven strikeouts in his 139 pitches, Nate Fernley, the nation's winningest pitcher and a second-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball, lost for the third time this season against 16 victories as he logged his seventh complete game.

Rutgers took a 2-0 lead against BYU until the Cougars tied the score in the seventh inning from a lead-off home run by Jeff Hiestand and Lars Birkeland's one out single which scored Seth King.

Rutgers took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh when Brian Ciemniecki hit a lead-off single and advance to third on one of BYU's three errors in the game. Ciemniecki scored off Val Majewski's sacrifice fly.

BYU battled back in the ninth to knot the score at three-all. Michael Wirrick hit a one-out single and was replaced by pinch runner Cameron Coughlan. Coughlan stole second and later scored off Tyler Perry's two-out single to right field when Bobby Brownlie hung a curve.

"Tyler Perry came through with a big base hit," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "Some of our guys get tougher with two outs and he is one of those guys."

The Scarlet Knights won the game in the bottom of the ninth when Matt Wolski drew a one-out walk, and advanced on Majewski's double. Fernley then intentionally first-team All-American Billy McCarthy to load the bases. Mike Popowski then hit a slow grounder to short to score Wolski.

Popowski had tried to score the game's first run in the second inning on the Scarlet Knight's third single of the inning. However, right fielder Matt Carson gunned him down at home plate as Fernley worked out of a bases loaded situation.

In the third, Rutgers scored its first two runs when Wolski was hit by a pitch, advanced on a balk and single by McCarthy and then scored on Popowski's sac-fly. McCarthy advanced on a wild pitch and scored off Todd Speedy's single.

BYU failed to score base runners in the second, fifth and sixth innings. Then Hiestand drove his eighth homer over the 360 mark in right field. King got an infield single and advanced to second on the error and tied the game at 2-2 when Lars Birkeland's single bounded high off the pitcher's mound. Hiestand and King lead the Cougars with a pair of hits. King extended his hitting streak to 17 games.

Birkeland helped turn a double play to end the seventh inning when he caught the third strike on Popowski, then threw out Wolski trying to steal second on the play.

"BYU gave me all I could handle, but fortunately I got the breaks," said Brownlie, who improved his record to 6-3. Brownlie's six strikeouts helped him set the Rutgers' career strikeout record at 175 as he also went the distance. He joins Carson as an invitee to the U.S. Team Trials.

"It was a heck of a game," said Rutgers Coach Fred Hill. "The bottom of BYU's lineup hurt us more than their big hitters. Fernley did a nice job keeping us off balance, he is a real competitor."

Rutgers, now 46-14, advances to play Nebraska on Saturday afternoon. Nebraska defeated Northern Iowa in the first round Friday, 16-6.

The Automated ScoreBook
                   Brigham Young Univ. vs Rutgers University
             May 25, 2001 at Lincoln, Nebraska (Buck Beltzer Field)
Brigham Young Univ. 3 (34-27)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
JACKSON, Doug lf.........  4  0  1  0   0  1  1  0   1
BELLISTON, Shane cf......  4  0  0  0   0  1  4  0   0
CARSON, Matt rf..........  4  0  0  0   0  2  4  1   0
OBREY, Kainoa 3b.........  4  0  1  0   0  1  0  2   1
HIESTAND, Jeff dh........  4  1  2  1   0  0  0  0   1
KING, Seth ss............  4  1  2  0   0  1  1  2   0
WIRRICK, Michael 1b......  3  0  1  0   0  0  4  0   0
 COUGHLAN, Cameron pr/2b.  0  1  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
BIRKELAND, Lars c........  3  0  1  1   1  0  9  1   2
PERRY, Tyler 2b..........  4  0  1  1   0  0  2  1   1
 LAW, Tim 1b.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
FERNLEY, Nate p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 34  3  9  3   1  6 25  7   6
Rutgers University 4 (46-14)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
CIEMNIECKI, Brian cf.....  5  1  1  0   0  0  0  0   3
WOLSKI, Matt 2b..........  1  2  0  0   2  1  1  6   0
MAJEWSKI, Val lf.........  4  0  2  1   0  0  1  0   0
McCARTHY, Billy rf.......  4  1  1  0   1  1  0  0   1
POPOWSKI, Mike c.........  4  0  2  2   0  1  6  1   1
SPEEDY, Todd dh..........  4  0  1  1   0  2  0  0   0
LILLIS, Ryan 3b..........  4  0  2  0   0  0  0  2   1
NORMANE, Steve 1b........  4  0  1  0   0  1 17  0   0
SWEENEY, Tim ss..........  3  0  0  0   1  1  1  2   3
BROWNLIE, Bobby p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  4   0
Totals................... 33  4 10  4   4  7 27 15  12
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Brigham Young Univ.. 000 000 201 -  3  9  3
Rutgers University.. 002 000 101 -  4 10  1
-------------------------------------------
Note: 1 out, 3 runners LOB when the game ended.
E - WIRRICK 2; LAW; NORMANE. DP - Cougars 1. LOB - Cougars 6; Scar.Knights
12. 2B - MAJEWSKI 2. HR - HIESTAND(8). HBP - WOLSKI. SH - WIRRICK; WOLSKI.
SF - MAJEWSKI; POPOWSKI. SB - COUGHLAN. CS - PERRY; WOLSKI.
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
FERNLEY, Nate.......  8.1 10  4  3  4  7 33 41
Rutgers University     IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
BROWNLIE, Bobby.....  9.0  9  3  3  1  6 34 36
Win - BROWNLIE (6-3).  Loss - FERNLEY (16-3).  Save - None.
WP - FERNLEY; BROWNLIE. HB - FERNLEY. BK - FERNLEY.
Umpires - Home:Ray Belfiore  1st:Scott Graham  2nd:Bruce Ravan  3rd:Dan Marple
Start: 7:01   Time: 2:13   Attendance: 1595
Game notes:
Game 2 of NCAA Lincoln Regional

Rutgers will be BYU's first round opponent at Lincoln, Nebraska in the 64 team NCAA Regional Baseball Championships this Friday.

Third-seeded BYU, 38-20, will play second-seeded Rutgers, 40-15, on Friday at 7 p.m. CDT. The other teams in that regional are top-seeded, host Nebraska, 45-14, who will play fourth-seeded Northern Iowa, 34-26, earlier on Friday.

On Saturday, the loser Game #1 plays the loser of Game #2, at 11 a.m. CDT in Game #3, followed by the winner of Game #1 vs. Winner Game #2 at 3 p.m. CDT in Game #4, followed by the winner of Game #3 vs. Loser Game #4 at 7 p.m. CDT in Game #5.

On Sunday, Game #6 would be the Championship between the Winner Game #4 vs. Winner Game #5, 1 p.m. CDT and perhaps Game #7--Game #6 rematch, if necessary, 50 minutes after Game #6. Game #6 and Game #7 could be played on Monday and perhaps Tuesday if BYU is involved because of no-Sunday play policy.

"Every regional is a tough draw, but we think we can play with anybody," said BYU Coach Vance Law. The Cougars recorded victories this season against several in the NCAA Regionals, Fresno State, Cal-Berkeley, Cal Fullerton and Oral Roberts.

Law, who won Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year honors in this his second season at BYU, indicated he isn't sure on his starting pitcher will be against the Scarlet Knights. However, he is leaning towards BYU's ace Nate Fernley who leads the nation in victories with a 16-2 record and a 3.12 ERA. Fernley was recently named MVP of the MWC Tournament which BYU won by beating San Diego State. BYU was also the MWC regular season champion with a 21-8 record.

Law indicated Cougar sophomore Matt Carson would be ready to return to right field by Friday. Carson, a first-team All-MWC performer, had back spasms which kept him out of the lineup for the last four games of last week's tournament. Carson, who has 18 home runs, joins Rutgers' sophomore pitcher Bobby Brownlie (5-3, 2.40) two of the 19 invitees to the U.S.A. Team Trials next month.

Senior tri-captain Seth King leads the Cougars with a current 16-game hitting streak. Tri-captain Shane Belliston served a two-year Church mission to New Jersey (Spanish-speaking) in the Rutgers area.

Rutgers has been ranked on and off during the season, just falling from No. 23 last week after losing a pair of games in the Big East Tournament. BYU has not been ranked at any time this season, while Nebraska is currently ranked number three and has been ranked between No. 1 and No. 18 throughout the season.

This is the first time BYU has met Rutgers and Northern Iowa. BYU has a 2-2 record against Nebraska, having beaten the Cornhuskers in 1985 at Fresno, Calif., and 1980 at Riverside, Calif., in regular season tournaments. Nebraska has beaten BYU twice in 1980 at the NCAA Regionals at Michigan.

The Cougars are scheduled to fly to Omaha on Wednesday afternoon, then drive to Lincoln. This is BYU's eight NCAA Regional appearance and the Cougars have a 7-16 record in that span. BYU last appeared in an NCAA Regional in 1994 at Tallahassee, Fla., where it lost on a Memorial Day to Florida State for the right to advance to the College World Series. BYU made appearances in the College World Series in 1968 and 1971, but had to decline invitations in 1958 and 1965 because of Sunday play.

If the Cougars face Nebraska later in the Regional, fans can listen to that game at http://www.broadcast.com/sports/ncaa/Nebraska/Baseball/.

If the Cougars play Northern Iowa, it will be broadcast over the Internet at http://www.uni.edu/athletic/broadcast.