HUNTSVILLE -- Every time Sam Houston State mounted a threat Saturday, BYU's baseball team answered and ended up with a 5-2 victory.

The Cougars, now 2-1, took an initial 3-0 lead in the second inning, all with two outs. Leon Johnson drew a bases loaded walk to bring in Kasey Ko for the first run. Then freshman outfielder Jonathan Cluff hit a two-run single, driving in Daniel Vargas and Steve Parker for the game-winning RBI.

Apana Nakayama led off the third with a home run to put the Cougars up, 4-0.

"Apana's home run gave us a cushion and Jordan (Muir) did a good job of protecting the lead," said BYU Coach Vance Law.

Muir, who struck out four in six innings, put the Bearkats down in order in the first, third, fourth and sixth innings. Shortstop Vargas teamed with Ko to aid Muir in the fourth when Austin Boggs grounded into a 6-3 double play.

"Jordan pitched well, so did (Jacob) Perez and (J.D.) Stambaugh," said Law. Perez, a transfer, relieved Muir, the game-winner, in the seventh. Perez put the Bearkats, now 1-2, down in order in the eighth, before allowing three runners on in the ninth. Then Stambaugh picked up a save when he coaxed Heath Pugh into a ground out to Vargas.

The Cougars picked up their final run in the sixth when Mike McKeever doubled in the right-center gap. Transfer Collin Fanning pinch-ran for McKeever and scored when Parker hit a one-out single to left.

"We had good hard outs and not many bad at-bats," said Law. "I'm much more pleased than I was on Friday. Parker helped us answer right back after they had scored, which was very important."

The Cougars next play a three-game series in Oregon, starting this Thursday at the University of Portland.

Brigham Young at Sam Houston State
Feb 10, 2007 at Huntsville, TX (Don Sanders Stadium)
Brigham Young 5 (2-1)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
JOHNSON, Leon cf.........  3  0  0  1   2  1  6  0   0
CLUFF, Jonathan rf.......  5  0  2  2   0  0  2  0   0
WALTON, Kent 2b..........  5  0  1  0   0  1  0  3   3
NAKAYAMA, Apana lf.......  4  1  1  1   0  0  3  0   1
 WELLS, Stephen pr.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
MC KEEVER, Mike dh.......  3  0  1  0   0  1  0  0   0
 FANNING, Collin dh......  0  1  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 JOHNSON, Jason ph.......  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
KO, Kasey 1b.............  3  1  1  0   1  0  9  1   0
PARKER, Steve 3b.........  3  1  1  1   0  0  0  2   0
MUSSO, J.T. c............  4  0  0  0   0  3  4  0   2
VARGAS, Dan ss...........  4  1  1  0   0  1  2  3   1
MUIR, Jordan p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 PEREZ, Jacob p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 STAMBAUGH, J.D. p.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 35  5  8  5   3  8 27 10   7
Sam Houston State 2 (1-2)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Mann 2b..................  3  0  0  0   1  0  1  3   0
Fry rf...................  4  0  0  0   0  1  5  0   3
Verbick dh...............  3  1  1  0   1  0  0  0   0
Boggs 3b.................  4  0  0  0   0  0  0  3   0
Krailo 1b................  3  1  1  0   0  1  9  2   0
Stein cf.................  4  0  2  0   0  0  2  0   0
Sebek lf.................  4  0  2  2   0  0  1  0   1
Pugh c...................  4  0  1  0   0  0  8  0   2
Holzbach ss..............  3  0  0  0   0  2  1  0   0
Marshall p...............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  2   0
 Baker p.................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 Rainwater p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Prihoda p...............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 32  2  7  2   2  4 27 11   6
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Brigham Young....... 031 001 000 -  5  8  0
Sam Houston State... 000 010 001 -  2  7  2
-------------------------------------------
E - Holzbach 2. DP - BYU 2. LOB - BYU 7; SHSU 6. 2B - WALTON; MC KEEVER;
Verbick; Krailo. HR - NAKAYAMA. HBP - PARKER; Krailo. SB - CLUFF. CS -
CLUFF.
Brigham Young          IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
MUIR, Jordan........  6.0  4  1  1  2  4 21 23
PEREZ, Jacob........  2.2  3  1  1  0  0 10 11
STAMBAUGH, J.D......  0.1  0  0  0  0  0  1  1
Sam Houston State      IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Marshall............  5.0  6  4  4  1  5 20 22
Baker...............  2.0  2  1  1  1  2  7  8
Rainwater...........  0.1  0  0  0  1  1  2  3
Prihoda.............  1.2  0  0  0  0  0  6  6
Win - MUIR (1-0).  Loss - Marshall (0-1).  Save - STAMBAUGH (1).
WP - Marshall; Rainwater. HBP - by Marshall (PARKER); by PEREZ (Krailo).
Umpires -
Start: 12 noon   Time: 2:42   Attendance: 252
Brigham Young starters: 14/cf JOHNSON, L.; 8/rf CLUFF; 9/2b WALTON; 24/lf NAKAYAMA;
33/dh MC KEEVER; 22/1b KO; 5/3b PARKER; 10/c MUSSO; 13/ss VARGAS; 12/p MUIR;
Sam Houston State starters: 32/2b Mann; 13/rf Fry; 28/dh Verbick; 24/3b Boggs; 21/1b
Krailo; 11/cf Stein; 3/lf Sebek; 25/c Pugh; 5/ss Holzbach; 18/p Marshall;
Brigham Young 1st - JOHNSON, L. struck out swinging. CLUFF singled to center
field. CLUFF out at second p to 1b to 2b, caught stealing. WALTON doubled to left
field. NAKAYAMA flied out to cf. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Sam Houston State 1st - Mann grounded out to 3b. Fry struck out looking.
Verbick grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young 2nd - MC KEEVER struck out looking. KO singled to left field.
PARKER hit by pitch; KO advanced to second. MUSSO struck out swinging. VARGAS
singled to shortstop; PARKER advanced to second; KO advanced to third. JOHNSON, L.
walked, RBI; VARGAS advanced to second; PARKER advanced to third; KO scored. CLUFF
singled to center field, 2 RBI; JOHNSON, L. advanced to third; VARGAS scored; PARKER
scored. CLUFF advanced to second on a wild pitch. WALTON struck out swinging. 3
runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Sam Houston State 2nd - Boggs flied out to cf. Krailo flied out to cf. Stein
singled to right field. Sebek flied out to rf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1
LOB.
Brigham Young 3rd - NAKAYAMA homered, RBI. MC KEEVER grounded out to p. KO
grounded out to 3b. PARKER grounded out to 1b. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Sam Houston State 3rd - Pugh flied out to cf. Holzbach struck out looking.
Mann flied out to lf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young 4th - MUSSO struck out looking. VARGAS flied out to lf.
JOHNSON, L. flied out to rf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Sam Houston State 4th - Fry flied out to lf. Verbick walked. Boggs hit into
double play ss to 1b; Verbick out on the play. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0
LOB.
Brigham Young 5th - CLUFF grounded out to 3b. WALTON grounded out to 2b.
NAKAYAMA grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Sam Houston State 5th - Krailo doubled to center field. Stein grounded out to
2b; Krailo advanced to third. Sebek singled to shortstop, RBI; Krailo scored. Pugh
singled to left field; Sebek advanced to third. Holzbach struck out swinging. Mann
walked; Pugh advanced to second. Fry flied out to lf. 1 run, 3 hits, 0 errors, 3
LOB.
Brigham Young 6th - Baker to p for Marshall. MC KEEVER doubled to right
center. FANNING to dh for MC KEEVER. KO flied out to rf; FANNING advanced to third
on the throw. PARKER singled to left field, RBI; FANNING scored. MUSSO struck out
swinging. VARGAS struck out looking. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Sam Houston State 6th - Verbick flied out to cf. Boggs grounded out to 1b.
Krailo struck out looking. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young 7th - JOHNSON, L. walked. JOHNSON, L. out at first p to 1b,
picked off. CLUFF flied out to rf. WALTON flied out to rf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0
errors, 0 LOB.
Sam Houston State 7th - PEREZ to p for MUIR. Stein singled to second base.
Sebek flied out to cf. Pugh hit into double play 2b to ss to 1b; Stein out on the
play. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young 8th - Rainwater to p for Baker. NAKAYAMA reached on an error by
ss. WELLS pinch ran for NAKAYAMA. JOHNSON, J. pinch hit for FANNING. WELLS advanced
to second on a wild pitch. JOHNSON, J. struck out looking. KO walked. Prihoda to p
for Rainwater. PARKER fouled out to ss. MUSSO flied out to cf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 1
error, 2 LOB.
Sam Houston State 8th - WELLS to lf. Holzbach grounded out to p. Mann flied
out to rf. Fry grounded out to 2b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young 9th - VARGAS fouled out to rf. JOHNSON, L. grounded out to 2b.
CLUFF reached on an error by ss. CLUFF stole second. WALTON grounded out to 2b. 0
runs, 0 hits, 1 error, 1 LOB.
Sam Houston State 9th - Verbick doubled to left center. Boggs flied out to
lf. Krailo hit by pitch. Stein flied out to cf. Sebek singled to left center, RBI;
Krailo advanced to second; Verbick scored. STAMBAUGH to p for PEREZ. Pugh grounded
out to ss. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.

Three games at Huntsville, Texas provide the season opener for BYU baseball as it plays Sam Houston State, starting on Thursday.

Thursday's game will be under the lights as Cougar senior Jesse Craig (7-7, 4.70) takes the mound. The Cougars will have their first workout outdoors on Wednesday evening under the lights at "The Yard," Baseball USA's facility in Houston. All previous practices this season have been inside at BYU's Indoor Practice Facility.

Prior to that practice, the Cougars are hopeful of a tour to NASA's Johnson Space Center.

"Our pitching is deeper than before, we have Apana Nakayama returning to anchor our hitters and we have several newcomers who have a lot of speed," said BYU Coach Vance Law, now in his eight-year at the Cougar helm.

Behind Craig, the Cougars will start sophomore pitchers Jake Wortham (0-0, 3.49) and Jordan Muir Jordan Muir (6-0, 3.97), in Friday and Saturday afternoon's games, respectively Wortham, a southpaw, is one of five with Texas ties on this year's team, and Muir was a freshman All-America last season.

Besides Craig, who was selected pre-season All-Mountain West Conference by Baseball America magazine, the Cougars return only two other starters from last season, sophomores Kent Walton and Kasey Ko. Walton has moved to second base as the Cougars have more speed in the outfield with transfer Leon Johnson and freshman Jonathan Cluff, expected to start in center and right fields. Nakayama, who was named pre-season All-MWC by the league coaches, is scheduled start in left field.

BYU was 33-28 last year, while SHSU posted a 23-31 record in 2006.

The series also is the season opener for the Bearkats, under the first-year leadership of Coach Mark Johnson, who used to be at Texas A & M, and brought three Aggies with him and also has transfers from LSU and Missouri. SHSU has made several appearances in the NCAA Regionals and won the NAIA title in 1963. BYU beat the Bearkats in their only meeting in 1991, 8-6.

Thursday's game will be broadcast live on the Internet. All of this week's games will have live stats. This is the first of two trips to Texas for the Cougars, who will log more than 8,500 miles traveling this season to places like Oregon, Kansas and a tournament in Tennessee.

Following the three-game series at Sam Houston State, BYU flies next week to Portland, Ore., for a two-game series against the University of Portland.

BYU's home season begins on March 1 against Northern Colorado.

For more information on BYU's baseball team for this week, click on the PDF link at the top of this page.