MWC: I Give Up

By Jason Owens - May 24, 2007

I'm done trying to establish trends in this game. As soon as I declared this one a pitchers' duel, New Mexico's Stephen Smith collapsed in the seventh inning. After leaving men on base for much of the game, the BYU bats woke up for three hits and three runs to take a 5-3 lead and command of the ball game.

The action got started when Stephen Wells, who singled to start the inning, made a move to steal second. Adam Coucha's pickoff move to second flew into center field, allowing Wells to advance to third. Another error allowed Wells to score when the throw at the plate ended up in the dirt and Nakayama safely reached first on the fielder's choice. Kent Walton followed up with an infield single and Steve Parker knocked Nakayama and Walton in with a standup double to give the Cougars the 5-3 lead before Smith could get out of the inning.

This could mark the end of the day for Smith, who seems to have run out of gas with a pitch count above 100. It's now up to BYU's Jake Wortham to maintain control for the final two innings.