Wrangling an invitation to the NCAA baseball tournament is no trouble for BYU lately. Winning a game? That's another story.
"Now, what we need to do is play well," says BYU Coach Gary Pullins, whose team received an at-large bid after finishing second to San Diego State in the WAC tournament. "You just want to go and represent yourselves well."That's where the figure 25-4 comes into play. In last May's NCAA Regionals, the Cougars opened with an 11-10, 10-inning loss to South Alabama and came home from the double-elimination tournament after a 25-4 thrashing by Texas A&M.
Making a third straight NCAA appearance, the Cougars will try again Thursday (7 p.m. MDT) in the South II Regional against host Mississippi State at Starkville, Miss. The other first-round pairings are top-seeded Florida State vs. Lafayatte and Illinois vs. Central Michigan. If the Cougars win Thursday, they'll play the Illinois-Central Michigan winner in the second round; if they lose, they'll meet the Florida State-Lafayette loser Friday.
Asked about BYU's recent postseason failures, Pullins says, "A lot of it just boils down to personnel, and that really concerns you."
Again this season, the Cougars have players with credentials - outfielder Gary Daniels is batting .448 with 91 RBI in 66 games and first baseman Randy Wilstead is hitting .410. But with the exception of Daniels and outfielder Burt Call making the all-WAC tourney team, BYU's top players have not performed well in tournaments. Wilstead was 1 for 14 in the WAC playoffs after delivering a big home run his first time up.
"We need him to get cranked up," said Pullins.
Partly because of favorable conditions in Honolulu, BYU's pitching was fairly steady in the WAC tourney. The Cougars allowed a high of six runs in four games - and won that game (7-6) against Wyoming. Senior left-hander Mike Switzer, who pitched against Wyoming and almost lost a 7-0 lead, is BYU's probable starter against Mississippi State. He'll be followed by Lance Clark, Kendall Bennett and Mike Nielsen, in some order.
Pullins spent the last couple of days scrambling to compile a scouting report on trading information with and about other schools in the 48-team NCAA field. The Bulldogs' chief edge in the regional will be playing at home at 10,000-seat Dudy Noble Field, where they've led the nation in attendance four of the last five years.
MSU (45-18) was third in the Southeastern Conference standings behind Louisiana State and Georgia, but reached the rained-out finals of the SEC tournament after splitting two games with LSU. Pitcher Bobby Reed, whose 3-1 victory over LSU forced a true championship game, is 13-2 with a 3.15 ERA. The Bulldogs' top hitters include first baseman Tommy Raffo, batting .362 with 12 home runs and 59 RBI in 62 games; and outfielder John Cohen, batting .341 with eight homers and 68 RBI.