May 5, 2005
PROVO, Utah – BYU second baseman Brandon Relf hit a two-out, three-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to propel the Cougars past the New Mexico baseball team, 11-8, Thursday night at Larry H. Miller Field. Relf’s homer, which came on an 0-2 pitch, capped a four-run rally for BYU as it entered the bottom of the ninth trailing, 8-7. The two teams meet for the second game of the series Friday at 7 p.m.; live stats will be available at www.BYUCougars.com.
Before BYU’s game-winning comeback, the Lobos (19-27, 9-13 Mountain West) scored two runs in the top of the ninth to take an 8-7 lead. Chris Carlson delivered a clutch one-out, bases-loaded single to left field, plating Ryan Barba and Matt Foote.
The Lobos couldn’t hold onto the lead, however, as the Cougars (33-13-1, 17-5 MWC) returned the favor with four runs in the bottom of the ninth. The rally began with a one-out walk to Brandon Taylor, who went on to second on a Jesse Perez wild pitch. After Perez got Ben Saylor to pop out for the second out, Kory Knell nailed a run-scoring single to plate Taylor, tying the game at 8. Casey Cloward then collected another single, pushing Knell to third. Perez was then relieved in favor of Petr Pacas. Cloward stole second on the first Pacas pitch, a strike, to put runners on second and third. Pacas’ second delivery was also a strike, but Relf, down 0-2, blasted a three-run shot to left field for the walk-off winner.
New Mexico led for most of the game, getting on the board first with two runs in the fourth, led by a Carlson RBI double. Carlson went 2-for-5 with three RBI in the game and extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
The Cougars answered in the bottom of the inning as Brandon Taylor hit a two-run homer – his 19th of the year – to tie it at 2.
Jordan Pacheco put the Lobos back on top with a RBI double in the fifth. UNM extended its lead to 5-2 in the sixth as Chris Dabbs roped a bases-loaded double with two outs to drive in two runs.
BYU cut the margin to 5-4 with two in the bottom of the sixth, but Pacheco blasted his 11th homer of the year, this time a solo shot with one out in the seventh, to make it 6-4.
The Cougars knocked out Lobo starter Karsten Gaarder in the bottom of the seventh as they scored three runs to go ahead, 7-6. Gaarder gave up seven runs and scattered nine hits on five strikeouts in 6.2 innings of work.
New Mexico collected 15 hits in the game, including three by Matt Foote.