i Sieh,Masch 31, 2006 DAILY HERALD LOCAL COLLEGE ATHLETICS Football Continued from C1 dominated in blocking drills against the deferise and have continually made big plays — and running with the In 1996, BYU produced two NFL-calibertight ends in Mili and Lewis, The two combined for 83 catches for 1,112 yards and eight touchdowns. The 2001 tight end group included Doug Jolley, who's played with the Raiders and the Jets in the NFL, as well as Spen- cer Nead and Gabe Reid. Those three players had a combined 59 catches for 837 yards and 15 TD's. This year’s tight ends arejust getting started. “Jonny downthe field is something else,” Reynolds said. “He's good downthe field as anybody we've had. Coats is big and physical (6-3, 250) and last year he caughtthe ball really well, Vic is getting betterall the time. This year he's moving aroundbetter. He madea big play on Tuesdayin the scrimmage.Andthen there’s George, so we have some good, young developing guys.” those tight ends were catching 70 balls, so the offense puts our tight ends in a pretty favorable Sethestecet The top five tight ends at BYU and where they rank in career receptions on BYU's all-time list: Rank Name 4. Gordon Hudson 7. Todd Christensen Catches 178 152 10. Chris Smith 13. ttula Mili 19. Chad Lewis Junior Philip Niu could join Yards 2,484 1,566 TD’ 12 13 125 1,763 “41«,376 11 10 both Harline and Coats are‘also playing on kickoff coverage. Niu has been plagued by injury nearly his entire career in Provo. prisayas offense goes,” Har! “We're running key — that Harline, an Orem High Bradjust like Lewis, played one season at Ricks College before serving an LDS church mission to New York. When he returned, he came to BYU “I feel like our tight ends if we're not open we're help- incorporated into the new offense last spring. Pretty well, as morebut had a breakout season in 2005, leading the team with five touchdowns.This spring, it turned out. “The offense is based on the scheme from the old days,” Reynolds said. “In those days Kuresa was helped from the field and trainers taped ice to his ankle. It's not known how nates ear, Mendenhall has invited former BYU players to come to Provo for an alumni barbeque. It will be scheduled every year to coin- cide with LDS General Confer- Just seven healthy bodies. » They were running: ae Curtis Brown and Wayne Latu got most of the lineman Russell Tialavea for violation of team rules. Tialavea (6-3, 300)is a red- shirt freshman from Oceanside, Calif. “There are multiple things he has to do to come back,” BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “I'm very hopeful that he'll meet all the criteria.” Jake Kuresa went down during Some BYU fans wondered how the tight ends would be 63 catches for 853 yards and es for our wide receivers also, make plays.” pre-missionability. He was in playy. reduce the offensive linemen to » Scary moments: Both Harline blocks. feel like all of us can fine a few minutes after the jong he will sit out, but it does ing someoneelse get open, and we're throwing lot of key and worked hardto regain his ononly a few plays as a sopho- It's tough for the defense to 137—=—i«‘«OTFC(“‘«‘«‘‘ that group if he could get healthy. The 6-5, 240-pound position to catch lot of balls. andsenior offensive lineman carries during team drills as BYU worked on its running game. Both Harline and So'oto came up with big catches to ‘set up a “blue zone” opportuni- ty but the defense held. Later, John Beck backup Jason Beck completed a deep pass to Brett Cooper for a score. Junior linebackerChris Bolden had aninteception of Jason Beck. » More : Mendenhall said the Cougars will scrim- nearly twice as many alumni players to show up this year. Last spring, counting family, around 500 attended the dinner. “It's to show appreciation for what they have done for the program and to give them’a chance to have nothing asked of them but to enjoy the day,” Mendenhall said. It is also a chance for Men- denhall to educate former play- ers on the athletic, ecclesiastical and academic standards at BYU for recruiting purposes. “They can come to practice andsee if what we'retelling them about the program is for drills on Thursday, though it work depends on the health of magetoday but the length of real,” Mendenhall said. wasn'ta full-contact practice. his players. Daily Herald Sports Editor Darnell Dickson can be reached Harline went up high for a “T've scheduled 20-to-25 min- catch during team drills and was knocked off balance, utes but if we stay healthy we at 344-2555 or by e-mail knocked out of him and was ) Bringing them back: For the com. Readhis blog on spring football at blogs.heraldextra. com/Darnell. coming downhard on his hip. Hesaid aehad the wind may go 35 minutes,” Mendenhall said. at ddickson@heraldextra. Cougar spikers Jason Franchuk DAILY HERALD when Marcos Villezcas’ double moved Stetson Banksto third. Banks scored on Jeff Hiestand's groundout,but Villezcas en Officials from IdahoState attended Thursday's BYUsoftball doubleheaderin the hopes of up being stranded at third. In the second inning, BYU gram next spring after 25 years without one. one-outtriple, but TCU struck out consecutive Cougars. The'Horned Frogstied the gameatone-all following Corey The Bengal observers even got to see a couple of wins, whichis something the Cougars hadto feel good about provid- Steglich walking,then stealing second andthird, and scoring off Pack’s one-out single. Cou- ing after a recent losing streak that ended with a doubleheader sweep(13-7, 9-1) of UNLV at MillerField. gar lefty Patrick Wells picked Packoff base to end the inning and then cameup with big strikeouts to open andclose the fourth. BYU'sfourthhit of the day was its third extra-base poke when catcher Casey Nelson led off the fifth with a double. Next, Finding any semblance of success felt relatively new to BYU (20-10), which had dropped five ofits last six outings — three to Top 25 teams — overthelast three weeks. It was the team’s first homestandofthe year, after opening in early February with a tradi- tional run of games in warmer tlimates.It also was a strong throw to gethim allowed Nelson to score. Johnson advancedto third on a sacrifice bunt by Banks start to Mountain Westplay. “Finally,” BYU coach Gordon Eakin said about being home, and winning.“I think we were Pack singled and scored off Bryan Kervin's two-out double road weary the last couple of trips. Webattled, but didn’t come through like tonight.” The Cougarsstrung together 25 hits, including 16 in the first game.They lookedlike a team to bring TCU back to a 3-2 margin. BYU chased Zach Ashwood from the moundin the sixth after Kasey Kosingled andadvance to secondon a balk. The worthyof being a Top 25 pick, like during the preseason. “We hadn't hit the ball like wecould,” Eakin said. “We've doneit three years with this group. (Thursday) was an awe- madeit a 7-0 game. It camejust after UNLV made its biggest threat, A one-outsingle turned into a two-base play onan outfielder's error. Daniella Urincho, however, settled downto force groundouts from the next two bat- AUTUMN LORIMER/Daily Herald BYU shortstop Jodi Norton tags out a Rebelplayer at second base during Thursday night’s game_at Gail Miller Field. by a woman. ters. sixth forced the mercy rule. BYUhad a harderfinishin Highly touted freshman shortstop Andrea Ramirez left late in the second gameafter taking a bad-hop grounderoff thefirst game, requiringall seveninnings even thoughit dominated from thestart. Paige Paramore’s two-run sin- glein the first inning ofthe first game got BYU going. BYU scored three runs in the open- State tonight starting at 5. herface. Eakin said Ramirez, who was scratched from the first game because of back spasms, wentto the hospital to see if her black eyeincluded a busted socket. BYU baseball TCU grandstands BYU: AtSan, Diego, for the second consecutive day, a grand slam beat BYUin the Mountain West Preseason Tournament, with TCU getting a 9victory on Thursday. Ryan Pack belted the granny in the bottom ofthe eighth inning off ace Cougar reliever Josh Barrett following a 4-4 deadlock. The Cougars fell to 916 overall and 0-2in the MWC, while TCU improved to 13-14 in its league debut. While the slam didn’t techni- cally beat BYU,it put the game beyondreachof the Cougars who led the gameuntil two runs scored in the sixth and the Horned Frogstook a 5-4 lead in theninth: BYU scored in the first inning Darnell Dickson DAILY HERALD Can the BYU men's volleyball team get hot enough to make a run into the Final Four? That's a question that will be answered in the next three weeksas the second-ranked Cougars (124 MPSF, 164 home. The Tigers are5-11 in MPSFplayand 11-15 overall buthavepulled off someup- sets this season, knocking off three teams - USC, Northridge and UCSB- aheadof them in the standings. “Pacific has a good coach (Joe Wortmann),” Peterson said. “They have a couple of international guys on the team overall) make their stretch andI think it took a while for “I think the players arein a pretty good frameof mind,” them to cometogether and figure things out. They can be avery, very good team so we un. BYU head coach Tom Peter- son said. “We're confident in can't overlook them atall.” Pacific's top hitteris 6-foot-9 our talent and all of that. If we wantto put it together, we're very toughfor anybody.” Speaking of hot, top-ranked Cal Irvine and No. 3 Hawaii senior Brian Adamson, who is 11th in the country in kills are walking on the sun. The Anteaters (14-2, 21-3) are enjoying their finest season and Finland's Pekka Seppanen (3.17 kpg) - are both capable of having a big match. including a two-match sweep of BYU early in March. Both matches went to five games, but UCI prevailed in both and play after winning twice at the Long Beach Tournament over Ohio State and Rutgers- and have won15straight, is the front runnerto host the Mountain Pacific Sports Fed- per game(4.34). The two foreign players - Germany's Andreas Boboulidis (3.56 ‘Kpe) BYUhad a weekoff from Newark. “It’s crunch timenear the end of school, so we gave the Cougars then played the percentages and subbed Kowith a pinch runner, Austin Carter. eration Tournament. Carter advanced tothird on Blake Crosby’s sac bunt and BYU will makea trip to the islands fora pair of matches scored on Molina’s groundout, giving BYU 4-2lead. on April 14 and 15 to end the matches.In three ofits four losses, the Cougarslost in five games, “I think Hawaii is the real deal,” Peterson said. “They happens before crunch time that matters more,” Peterson After getting the first two TCU batters outs, Wells loaded the bases andSteglichhit a line ingat-bat, and added five in the next frame to take an 8-1 lead. Cortney Nix had‘a three-run. homerun in the second. Le’i, one of the MWC'sbest powerhitters, had homersin both games.The onein the first ve an estimated 400 feet, a wind-aided shot Eakin said was the farthest he'd seenhit It wasn’tall laughs for the Cougars, who will play a doubleheaderagainst San Diego UNLVneverrecovered, even on defense. A two-run, two-out single from Emi Snowin the vs. No. 15 Pacific stranded another runnerat third as Adrian Molinahit a learning how to operate a pro- someoffensive performance.” A three-run home run-by laneta Le’i in thefifth inning essentially the sweep. Jodi Norton added her own three-run blast five batterslater to sealit. BYU clingedto a one-run lead beforethe senior and junior begins stretch run drive two-run single to left field before being thrownout trying to extend to second. The two unearned runs tied the score at four apiece. Consecutive one-out singles by Hiestand and Carter gave TCU someconcern until it turned a 6-4-3 double play. Chad Huffman led offthe bottom ofthe eighth with a double to right field and advanced to third on a groundout, chasing Wells from the game. Huffman scored on a wild pitch from Cougar reliever Mitch Woolf and gavethe Horned Frogs a 5-4 lead. Woolf's curveball was ineffective and he was replaced by Barrett, who surrendered the granny,facing Pack as his first batter. BYU next plays New Mexico todayin a game that can be heardlive locally on KOVO Radio 960 AM at noon. The Hawaii Warriors (14-3, 18-4) have won14 in a row. regular season. maybe the best team going we'll face.” The winner of the MPSF tournamentgets an automatic bid to the Final Four, which will be held at Penn State on May4 and6. The winners of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association and Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association tournamentsalso automatically . An at-large team, alwaysselected from the MPSF, a the Final Four field. *h means that Cal IrveNawal or BYU will be left out in the cold come May. “We'rein a position that we can't lose matches and maintain a high seed,” Peterson said. “Weneed to host first round MPSFmatch.” Toget there, BYU must first deal with 15th-ranked Pacific, which is coming off getting swept twice by Hawaii at guys Friday off,” Peterson said. On the court, BYUis trying to get in positiontofinish “Actually, I think it's what said. “It’s so easy to forget about that. We need to be busting our butts before crunch time. That's when we'll start to win those matches is when weplay the sameintensity for longer periods oftime.” Freshman Yosleyder Cala leads BYU with4.15kills per game andis hitting .418, which would put him among the nation’sleaders if he hadn't sat out the first eight matches. SophomoreIvan Perez is averaging 3.97kills per game and sophomoremiddle blocker Russell Holmes continues to play well, posting 1.43 blocks per game (ninthin the country) and a hitting percentage of .454 (sixth). jaily Herald Sports Editor DarnellDickson can be reachedat 3442555 or by e-mail at ddickson@heraldextra.com. UVSC baseball plays barrel musicin win over Southern Utah Neil K. Warner DAILY HERALD Thereis a namefor what happened Thursday night when UVSC hosted Southern, Utah — 17 hits and a season-high ‘four home runs — it’s called barrel music. It’s that toe-tapping, catchy rhythm whena ball hits the pace spot onthe barrelof the i was a song that was playing all night as UVSCrecorded a 13-7 win over Southern Utah. ok think our lineup looks Bre a putting the barrel on the ball,” said UVSCcoach Steve Gardner. “Sometimes we swing alittle too big. Wetried to cut that downa little bit and make better contact. I think that was akey.” While most of the Wolverines made music (all but one starter hadat least one hit), Eli Slesk had the biggest hit of the night. Slesk, a junior shortstop, went 4-for-5, including a 2-run home run and finished the night with 5 RBI. “I’m just glad I could help us get the win,” Slesk said. “I haven't been the bat very well lately. I felt really good to finally see some pitches andput the ball in playa little harder. The game was tied at five when UVSC scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth to take charge of the game. The inning started when Brad Hales was hit by a pitch Nick Connerfollowed with a double downthe left-field line. Slesk then hit a sharp ground ball to Chester Wilson at first. It took a bad up andoff his glove. Southern Utah second baseman Levi Swenson racked down the ball and fired home,but his throw sailed over catcher Cameron Nelson’s head. Uae ep ihe ressure on. when Dan Bulow a solo homer toright field in the botTe aes we Wolverines up UVSC when The Wolverines finished off the T’Birds with five more runs in the bottom of eedont Benson ripped a 2-run dole of he wan ght Canyon Vance followed with his first home run of the year, a 3-run homer toright field to put Benson grounded into what should have been a 4-6-3 double play, but the throw was wide Justin Sotelo doubled down Heaes penance ewethe at first. BA UVSCsoffenne couldrt be kept quiet. The 17 hits is the second most on the season. ‘The Wolverines have hit seven Boeaie ae at eae eat games. In addition to Slesk’s big nate Vance went 3-for-5 with RBI and Connor went 3for5, Wibotwante Thunderbird with more than one hit. He wees Ce losing streak and UVSC improveto 7-18 on the year, whileSouthern Utah dropped It proved to be a costly mise because Benson stole second and then scored on a Vance Southern Utah had its big SiigSethe a res Mar ‘a ground ball to Slesk at shortstop that could have the game. Heretired the first been a lay ball but the plata ora ball took a wicked Slesk knocked it down withhis chest, "UVSC got on the board with a eelsates fourth inning. UVSC starter Kam Mickolio Pie fareeean oot with a 2-run single and ced on the theebern Thatwo tennaa om ads four-game series tonight at ’ p.m. at UVSC. -