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LAS VEGAS (May 27, 2006)--Regular season champion and top-seeded TCU came from behind early to secure a 9-6 victory Saturday over BYU to win the Mountain West Conference Tournament.
Behind a three-run homer on a very windy day by tourney MVP Chad Huffman, the Horned Frogs prevented a third game with BYU in Las Vegas and secured the automatic berth in the NCAA Post-Season Tournament. Huffman, a junior and reserve quarterback on the TCU football team, belted his game-winning RBI homer with two outs in the sixth inning.
That homer chased BYU starter Matt Jensen from the game, behind 8-3.
"Huffman made a couple plays at first that really dampened our chances," said BYU Coach Vance Law.
BYU got aboard in the first inning when Marcos Villezcas singled, advance to second on a walk by Ben Saylor and scored on Jeff Hiestand's single.
Stetson Banks put BYU up 2-0 with his first homer of the season to left field in the second inning. The Horned Frogs responded in the bottom of the second to the tune of four runs on as many hits, stranding two.
Saylor knocked a long homer that would have cleared the park easily on a non-windy day in the third to pull BYU within one, 4-3.
Casey Nelson, Banks and Saylor combined for two runs in the seventh to bring the score to 8-5. Saylor scored again in the ninth after consecutive doubles by himself and Hiestand.
"We didn't take advantage of the conditions," said Law. "They are a quality team, but I wouldn't trade my guys with the way we came on at the end of the season."
Hiestand, Banks and Patrick Wells, who threw a complete game on Friday, were named to the all-tournament team as was Utah's Ryan Khoury. Joining Huffman from TCU on the all-tourney team were Andrew Walker, Ryan Pack, Steven Trout and Brad Furnish, who beat the Cougars on Thursday.
BYU ends the season at 33-27, barring an at large berth to the NCAA Tourney.
