BOCA CHICA, Dominican Republic (November 21, 2011)—Veteran Dillon Robinson and newcomers Mason Marshall and Tanner Chauncey led BYU to a 6-3 victory over the Yankee club team Monday.
Robinson’s two-run double in the ninth inning was the game-winning RBI in the come-from-behind victory for the Cougars in the first of four games on their Thanksgiving tour of the Dominican Republic. The junior third baseman drove in Austin Hall and Chauncey to give BYU a 5-3 lead in the ninth. Robinson then scored on a sacrifice fly from Brock Whitney for the Cougars’ sixth run.
Following the game the team drove to an orphanage in San Pedro de Macoris where they organized a few baseball activities and played pick-up soccer with 150 children. They also gave several bags of baseball gear including bats, gloves, cleats and jerseys to the children as well as three large boxes full of hygiene kits. The orphanage visit capped a big day on the heels of the 6-3 victory.
“We got a bit hit and run from Tanner Chauncey, a couple of sacrifice flies from Brock Whitney, and a great base hit from Dillon Robinson, a double that scored two runs,” said BYU coach Vance Law. "Mason (Marshall) just comes in and competes. Everybody looks at him because of his small stature and think he's not going to be an effective pitcher, but he comes in and just throws strikes and goes after people. I am really happy with the way that he pitched and the people here were impressed."
Marshall, a freshman lefty, relieved Marc Oslund in the eighth. Oslund came in relief of starter Chris Capper in the sixth when the score was knotted at one-all.
"It felt great to get that hit in the last inning,” said Robinson, who gave the cushion for Marshall. “I wanted to redeem myself from my last at-bat and told myself if I got the chance I wanted to make sure I could come through for my team and I did and it felt great."
BYU tied the score in the second at 1-1, when Wes Guenther’s right field double scored Christian Mua.
In addition to the doubles by Guenther, Robinson and Hall, the Cougars got singles from Robinson, Adam Law, Kelton Caldwell, and a pair of singles from Hall and Chauncey. Hall ended up with three hits, starting the game at shortstop and moving to centerfield in the eighth.
Robinson started at third, Brett Lopez at second and Whitney at first, with Guenther behind the plate. Caldwell started in left field with teammates Stephen Wells and Jaycob Brugman in center and right field, respectively.
Capper threw 74 pitches in five innings with seven strikeouts, followed by Oslund with 31 pitches and one strikeout before being relieved by Marshall. Marshall had two key strikeouts in two scoreless innings.
Other Cougar substitutions came in the sixth when Chauncey replaced Lopez in the order, but played shortstop. Adam Law took Wells spot in the order, but played at second, and Chase Frampton came in for Mua at DH.
"I feel like we played well today, “ said Coach Law. “In the first innings we had a little bit of nervousness and the guys weren't quite sure what to anticipate. We didn't execute real well the first half of the ball game, but the second half we executed really well. We got a big hit and run from Tanner Chauncey, a couple of sacrifice flies from Brock Whitney, and a great base hit from Dillon Robinson, a double that scored two runs."
The Cougars next play an affiliate team of the Rangers on Tuesday morning.
Brigham Young Univ. 6, at DR Yankees 3
Nov 21, 2011 at Boca Chica, Dominican Republic (Yankees Complex)
Brigham Young Univ. 6 (1-0)
Player .................AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB---------------------------------------------------------BRUGMAN, Jaycob rf...... 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 LENGAL, James ph/rf... 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0HALL, Austin ss/cf...... 5 2 3 0 0 1 0 2 1LOPEZ, Bret 2b.......... 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 1 CHAUNCEY, Tanner ss... 3 2 2 0 0 0 1 2 0ROBINSON, Dillon 3b..... 5 1 2 2 0 1 2 1 1WHITNEY, Brock 1b....... 3 0 0 2 0 1 9 1 1CALDWELL, Kelton lf..... 5 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1MUA, Christian dh....... 2 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 FRAMPTON, C. ph/dh.... 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1GUENTHER, Wes c......... 3 0 1 1 1 0 8 2 2WELLS, Stephen cf....... 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 1 LAW, Adam 2b.......... 2 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0CAPPER, Chris p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0OSLUND, Marc p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0MARSHALL, Maon p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Totals................. 36 6 11 6 3 8 27 12 9Score by Innings R H E-------------------------------------------Brigham Young ... 010 000 023 - 6 11 1DR Yankees....... 100 001 100 - 3 10 2-------------------------------------------E - CAPPER, MERCEDES, VALERA. 2B - GUENTHER(B), HALL (B),ROBINSON (B). HBP - WELLS. SF - WHITNEY 2.Brigham Young Univ. IP H R ER BB SO AB BF-------------------------------------------------------CAPPER, Chris..... 5.0 5 1 1 1 7 18 19OSLUND, Marc...... 2.0 4 2 2 2 1 8 10MARSHALL, M....... 2.0 1 0 0 2 1 7 9Win - MARSHALL (1-0). Loss - SOTO. Save - None.HBP - by DePAULA (WELLS).