The BYU baseball team jumped ahead of back-to-back national champion Oregon State on Tuesday, but could not hold the lead and lost to the Beavers 17-11. The high-scoring affair was the second straight loss to the defending champions.

"I know we can swing the bats with just about anyone in the country," BYU coach Vance Law said after Tuesday's defeat.

The Cougars put up seven runs in the second inning behind a group effort of consistent hitting. BYU batting through the order and behind a flurry of base hits. BYU also capitalized on sloppy field play by the Beavers.

"As slow as some people think the game of baseball is, it really is a game of momentum," Law said. "We've got to maintain that edge going into the next inning."

BYU starting pitcher Jake Wortham allowed one run in the second inning and looked as if he was going to give up several more runs in the third. However, Beavers scored just one run in the frame even though Wortham got behind in the count against Lonnie Lechelt with runners on the corners.

Lechelt, who thought he had walked on ball four, trotted halfway down to first base before the umpire called him back to the plate. With a full count, Lechelt struck out swinging to end the inning.

"Jake Wortham, who is our top starter, he gives us good quality innings, and we were expecting that out of him today and we only got 3 2/3 innings out of him," Law said. "He was breezing until two outs in the fourth inning then all of a sudden before you know it, they've got five runs on the board."

BYU kept pace in the second inning when Steve Parker opened the inning with a lead-off homerun to straightaway center field. The Cougars got another run when Brandon Relf singled to left field and Thomas Bills scored from second.

The Beavers answered back with a homerun of their own by Jason Ogata, to nearly an identical spot as Parker's shot the inning before. The three-run shot, combined with two other runs, pulled Oregon State to within two runs by the end of the fourth inning.

"Oh, he's on fire right now," Law said, referring to Ogata. "He's in one of those so-called zones where it doesn't matter what you throw him. He's seeing it real well and finding every hole that is possible, but he also hits it real hard."

The Beavers continued the comeback in the top of the sixth when they got the bases loaded with a full count on Lechelt. Despite a valiant effort by BYU centerfielder Kent Walton, Lechelt's deep fly ball went off the fence and scored three runs, giving Oregon State a 10-9 lead.

Oregon extended that lead in the top of the eighth inning by adding two runs. Daniel Robertson had a chance to blow the game open as he rounded third and went home but was tagged out on a great throw from BYU rightfielder Jonathan Cluff and a better play from catcher J.T. Musso.

BYU made things interesting in the eighth inning when Musso scored on a hit by Brandon Relf. Relf then came home when Sean McNaughton went the other way with a shot to the right field fence. The Cougars ended the inning trailing by just one run.

Oregon State did not buckle under the pressure and put up five more runs in the top of the ninth to put the game away.

In the bottom of the ninth, BYU loaded the bases but could not capitalize and finished the game leaving three runners stranded.

"I think that this series was very important for us as we move forward," Law said. "Even though we lost two ball games we played relatively well."

The Cougars, whose record falls to 12-12, head to Oral Roberts and will be in action Thursday at 3 p.m. CT.

Copyright Brigham Young University 26 Mar 2008