It may feel like winter, but the spring baseball season is beginning at BYU.

The 5-3 Cougars kick off their home season Thursday, March, 1, 2007, at 1 p.m. against the 5-1 Northern Colorado Bears at Miller Park. Series play will continue Friday and Saturday at 1 p.m.

The Cougars have battled their way through their early games and are looking forward to playing a series in front of a home crowd.

"It's a lot more comfortable to play in your home environment," BYU coach Vance Law said.

The home games are played at Miller Park, which they share the with the softball team. Average attendance at baseball games nears 1,500.

The baseball and softball fields sit back-to-back from another, establishing the first combined facility of its kind.

"This is home, this is our field, its where we come to play," BYU pitcher Jesse Craig said.

Jake Wortham, last week's MWC Pitcher of the Week, is the scheduled starting pitcher for today's game. Jordan Muir will start Friday's game. Muir was named MWC pitcher of the week earlier in the season.

Craig will start Saturday's game, switching places in the rotation to have two starts a week.

"My arm's been feeling good this year," Craig said. "It hasn't felt like this since high school."

Craig led the team to a big win against Southern Utah University Tuesday, in which the Cougars hit their way to a 20-2 victory.

The team slugged five home runs, and Kent Walton extended his hitting streak to 16 games.

Coming home from a dominating performance means the Cougars' largest concern will be the weather.

"We'll have basic regular practice, we need to get the weather cooperating and just work on basic fundamentals," Law said.

The team is hitting .282, with eight players hitting above .300. The team has a .970 fielding percentage, with nine errors in their eight games.

"We feel really confident that we have a special team," outfielder Leon Johnson said. "I think we'll put on a good performance."

The Cougars have won their last two games and are second in the MWC standings, with TCU just above them.

Northern Colorado travels to Provo after sweeping Air Force in a three-game series. Air Force is ranked sixth in the MWC standings.

Copyright Brigham Young University 28 Feb 2007