PROVO, Utah – No. 19 San Diego further solidified its place atop the West Coast Conference standings with a 13-2 victory over the BYU baseball team, Friday, at Larry H. Miller Field.
"This team has been crazy to watch, top to bottom," said BYU head coach Vance Law. "I'm very impressed with their coaches and players, and how well they play. We knew they were good but whatever we pitched to them, it didn't matter, they hit hard."
BYU pitcher Marc Oslund picked up his first loss of the season and saw his ERA rise from 3.24 to 4.34 after giving up seven runs in four innings. AJ Robinson jumped on Oslund early by hitting a home run on the fourth pitch of the game.
Robinson’s homer started a rally that led to five San Diego (35-11, 12-5) runs in the first inning. Torero starting pitcher Paul Sewald held BYU (18-20, 7-7) to one hit through the opening five innings.
"If I was a scout he'd (Sewald) be on my list," Law said. "He can do so much."
Senior Wes Guenther and freshman James Lengal recorded one RBI apiece for the Cougars. Lengal finished with the only extra base hit for BYU, a double that came in the eighth inning.
The Toreros continued to rack up the hits following the first inning outburst and finished with 18 in the game. Kris Bryant recorded the second San Diego home run in the second inning to extend the lead to 6-0 and Corey LeVier made it 7-0 with a sac fly in the fourth.
Tyler Westensee replaced Oslund in the fifth and held San Diego scoreless in the inning. The Toreros returned to form in the sixth and recorded four hits and three runs to push the lead to double digits at 10-0.
Guenther’s RBI came in the bottom of the sixth and narrowed the deficit to 10-1. The Cougars recorded three hits in the inning but stranded two runners and managed just one run.
Pinch hitters tried to spark BYU in the eighth inning. Freshman Jarrett Jarvis recorded a pinch hit single to center to start the inning and Lengal’s pinch double drove in Jarvis to make the score 11-2. Lengal reached third on an error but was unable to score after Dakota Hernandez struck out to end the inning.
BYU gave up a third home run, and the second to Bryant, in the top of the ninth. The homer made the score 13-2 and gave BYU its third double-digit loss of the season.
The Cougars will finish their three-game series against San Diego on Saturday at noon MDT. The game will be televised by BYUtv and will also be broadcast by 960 AM, and BYU Radio online.