PROVO - No. 19 San Diego swept the series, its second of the year in league action, with the BYU baseball team after a 12-6 victory at Miller Park, Saturday.
"I don't know how they (San Diego) have lost 11 games," said BYU head coach Vance Law. "They played outstanding today and I was extremely impressed. Our guys battled today though for sure, I've got no complaints about my guys and their performance. Whenever we scored today San Diego responded with big innings and took the momentum right back into its favor."
The Toreros strengthened their first-place standing in the West Coast Conference with the wins.
Dillon Robinson led BYU (18-21, 7-8) with four RBIs as the Toreros (36-11, 13-5) took every advantage in the final game of the series.
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A passed ball, a wild pitch allowed and a Cougar error allowed San Diego to get runners on base, in scoring position and take a 3-0 lead through the top of the second inning. The Toreros tagged Miller for a pair of unearned runs.
Jaycob Brugman got his first hit of the series, a single, in the second and a wild pitch got him to second base. An RBI single from Brock Whitney brought home Brugman to put BYU on the board, 3-1.
Reliever Mason Marshall took the mound for BYU, earlier than normal, and struck out All-American Torero Kris Bryant to start fourth-inning action. San Diego's Corey LeVier responded with a two-RBI single to take a 5-1 lead as the Toreros were able to figure out the crafty right hander.
Brugman scored on Robinson's sac-fly in the sixth after keeping the Toreros scoreless to make the margin 6-2.
Making up for no runs in the sixth, San Diego scored three off three RBIs in the seventh.
The Toreros generated their third sac-fly of the game for another run in the eighth to take a 10-2 lead. A.J. Robinson then doubled to advance teammate Dillon Haupt to third, but he was stranded after BYU pitcher Daniel Welch struck out Andrew Daniel.
Michael Wagner took the mound in the eighth inning for San Diego, to finish out the game, with 19 saves on the year. BYU's Jarvis, Brugman and Whitney hit three consecutive singles to load the bases when Dillon Robinson came to the plate. Robinson worked the count to two-and-two before his triple cleared the loaded bases to bring the score to 10-5. Adam Law's sac-fly scored Robinson to close the gap, 10-6.
An RBI single from Bryan Haar scored teammate Bryant and, after the next pitch, Haar stole second before Joe's line drive scored him and gave San Diego the 12-6 lead, and final score.
San Diego's Wagner struck out three BYU players to finish the ninth inning.
"Our guys know where we stand and they understand what this team stands for," Law said. "Our backs are against the wall a little bit but we'll battle through it with the guys we have available. On Monday we'll be back at it and be fine. These guys have a lot to look forward to, some big games, and hopefully we'll play well against Southern Utah to build up to that Pepperdine series."
Up next, the Cougars host Southern Utah on Tuesday, May 8, at 6 p.m. MT. The game will be televised live on BYUtv.