OREM, Utah—Bookend solo homers by freshman Colton Shaver started and ended BYU baseball’s scoring in a 10-7 victory Tuesday night over Utah Valley University.
But it was what happened in between those homers and the chalk lines at Brent Brown Ballpark in front of 2,213 fans that made the overall difference as BYU won its fifth straight game and improved its record to 7-10. UVU falls to 3-12.
“We loaded the bases early and then took what they (UVU) gave us,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “Corless (Brady) gave us four good innings. He may have gotten tired in the fifth, so we ended up turning to panic mode when we brought in Rucker (Michael).”
A pair of solo homers in the second inning by Shaver and Cole Wilstead to left and right fields gave BYU a 2-0 lead.
With the bases loaded in the third frame, Dillon Robinson knocked a sacrifice fly to right-center field to score Parker Starr for a 3-0 Cougar margin.
Corless had a 3-2 lead when he was pulled after five innings. Then Mason Marshall’s pitches swerved around home plate, inducing Wolverines hitting into of a pair of putouts to him, capped by swinging strikeouts in both the sixth and seventh frames as he retired UVU in order.
Brennon Lund led off with a bullet ricocheting off the Wolverine third baseman in the six-run, error-walk-prone eighth as the Cougars batter around. UVU countered with a five-run output in the bottom of that frame before Shaver pasted his second dinger in the ninth, this time over the right field porch. Shaver, who now has three homers for the season, went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and as many runs.
The Cougars are now ready for a three-game series hosting Pepperdine starting Thursday to begin West Coast Conference action in games televised live by BYUtv.