OREM, Utah—Dillon Robinson was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle and Brady Corless pitched well as BYU baseball beat Utah Valley 5-2 on Tuesday.
With the win, BYU (22-19) completed a three-game sweep over the Wolverines (13-28) this season.
Before 4,240 fans (fourth-largest in UVU history), Robinson pounded a three-run homer, followed by a single, double and a single to post a 4-for-4 night from the plate. Corless threw six innings of relief for the win with as many strikeouts.
“I’ve never coached a better complete hitter in my 21 years,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said of Robinson. “It was pretty cool to see tonight.”
Robinson smashed a three-run home run in the second inning to give the Cougars their initial lead, but UVU answered with a pair of runs in the third inning when Corless was saddled with the bases loaded with no outs in the third.
‘He (Corless) was gutting it out and looked really sharp in the eighth,” Littlewood said. “My only concern is that I want him for Saturday in case we have to use (Michael) Rucker on Thursday or Friday or both.
“Bronson (Larsen) probably made the play of the game when the ball went off the wall and he threw the guy out at third. You don’t see that kind of arm in the outfield a lot.”
Larsen threw out a Wolverine attempting to advance to third base in the fifth frame with one out. Larsen was playing in left field because of a tweaked BYU lineup. Regular left fielder Derrick Whitney was out with the flue and starting right fielder Eric Urry is currently out of the lineup except for pinch-running duties due to a broken finger.
Those health problems forced Coach Littlewood to move the hot-batting Larsen from catcher to left field before the game and insert seldom used freshman Court Iorg in right field. Larsen extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a pair of singles, the last of which scored Robinson for the fifth run in the ninth.
“Court made a great sliding catch in right—he can really run,” Littlewood said.
The game had a bit of comedy in the seventh when several timed sprinklers began spraying the field with water, which delayed play for several minutes.
BYU returns to West Coast Conference play when it starts a three-game series on Thursday at University of the Pacific at 6 p.m. PDT.