MALIBU, California (May 6, 2016)—Pepperdine evened the series by shutting out No. 26 BYU baseball, 3-0, on Friday.
The Cougars (31-12 and 13-7 West Coast Conference) still control their own destiny in holding on to first place in the league.
However, on Friday a pair of Wave pitchers limited BYU to five hits.
“Chandler Blanchard threw well today,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “He kept us off balance and (Ryan) Wilson was very good out of the pen.”
Scattered among the five singles by BYU were those of Eric Urry and Tanner Chauncey who extended their hitting streaks to eight and six games apiece.
The Cougars best chance seemed to come and go in the third inning with no outs and Daniel Schneemann and Bronson Larsen on third and first base, respectively. A pop-up and an inning-ending double play ended that threat with no score for either team.
“That was the turning point in the game when we failed to put a run on the board," Littlewood said. "If we get on the board first it's probably a different outcome."
A two-run triple in the fourth inning put Pepperdine (21-20 and 11-9) in control and the Waves closer did not allow BYU a hit in the final two-plus innings.
“Hayden (Rogers) gave us a quality start and pitched well enough to keep us in the game,” Littlewood said. “This is one of those games where you tip your cap and come back tomorrow ready to play.”
The loss marked the first time since game two of last season that BYU had been shutout, a 6-0 blanking at then No. 16 UC Santa Barbara.
The final game between BYU and Pepperdine starts at noon, PDT on Saturday and will be broadcast live by BYU Radio—Sirius Satellite 143, ESPN960 AM and streamed live by TheW.tv on the Internet.