PROVO, Utah — BYU baseball defeated Washington State 9-3 at Miller Park on Tuesday in a midweek game with the Pac-12 Cougars.
“We got key base hits today with runners in scoring position,” said BYU head coach Mike Littlewood. “Our goal was to get a bunch of guys innings at the plate and on the mound and I thought they responded well. I really liked our overall effort today.”
Following a scoreless first inning, BYU (13-9) got on the board in the second inning with three runs on three walks and a two-out double down the right field line by Brock Watkins for a 3-1 lead.
BYU extended its lead to 8-0 in the third inning with five runs on three hits and a WSU error. Alex Sardina led off the inning with a walk and Mitch McIntyre doubled to left field to put runners on the corners. Bryan Call reached base on an error that scored Sardina, and Jacob Rogers scored McIntyre on a fielder’s choice.
Deming was hit by a pitch that scored Sepede and singles by Collin Reuter and Watkins plated two more runs. A ground ball by Josh Cowden brought in the fifth run of the inning.
BYU picked up one more run in the bottom of the sixth when McIntyre reached on a fielder’s choice and eventually scored on a wild pitch for a 9-0 advantage.
WSU (9-15) got on the board late with a run in the seventh inning off a lead-off double and a single for a 9-1 score. WSU scored two more runs in the top of the ninth on two hits and a walk for a 9-3 final score.
BYU is now 11-0 on the season when scoring at least six runs and 7-2 versus power five opponents.
The Cougar pitching rotation of Justis Reiser (2.0 innings), Jake Porter (3.0), Carter Smith (1.1), Boston Mabeus (.2), Payton Cole (1.0) and Cy Nielson held Washington State to one run on seven hits. Reiser got the win for BYU to improve to 2-1 on the year.
BYU now heads to Moraga, California, to resume West Coast Conference play with St. Mary’s. The weekend series with the Gaels is scheduled for March 31- April 2 at Louis Guisto Field.
The game will be streamed live on the WCC Digital Network, and broadcast by the BYU Radio Network on FM 107.9, BYUCougars.com and the BYU Cougars app.