Photos by Jacob Farrar
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — BYU baseball lost game one of a three-game series at West Virginia, 10-4, on Thursday at Monongalia County Ballpark in Morgantown.
BYU (6-6) scored four runs on 10 hits in its inaugural game of Big 12 baseball, while WVU (8-6) put up 10 runs on 13 hits. Mountaineer starting pitcher Aiden Major—who entered the game ranked third in the conference in innings pitched and strikeouts—worked eight complete innings for the win to improve to 3-0.
“I thought we swung the bats pretty well,” said BYU head coach Trent Pratt. “We hit a bunch of balls hard early that just didn’t fall, but credit our guys for not giving up and fighting all nine innings. Unfortunately, we had too many walks today. You can’t walk eight guys against a good team and expect to win.”
Player Highlights
– Kuhio Aloy: 2-4, 2 RBI, Run, HR
– Easton Jones: 2-4, RBI, Run, HR
– Cooper Vest: 1-1, RBI, Run, HR
– Luke Anderson: 2-5, 2B
West Virginia scored first with a run on two hits in the bottom of the first inning for a 1-0 lead. After three and a half innings of scoreless baseball, the Mountaineers scored five more runs in the bottom of the fifth on two walks and five hits for a 6-0 advantage.
BYU got on the board in the top of the seventh inning on a leadoff home run by first baseman Copper Vest. The Cougars then loaded the bases with just one out, but Major got out of the jam with a strikeout and a fly ball to right field to end the threat.
The Mountaineers responded in the bottom half of the seventh with three runs to increase the lead to 9-1.
BYU scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning on back-to-back home runs by Kuhio Aloy and Easton Jones. Following a leadoff triple by Collin Reuter, Aloy hit a blast over the left field wall for his fourth homer of the season. Jones then homered to cut the lead to 9-4.
West Virginia added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth for the final margin.
Due to potential inclement weather expected on Saturday in Morgantown, games two and three of the series will be played as a double header on Friday, March 8, with the first game scheduled for 2 p.m. ET at Monongalia County Ballpark.
Both games will be broadcast live on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ with legendary Pittsburgh Pirates broadcaster Lanny Frattare on play-by-play and Tyler Barnette as the analyst. The games will also air live on the BYU Radio App and BYU Radio 107.9 FM in the northern Utah market, with Dave McCann on the call.