LONG BEACH, Calif. — With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, BYU shortstop Ryder Robinson doubled down the left field line scoring Ezra McNaughton from first for a 5-4 walk-off victory over Washington State at Blair Field on Friday.
Lefty starter Wayland Crane gave BYU 5 2/3 innings, surrendering just two runs, while striking out four in the no decision. Right hander Dan Brousseau closed out the final two innings holding Wassu scoreless for the win, his first as a Cougar.
“Can’t say enough about Dan Brousseau coming in and pounding the strike zone,” said BYU head baseball coach Trent Pratt. “He did a great job giving us a chance to win. This team just keeps playing no matter what. They will fight until the last out. That mentally led to the wins last night and tonight.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Robinson: 2-4, RBI, 2B
• McNaughton: 2-4, R
• Easton Jones: 1-3, 2RBI, HR
• Cooper Jones: 2-4, 2RBI
• Dan Brousseau: Win, 2.0 innings, 1H
SUMMARY
Washington State (3-6) jumped out to an early lead in its first at-bat on a double followed by a single for a 1-0 advantage. After holding BYU (6-4) scoreless in the bottom half of the inning, Wazzu tacked on another run in the second on a single and double for 2-0 lead.
BYU responded with two runs of its own in the bottom half of the second with a leadoff walk by Matt Hansen and a one-out home run to deep centerfield by senior Easton Jones to tie the game at 2-2.
After three and half scoreless innings, BYU took a 4-2 lead in the sixth. With one out, Crew McChesney singled and Keoni Painter walked. Matt Hansen then walked to load the bases and Copper Jones singled to left field, driving in two runs.
After neither team scored in the seventh inning, WSU tied the game in the eighth on two walks, a double steal and a single to left field to even the score, 4-4.
Brousseau held WSU scoreless in the ninth, giving up a lone single to keep the game tied and set up Robinson’s walk-off heroics.
BYU scored five runs on nine hits while stranding five runners, while WSU scored four runs on eight hits, but stranded 11 on base.
UP NEXT
BYU and Long Beach State will play the final game of the four-game, round-robin series on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 1:05 p.m. PT (2 p.m. MT). The game will be broadcast live on BYUradio.org, the BYUradio app with Matt Baiamonte on play-by-play live from Nick Denes Field.