STOCKTON, California (April 7, 2017)—Brady Corless threw a three-hitter for BYU baseball to keep his record unblemished in a 12-1 victory on Friday night over the University of the Pacific.
Corless struck out six in as many innings to improve his record to 4-0. And reliever Mason Marshall earned his 14th career save, one away from tying the school record and his first of the season with five strikeouts in the final three innings.
The Cougars are now 16-12 overall and 6-2 in the West Coast Conference, while Pacific spirals to 12-16 and 2-9.
“Brady gave us another solid start tonight and our hitters took care of the rest,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “We hit a lot of balls hard and had another night of great at-bats throughout the lineup.”
BYU had a big inning from the beginning in the three-run first frame when Brennon Anderson and Tanner Chauncey hit consecutive singles, then Daniel Schneemann doubled in Anderson. Schneemann scored on a sacrifice fly, then Keaton Kringlen was doubled home by Colton Shaver for the 3-0 start.
Pacific also plated its lead off batter in the first inning before a pair of Cougar runs in the second padded the lead for Corless. Casey Jacobsen hit a one-out single, scoring off Chauncey’s fielder’s choice. Chauncey then scored on Kringlen’s single.
Shaver extended BYU’s lead to 6-1 when he led off the third frame with a single to left field and moved around the bases thanks to a Tiger error and a walk, then scored on Anderson’s sac fly.
Corless struck out a Tiger batter in each of the first four innings, but none bigger than in the fourth inning with the bases loaded.
That set up Kyle Dean to swat his first home run of the season, a towering blast nearly clearing the lights pole in left field for a 7-1 lead. That homer tied Dean with Chauncey for a team-leading seven game hitting streak.
Although Corless missed striking out a Tiger in the fifth, he retired Pacific for the second time aided by Jacobsen, Anderson and Chauncey turning a 5-4-3 double play.
Dean singled in Bronson Larsen who doubled earlier in the four-run seventh inning. Shaver scored on a key Jacobson sac fly. Anderson plated Dean and David Clawson with a two-out double for the 11-1 lead.
Jacobsen picked up his second RBI off a sac fly in the ninth following a Clawson double for the 12th run.
Marshall relieved Corless in the seventh and loaded the bases before striking out the next two batters looking before the Tigers were stranded. Marshall remained hot, striking out the first two batters in the eighth.
“We need to be careful not to be satisfied with two wins and come out ready to play,” Littlewood said as BYU claimed the series and conclude the final game with the Tigers on Saturday at 1 p.m. PDT.