PROVO, Utah – Maverik Buffo threw a quality start and BYU baseball had 19 hits in its 19-6 win on Thursday night against San Francisco at Larry H. Miller Field.
"We really swung the bats," BYU head coach Mike Littlewood said. "Maverik (Buffo) wasn't super sharp in that first inning, but getting him that 6-1 lead allowed him to settle in, and he cruised for five innings after that."
The Cougars improved to 23-14 overall and 12-4 in the West Coast Conference. BYU got multiple hits from five players, including four hits apiece from Brennon Anderson, Tanner Chauncey and Kyle Dean. The Dons walked 11 Cougars and fell to 22-21, 7-12.
BYU surrendered one run in the first but had six hits and took advantage of two San Francisco errors to plate six in the bottom half of the frame. The biggest blow was Dean's two-run triple off the right field fence.
Keaton Kringlen’s second-inning double tacked on another Cougar run as they led 7-1 after two innings.
A two-run dinger off the bat of Anderson found its way over the right field fence for two more BYU runs in the third inning.
In the fifth inning, Kringlen scored Nate Favero on a sacrifice fly to put the Cougars up 10-1.
The Dons manufactured two runs in the seventh inning but again were unable to shut down the BYU bats. The Cougars anwered with a five spot on the board, using three singles, three walks and two hit batsmen to lead 15-3.
Buffo (5-5) was relieved after 6.2 innings. He allowed seven hits and two earned runs, fanning five. Mason Marshall got the final out of the top of the seventh and was perfect in the eighth inning.
BYU put four runs on the board in the bottom of the eighth, highlighted by Favero's two-run double over the right fielder's head.
Cougar reliever Rhett Parkinson got one out in the top of the ninth and Connor Williams got the next two. The Dons got three across, but the bleeding stopped there.
Game two of the series will be Friday night at 6 p.m. MDT.