BYU vs. Gonzaga game 2 box score
PROVO, Utah – Brock Hale homered and four BYU pitchers combined to allow two runs in a 6-2 win to top Gonzaga for the second-straight night at Larry H. Miller Field Friday.
"Right now we're coming out expecting to win," BYU head coach Mike Littlewood said. "Our key is getting off our heels and being the aggressor. That's our style of baseball."
The Cougars got two runs in the first inning, thanks to a Daniel Schneemann sacrifice fly and a solo homer off the bat of Hale. The shot to center field was number seven on the season for BYU’s junior right fielder.
In the fourth inning, the first two Bulldogs got on base before Hayden Rogers slammed the door shut with three consecutive strikeouts.
BYU loaded the bases in the fifth and came away with four runs. Mitch McIntyre, Jarrett Perns and Schneemann all singled in the inning and Gonzaga committed a pair of errors to make it 6-0 for the Cougars.
Rogers (3-2) pitched 5.1 innings before being spelled by Rhett Parkinson, who got one out before passing the torch to Jake Suddreth, who allowed a single to score two runners inherited from the starter. Suddreth forced the third out on a Bulldog bunt to leave the score 6-2.
Seven strikeouts marked the second-most in the career of Rogers, who gave up five hits and two earned runs.
"Hayden (Rogers) gave up a couple of hits early but settled in, used both sides of the plate and kept the ball down tonight," Littlewood said.
Suddreth recorded seven outs without an earned run. Drew Zimmerman came on for the ninth and despite putting two runners in scoring position, sealed game two of the series without harm.
The Cougars (12-9, 2-3 West Coast Conference) will look for a sweep over the Bulldogs (11-10, 2-3 WCC) in the finale of the home series, which will be at 1 p.m. MDT Saturday.