PROVO, Utah — BYU baseball’s nine-game winning streak came to an end Tuesday night as the Cougars gave up a season-high 15 hits and 12 runs in a 12-7 loss to rival Utah at Miller Park.
“On a midweek staff night where a lot of guys take the mound you just have to battle,” said BYU interim head coach Trent Pratt. “Unfortunately, we didn’t make the big pitch or the big play when we needed to tonight.”
Player Highlights
Cole Gambill: 2-3, 2 RBI, HR
Ozzie Pratt: 2-5, RBI, Run
Ryan Sepede: 1-4 AB, 2 RBI, Run
Ayden Callahan: 2 IP, 1 H, 3 K, ERA 0.00
Utah jumped out to a 4-0 lead with three runs in the top of the third and one more in the fifth. The Cougar offense responded with two runs in the bottom of the fourth with two runs, cutting into the Utah lead when Hayden Leatham hit a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Austin Deming. A Utah error moments later helped Jacob Wilk score to cut the Utah lead to 4-2.
The Cougars surged to a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the sixth with key hits by Ryan Sepede and Cole Gambill. Sepede cut the Utah lead to one when he doubled to right field scoring Mitch McIntyre. Cole Gambill then homered to right center to score Sepede and give BYU a short-lived 5-4 lead.
Despite runs scored by Ozzie Pratt and Brock Watkins in the bottom of the seventh to cut the Utah lead to 8-7, three runs in the eighth and one more in the ninth gave the visiting Utes a 12-7 win.
BYU concludes the regular season at Miller Park Thursday-Saturday with a three-game series versus West Coast Conference opponent LMU. The Thursday game is scheduled for 6 p.m. MDT. Tune-in on the BYUtv App and the BYU Radio Network—107.9 FM, BYU Radio App, BYUCougars.com and the BYU Cougars app. Live stats are available through Statbroadcast.com.