MESA, Ariz. (Feb. 16) — BYU opened the 2024 baseball season with a commanding 8-1 win over USC on Friday at Sloan Park behind solid pitching that surrendered just three hits.
Sophomore righthand pitcher Ben Hansen (1-0) earned the win with five strong innings allowing just three hits and one run with five strikeouts, while the Cougar bullpen of Mason Olson, Carter Foss and Stone Cushing combined for four scoreless innings in the victory.
“It was an awesome team win tonight,” said BYU head coach Trent Pratt. “We played well in the key phases of the game—offense, defense and pitching. We had some big hits in big situations tonight and our pitching was really good. Ben gave us a solid five innings, and the other three guys did an outstanding job of finishing out the game.”
Player Highlights
- Ben Hansen: W, 5.0 IP, 3 H, 4 K
- Kuhio Aloy: 3-5, HR, 3 RBI, Run
- Brock Watkins: 2-3, 2 Runs, 2 BB
- Easton Jones: 2-3, BB, 2 RBI, Run
- Collin Reuter: 2-4, RBI, Run
Game Summary
BYU scored first in the top of the second inning with three runs on three hits. Collin Reuter led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second on an infield groundball by Cooper Vest. After a single to centerfield by Brock Watkins, Reuter scored on an infield single by Kuhio Aloy and Vest scored on a ground ball by Chipper Beck for the second run of the inning. Luke Anderson then singled up the middle to score Watkins for an early 3-0 lead.
USC got on the board in the bottom of the fifth with a lead-off triple and a sacrifice fly to cut the Cougar advantage to 3-1.
The Cougars took a commanding lead with a pair of two-run home runs in the fifth inning for a 7-1 advantage. Freshman designated hitter Kuhio Aloy homered with Brock Watkins aboard to go up 5-1 with no outs. Sophomore third baseman Easton Jones then drove in two more runs with a towering home run to left field with Anderson on base.
Reuter doubled down the leftfield line to score Anderson from second base in the eighth for the final score of the game and an 8-1 victory.
BYU hitters combined for 13 hits on the night with 13 RBI and five walks as the Cougars defeated USC for the first time since 1979.
BYU will face Ohio State in game two of the MLB Desert Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 5 p.m. MST at Sloan Park, home of Chicago Cubs. The game will be broadcast live on MLB.com. The live link will be posted on BYUcougars.com about an hour prior to the first pitch.