ST. GEORGE, Utah — BYU baseball picked up its third-straight win with an 11-6 victory over Utah Tech on Tuesday evening at Bruce Hurst Field in St. George, Utah.
BYU improves to 10-8 on the season with right-handed pitcher Jake Porter picking up his first win of the year. Utah Tech falls to 5-16 with the loss.
“We had some big hits in the second inning and got off to a great start,” said BYU head coach Trent Pratt. “I thought Luke (Sterner) did a nice job tonight. He threw a lot of strikes and got us off to a good start on the mound. We also played good defense which really saved us in a couple of tight spots.”
BYU Highlights
– Luke Anderson: 3-4, 2 RBI, Run
– Chipper Beck: 2-3, 2 Runs, RBI
– Kuhio Aloy: 1-5, 3 RBI, Run
– Luke Sterner: 3.0 innings, 1 Run, 3 Ks
BYU struck first in the top of the first inning with a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly to center field by Easton Jones that scored Luke Anderson who had led off the game with a double to left. Utah Tech answered in the bottom of the inning with a single and an RBI double to tie the game at 1-1.
The Cougars took a commanding lead in the second inning with eight runs on six hits, for an early 9-1 advantage.
Crew Robinson got things rolling with a one-out home run to right field. Ryker Schow was then hit by a pitch and scored on a double to left center by Keoni Painter. Chipper Beck was also hit by a pitch and advanced to third on back-to-back singles by Anderson and Cooper Vest. A groundball to third base by Jones scored Beck and a single by Collin Reuter plated Vest for a 6-1 advantage. Freshman designated hitter, Kuhio Aloy, then homered to left center for three RBI and a 9-1 lead.
BYU increased its lead in the top of the third with another run on a single by Anderson that scored Beck who had doubled with two outs.
The Trailblazers scored a run in the bottom of the fourth on a hit batter and three singles to make the score 10-2. BYU answered with a run in the top of the fourth on a two-out single up the middle by Beck that scored Schow who had walked to lead off the inning.
In the bottom of the fifth, Utah Tech scored two more runs on three walks and a single to cut the Cougar lead to 11-4. Following a scoreless sixth inning, the Trailblazers added a run in the seventh inning and picked up one more in the ninth for an 11-6 final score.
Up next, BYU resumes Big 12 Conference play with a three-game series at Texas Tech, March 21-23. The series will be played at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park in Lubbock, Texas with all the three games broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+. The games will also air live on the BYU Radio App and BYU Radio.org with Steve Klauke on the call.