photos by Jay Hinton
AUSTIN, Texas — BYU baseball scored seven runs on nine hits, including three home runs by catcher Collin Reuter, in a 7-5 win over Texas on Saturday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin. The victory gave the Cougars a 2-1 series win over the Longhorns, their second Big 12 series win of the season.
BYU improved to 13-15 (6-9) on the year, while the loss dropped Texas to 19-13 (7-5). The Cougars scored seven runs on nine hits, putting runners on base in all nine innings, while Texas had five runs on seven hits.
“It was a great weekend for our baseball team,” said BYU head coach Trent Pratt. “We got timely hitting today and played great defense. Our pitching staff did a great job of not allowing Texas to have a big inning today and throughout the series. I’m proud of our guys. They believed in themselves and got two big road wins against a really good team.”
Player Highlights
• Collin Reuter: 3-4, 3 HR, 3 Runs, 3 RBI
• Keoni Panter: 1-4, 2 Runs
• Chipper Beck: 1-2, RBI, Run, 3 BB
• Hayden Coon: 2.2 IP, Run, 5 Ks
The Cougars got onboard first with two runs in the top of the first inning on a walk by designated hitter Keoni Painter and a home run over the leftfield wall by catcher Collin Reuter for a 2-0 lead.
BYU tacked on two more runs in the second inning on three hits for a 4-0 advantage. Crew Robinson got things started with a single to right and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Chipper Beck then singled to left to score Robinson before advancing to third on a single by Ryker Schow. Outfielder Luke Anderson then picked up an RBI scoring Beck on sacrifice fly to right.
Texas got on the board in the bottom half of the second on a solo home run by left fielder Porter Brown to make the score 4-1.
Reuter homered again in the bottom of the third, with Painter onboard to give the Cougars a 6-1 lead. The Longhorns responded with another run in the fourth inning on two walks and a sacrifice fly to cut the Cougar advantage to 6-2.
BYU picked up another run in the fifth on Reuter’s third blast of the day, a solo shot to leadoff the inning. Texas got the run back in the bottom of the inning on a solo home run from shortstop Jalin Flores for a 7-3 score.
After a scoreless sixth inning, the Longhorns scored two runs in the seventh on a hit batter and two doubles to close out the scoring at 7-5.
BYU relievers Mason Olson and Stone Cushing pitched the final 3.1 innings of the game, surrendering three hits and two runs while shutting out the Longhorns over the final two frames. Cushing picked up his Big 12-leading seventh save of the year.
Up next for BYU baseball is Utah on Tuesday, March 12 at 6 p.m. MT at Smith’s Ballpark in Salt Lake City. The game will be broadcast live on the BYU Radio App, BYUradio.org and 107.9 FM in the local market with the Voice of the Cougars, Greg Wrubell, on play-by-play. The game will also be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network.