PROVO, Utah — BYU baseball dropped its first of three games against Cincinnati 9-5 at Miller Park on Thursday night.
"We had our chances," said head coach Trent Pratt. "You just can't give up that many free bases. I think we walked eight batters and hit two. We kind of played with fire all night and got out of it but eventually, it got to us. We'll come back and be ready to go tomorrow."
Payton Gubler recorded a career-high in strikeouts with nine, which was also a season- high for a Cougar pitcher.
Parker Goff tied a career high in RBIs, driving in two runs on the evening.
Player Highlights
- Parker Goff: 1-3, HR, 2 RBI, R
- Brock Watkins: 1-3, HR, 2 RBI, R
- Crew McChesney: 2-4, 2B
- Payton Gubler: 4.2 IP, 9 K, 3 H, 2 ER
Cincinnati opened the game with a leadoff home run, scoring one run on two hits to take a 1-0 lead heading into the bottom of the first inning.
BYU quickly responded in the bottom of the first, scoring three runs on two hits to take a 3-1 lead. A two-out walk to Collin Reuter and a wild pitch that moved him to second base set up an RBI double to right field from Cooper Vest before Brock Watkins hit a two-run homer to right center field to give the Cougars a two-run advantage.
The Bearcats scored one run on one hit via a solo homer to trim their deficit to 3-2 in the top of the fourth inning.
A two-out walk to Watkins set up a two-run homer clubbed to left field from Parker Goff to extend BYU's lead to 5-2 heading into the top of the seventh.
Cincinnati trimmed its deficit to 5-3 in the top of the seventh inning, scoring one run on one hit via a solo home run.
The Bearcats continued to claw back and tied the game in the top of the eighth, scoring two runs on one hit to even the score at 5-5.
Cincinnati took the lead in the top of the ninth, scoring four runs on four hits to take a 9-5 lead heading into the bottom frame before coming out victorious following their late-game rally.
Up Next
The Cougars will face Cincinnati for game two of the series on Friday at 6 p.m. MDT. The game will be broadcast live on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and streamed on BYU Radio 107.9/BYU Radio App.