SPOKANE, Wash. – A five-run eighth-inning gave Gonzaga a come-from-behind 7-6 victory over BYU baseball on Friday night.

The loss stopped a three-game win streak for BYU and denied the Cougars evening their record at the .500 mark for the first time since the beginning of the season.

BYU is now 10-12 overall and 3-2 in the West Coast Conference, while Gonzaga moves to .500 at 11-11 and 2-3. BYU has won eight of its past 10 games.

“This was text book on how to give a game away,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “We didn't have killer instinct on offense when we had a chance to put the game away in the eighth and then turned around and gave it away in the bottom of the eighth by allowing five runs on one hit. We need to put this behind us and come out Saturday and win the series.”

The Cougars threw four different pitchers when they imploded in the eighth inning after having a 6-2 lead, surrendering six walks and a two-run double for the Zags’ only hit.

BYU took an early lead when Eric Urry belted a three-run, one-out homer to right field in the fourth inning to break a scoreless tie. Then Gonzaga countered with a run in the fourth, before right fielder Urry snuffed out a run in the fifth when he threw the Bulldog runner out at home.

Cougar Hayden Nielsen worked a full-count in the sixth to get a two-run, two-out double down the left-field line. Teammate Derrick Whitney scored on Tanner Chauncey’s fielder’s choice to extend that lead to 6-1, but Nielsen was caught off-guard in a run-down to end the inning.

BYU’s Brennon Lund extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a single in the third and Nielsen extended his hitting streak to nine games with another first-inning single against the Zags.

The Bulldogs left eight runners on base through the first six innings. The Cougars left 10 runners aboard through eight innings.

The Cougars finish the three-game series on Saturday at Gonzaga at noon PDT. The game will be broadcast live on BYU Radio 960 AM, live audio stream on BYUradio.org and live video by theW.tv.

Senior Dillon Robinson was named Rawlings West Coast Conference Player of the Week  on Monday as BYU (9-11, 2-1 in WCC) baseball now prepares for this week’s series at Gonzaga (10-10, 1-2).

“After Dillon tweaked his ankle at Utah Valley Tuesday night we were concerned he wouldn't even be able to play against Pepperdine,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said.  “Not only did he play, he was a dominant presence our lineup all weekend long and a major factor in us taking two of three from Pepperdine.”

Robinson, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound, first/third baseman from Pleasant Grove, raised his batting average from .323 to .360 by batting a team-high .538 in the four games last week.  He scored BYU's seventh run in the 10-7 victory at UVU.  He had six hits, two of which were doubles in the Pepperdine series where he batted .545 to lead the team.

“It was really important for us to jump out to a good start as we move further into conference play,” Littlewood said.  “Gonzaga is a confident, well-coached team and we will definitely have our work cut out in Spokane.  

“Our hope as a coaching staff is that we can reflect on the first three weeks of the season when we played tough teams on the road and realize we have been in these situations before.”

Junior Kolton Mahoney (1-2, 4.38) and senior Jeff Barker (1-1, 3.99) will be BYU’s starting pitchers in the Gonzaga series Thursday and Friday, both at 6 p.m.  PDT.   Senior Brandon Kinser (1-1, 2.51) will be the Cougar starter for Saturday’s noon game.

“It's imperative we get solid starting pitching performances from our veteran starters and limit free bases,” Littlewood said.  “On the offensive side we are getting better each week, our approach at the plate has been really good the past two weeks at home – we just need to take that on the road with us and we'll be fine.”

Infielders Parker Starr and Hayden Nielsen each have seven-game hitting streaks to lead the team.  Nielsen also leads the team with four game-winning RBI, including a bases- loaded single in last Saturday’s 10-inning win against Pepperdine.

The BYU-Gonzaga games will be broadcast live locally over Radio 960 AM, with Thursday and Friday's games being on live audio stream and on Sirius Satellite 143 radio.  All three games will be on live video stream on theW.tv.

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