SANTA CLARA, California—Home runs by Brock Hale, Colton Shaver and Kyle Dean with pitching by Maverik Buffo lifted No. 22 BYU baseball over Santa Clara, 9-3, on Thursday.

The Cougars strengthened their first-place standing in the West Coast Conference to 15-4 and their overall record improved to 27-14. Santa Clara fell to 7-12 in WCC play and 11-33 overall.

After trailing 3-0 through three innings, Hale’s two-run homer in the fourth inning tied the game. Shaver’s sixth-inning two-run blast, his 10th of the season, gave the Cougars the lead for good, extending the margin to 5-3.

"Maverik was as good as he's been all year," BYU coach Mike Littlewood said.  "He did a nice job of regrouping and settling in after the 2nd inning. Our hitters did a great job of making in game adjustments at the plate by making (Grant) Nechak bring the ball up where we could put good swings on it. It was a great start to the weekend for us."

Starter Buffo figured it out after giving up four hits in the three-run second frame when he surrendered alternate back-to-back singles and doubles. He closed the second with a pair of his nine strikeouts in eight innings, scattering five hits, to improve his record to 6-5. Santa Clara got a single in the sixth for its only other hit of the game.

“Everything felt good,” Buffo said. “I’ve got a great team to back me up. I’ve gone back to the basics and it has worked out. My team battled at the plate and I knew we would come around and they would take care of me.”

Dean, the No. 8 hitter in the order, led off the eighth with a solo shot to increase the Cougar lead to 7-3.

Brennon Anderson’s two-out single jump-started BYU’s offense in the third when he extended his team-leading hitting streak to nine games and drove in Bronson Larsen for the Cougars’ first run of the evening.

Larsen hit consecutive doubles and was joined Anderson, Nate Favero and Hale as Cougars with two hits apiece. Hale added a double to his homer in the extra-base hit column, while Anderson, Hale and Shaver each had a pair of RBI.

The win is BYU’s 17th in the last 20 outings. Game two of the BYU-Santa Clara series will be Friday at 6 p.m. PDT.

Attention is increasing for No. 22 BYU baseball after it regained first place in the West Coast Conference, and now the focus is on Tuesday’s game at Utah Valley University.

“We have a big week ahead beginning with Utah Valley on Tuesday and then a huge league series at Santa Clara,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “We have a great opportunity to solidify our position in the top four and make a run at the league title. Santa Clara is playing well right now after taking three games at Pepperdine, so we really have our work cut out.”

The Cougars (25-14 and 14-4 WCC) also swept their opponent last weekend against San Francisco at home and are ranked for the first time this season at No. 22 by Collegiate Baseball. Santa Clara (11-31 and 7-11) also has a Tuesday game against No. 19 Arizona prior to hosting BYU.

Utah Valley brings a 15-26 record into the UCCU Crosstown Clash when it hosts the Cougars on Tuesday at 6 p.m. BYU will start Brady Corless (5-0, 4.50) as he hopes to get some work in before his Friday start at Santa Clara.

First baseman Tanner Chauncey is No. 1 in the nation in the category of toughest to strike out. In the month of April, Chauncey did not strike out at all in 67 at bats with 28 hits (.418 batting average), five walks and twice was hit by pitches. This season Chauncey has only struck out five times, the last being at Loyola Marymount.  His other strikeouts came vs. Kennesaw State, Georgia State, San Jose State and UC Santa Barbara. He last struck out on March 25 in the final at bat of a 2-0 loss when Cory Abbott threw his perfect game. Had he not struck out at LMU, Chauncey would have extended his 18-game streak by seven more games.

Maverik Buffo (5-5, 4.99) will start for the Cougars on Thursday against Santa Clara at 6 p.m. PDT. Corless is scheduled to start on Friday at 6 p.m. and Hayden Rogers (5-1, 3.41) will start against the Broncos in Saturday’s finale at 1 p.m.

After the Santa Clara series BYU hosts Utah to start a five-game home stand and conclude the home season.

For more detailed information, see multi-page PDF below