SPOKANE, Washington—A  10-4 come-from-behind victory by Gonzaga over BYU Friday night forced a showdown Saturday on national TV for the No. 1 seed of the league tournament next week.

While the No. 18 Cougars, 33-17 overall, have a share of the West Coast Conference title with a 20-6 record, they still can win it outright with a win in front of an ESPNU TV audience on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. PDT.

But first, BYU must solve its own woes, which continued Friday in Spokane.

“One nightmare inning cost us big tonight,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “It's very simple, we need to pitch it better if we want to beat this team tomorrow”.

On the heels of a 10-2 game one loss, the Cougars got off to a better start in game two before a disastrous eight-run fifth inning.

Bronson Larsen’s sacrifice fly scored Keaton Kringlen for BYU’s first run of the game in the second inning. Then Nate Favero knocked a two-run homer to right field after Larsen’s out for a 3-0 lead.

That lead expanded to 4-0 when Brennon Anderson got a leadoff double to left field in the fourth inning and scored two batters later on Kringlen’s single to right field.

Left fielder Larsen and shortstop Daniel Schneemann combined to throw out a Zag runner at home in the one-run fourth inning to protect a 4-2 lead.

Larsen moved behind the plate in the fifth and was on the receiving end of a Kringlen throw from left field to Schneemann for out number two in the eight-run fifth, but by then the damage accrued.

Starter Brady Corless struck out the final batters of the second and third innings and fanned his third victim in the fourth, but surrendered a pair of walks to lead off the fifth. The parade of walks continued with three more bases on balls and a hit batter from the two Cougar relievers spelling Corless in that frame when the Zags batted around.

Gonzaga, 30-17 overall and 19-7 in the WCC, can tie BYU for the title with a sweep over the Cougars.

At least share of first place in the West Coast Conference is guaranteed for BYU baseball’s team that remains ranked No. 18 prior to hosting Utah Valley University on Tuesday night.

The Cougars (32-15 and 20-4 in the WCC) can win their first outright league title with one win in the three-game series at Gonzaga. But first BYU needs to finish out the home season against UVU (16-32) in the UCCU Crosstown Clash with Jordan Wood (4-0, 6.12) starting for the Cougars.

Gonzaga (28-17 and 17-7) is tied for second in the WCC with Loyola Marymount and could create a co- or tri- championship title with a sweep by either or both of these teams this week.

Currently the Cougars are seeded no worse than third for the WCC Tournament in two weeks at Stockton, California. A win by either Gonzaga or LMU would fill two of the remaining three spots for the tourney. San Diego and Saint Mary’s are still in contention for the fourth spot.

For the second week in a row, BYU is ranked No. 18 in the nation by Collegiate Baseball magazine. However, Cougar first baseman Tanner Chauncey dropped to No. 2 in the NCAA in the category toughest to strike out (now eight times in 194 at bats).

Sophomore Brock Hale became the second Cougar to earn Rawlings WCC Player of the Week honors, joining Keaton Kringlen. Hale has led the team in batting average since the end of February and had nine RBI last week, including home runs against Utah to start the week and in the final game against Portland.

At Gonzaga, the Cougars will continue with their three-man pitching rotation of Maverik Buffo (6-5, 5.37), Brady Corless (6-0, 4.91) and Hayden Rogers (7-1, 3.46). Saturday’s final game of the BYU-Gonzaga series will be televised nationally at 7:30 p.m. PDT by ESPNU with Roxy Bernstein and Wes Chandler as the announcers. The games on Thursday and Friday will start at 6 p.m. PDT. Friday’s game will be streamed on theW.tv with George Devine and Alex Jensen calling the action.

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