BYU vs. Gonzaga game 2 box score

PROVO, Utah – Brock Hale homered and four BYU pitchers combined to allow two runs in a 6-2 win to top Gonzaga for the second-straight night at Larry H. Miller Field Friday.

"Right now we're coming out expecting to win," BYU head coach Mike Littlewood said. "Our key is getting off our heels and being the aggressor. That's our style of baseball."

The Cougars got two runs in the first inning, thanks to a Daniel Schneemann sacrifice fly and a solo homer off the bat of Hale. The shot to center field was number seven on the season for BYU’s junior right fielder.

In the fourth inning, the first two Bulldogs got on base before Hayden Rogers slammed the door shut with three consecutive strikeouts.

BYU loaded the bases in the fifth and came away with four runs. Mitch McIntyre, Jarrett Perns and Schneemann all singled in the inning and Gonzaga committed a pair of errors to make it 6-0 for the Cougars.

Rogers (3-2) pitched 5.1 innings before being spelled by Rhett Parkinson, who got one out before passing the torch to Jake Suddreth, who allowed a single to score two runners inherited from the starter. Suddreth forced the third out on a Bulldog bunt to leave the score 6-2.

Seven strikeouts marked the second-most in the career of Rogers, who gave up five hits and two earned runs.

"Hayden (Rogers) gave up a couple of hits early but settled in, used both sides of the plate and kept the ball down tonight," Littlewood said.

Suddreth recorded seven outs without an earned run. Drew Zimmerman came on for the ninth and despite putting two runners in scoring position, sealed game two of the series without harm.

The Cougars (12-9, 2-3 West Coast Conference) will look for a sweep over the Bulldogs (11-10, 2-3 WCC) in the finale of the home series, which will be at 1 p.m. MDT Saturday.

BYU vs. Utah, Gonzaga Game Notes

Both BYU and Utah’s baseball teams look to salve wounds from last week as they play on Tuesday in the first of four meetings this season.

The Cougars bring a 9-9 record into the Deseret First Duel against the Utes who are 2-16.  Tuesday’s game is at 6 p.m. MDT and will be televised live on BYUtv as well as broadcast live over ESPN 960 AM and on BYU Radio-Sirius XM 143.

“We need to be even keel and stay the course,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said.  “The process has proven pretty fruitful over the last five years, so we need to persevere through this.”

Lefthander Bo Burrup (1-0, 14.14) will start for the Cougars against Utah. BYU has won the Duel the past six years and nine of the last 10 times it has been contested in this format. BYU leads the series with the Utes, 244-116-2, with Utah defeating the Cougars in the last meeting, 7-6, in 13 innings in Provo.

That non-league game precedes BYU hosting another fellow defending West Coast Conference tri-champion on Thursday when the Cougars meet Gonzaga in a nationally televised game on ESPNU at 6 p.m. That game with the Bulldogs begins a three-game series and ends an 11-game home stand.

Jordan Wood (1-1, 3.98) will start on the mound for BYU in Thursday's game, followed by Hayden Rogers (2-2, 5.16) on Friday and Blake Inouye (1-2, 7.71) on Saturday.

Gonzaga brings a 2-1 league record into Thursday’s game, which is a rematch of an ESPNU telecast last season in which the Bulldogs won 6-2 in Spokane. The announcers for the ESPNU telecast are Roxy Bernstein and Wes Clements who also called last season’s game. Friday’s game at 6 p.m., and Saturday’s game at 1 p.m., will both be televised live by BYUtv.

BYU is 0-3 in the WCC after being swept last week in Provo by league co-leader Loyola Marymount.