BYU vs. Santa Clara game 1 box score

PROVO, Utah – An error gave BYU baseball a 2-1 walk-off win in nine innings Thursday night at Larry H. Miller Field in the series opener against Santa Clara.

"We didn't hang our heads after not getting hits early," BYU head coach Mike Littlewood said. "We finally put together some good at-bats late in the game. I'm proud of our guys for persevering."

With Brock Hale on third base, Keaton Kringlen hit a hard grounder up the middle that was speared by the Broncos’ second baseman. With Hale frozen, the fielder sent a throw in the turf to first base. It deflected off the first baseman’s glove and Hale sprinted home for the winning run.

BYU improved to 15-13, 4-6 (West Coast Conference), as Santa Clara fell to 15-12, 4-6 (WCC).

A pitchers’ duel unfolded over the first four innings, as neither team got on the board. In the fifth, Jake MacNichols knocked a double for the Broncos and scored after a bunt and a passed ball.

The Cougars answered with a run in the sixth, as Hale stroked a single through the middle to plate Daniel Schneemann. Hale’s hit was just the second of the night for BYU. Right before him, Brian Hsu lined a single to right field to move Schneemann from first to third.

Wood got through eight frames thanks in part to a tremendous play by Schneemann on a grounder up the middle. He slid to corral the batted ball and flipped it from his glove to Brennon Anderson, who took the feed at second with his bare hand and fired to first for a double play.

Wood’s night ended with just four hits allowed and five strikeouts on 101 pitches. The only run against him was unearned.

Rhett Parkinson and Drew Zimmerman (2-1) saw the Cougar defense through the ninth inning, as the former punched out two and the latter finished off the Broncos with a groundout.

Hale led off the BYU half of the ninth with a double to dead center. Jake Brown moved Hale to third with a groundout to second to set the stage for Kringlen.

The Cougars wrap up the series with a doubleheader tomorrow, with game times scheduled for 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. The series was supposed to be played over three days, but Saturday's game was moved to Friday due to inclement weather. Fans with tickets for Saturday can use their tickets for any remaining home game.

Game notes for Utah, Santa Clara

Round two of the Deseret First Duel could be an extension of extra innings as BYU and Utah baseball rematch on Tuesday in Salt Lake City at 6 p.m.

The Cougars, 14-12 overall and 3-6 in the West Coast Conference, won the first meeting against Utah in Provo, 7-6 in the 10th inning. And in their last meeting of 2017, the two teams went 13 innings with Utah winning, 7-6 in Provo.

Both teams are starting lefthanders at Smith’s Ballpark: junior Bo Burrup (1-1, 8.31) who also started the first game against Utah for the Cougars and redshirt freshman Riley Pierce (0-2, 9.00) for the Utes. The two teams are scheduled to play twice more, on April 24 in Provo and on May 8 in Salt Lake City.

The Utes, 6-20 overall and 3-3 in the Pac-12, are fresh off a pair of upsets over No. 1 Oregon State last week.  BYU was up and down last week, out-hitting opponents in a pair of victories and narrowly losing a pair at Pepperdine as it stranded many runners on base.

Among BYU’s top hitters is junior Brock Hale, who raised his batting average from .194 to .343, batting .408 in 18 games for March. Hale’s slugging percentage for the month was .789 and he leads the Cougars with seven home runs.

Following the tilt at Utah, the Cougars return to Provo for WCC action in a three-game series against Santa Clara, starting Thursday at 6 p.m.