LOS ANGELES — A big three-run third inning — combined with an outstanding pitching performance by starter Easton Walker — gave BYU a 5-4 win over Loyola Marymount in the opening game of West Coast Conference play at Page Stadium on Thursday.

“It was a total team effort tonight,” said BYU associate head coach Trent Pratt. “We used a lot of guys tonight and everyone came ready to contribute. We made plays when we needed to. We got a couple of timely hits and came away with a big win to start conference play.”

Senior righthander Walker scattered four hits over six innings and surrendered just one earned run to pick up the BYU (4-11, 1-0) victory. In five appearances on this season, Walker has allowed just two earned runs over 25.2 innings. He has an earned run average of 0.70 and is holding opposing hitters to a .168 average.

“I’m real proud of Easton,” said Pratt. “He didn't have his best stuff early on, but he found it, settled in and got better as the game went along.”

LMU (7-8, 0-1) got on the board early with a run in the first, but the Cougars countered with two of their own in the top of the second. Leading off the inning, Josh Cowden doubled to left center and Freddy Achecar followed with a double of his own down the leftfield line to score Cowden. Achecar advanced on a throwing error and scored on a sacrifice fly to leftfield by Hunter Swapp.

The Lions countered in the bottom half of the second with two runs of their own on a walk and a couple of BYU errors to take a 3-2 lead.

After a scoreless third inning, BYU struck for three runs in the fourth taking advantage of two walks and an LMU error. With two outs and runners on second and third, Peyton Cole delivered the clutch hit of the night with a single to centerfield to score Swapp and Cole Gambill.

After an LMU run in the seventh inning cut the Cougar lead to 5-4, BYU handed the ball to reliever Reid McLaughlin to close out the game. Over the next two innings, the junior righthander faced eight batters, including three groundball outs and striking out three to seal the Cougar victory.

Player Highlights:

• Cole: 1-3, 2 RBI
• Cowden: 1-3, 2 runs, BB
• Achecar: 1-3, 1 run, 1 RBI, BB
• Walker: 6.0 IP, 4 hits, 1 ER, 6 K, Win
• McLaughlin: 2.0 IP, 1 hit, 0 ER, 3 K, Save

Game two of the three-game series is set for Friday, March 19 at 6:00 p.m. PT. The game will be broadcast on the BYU Sports Network via BYU Radio FM 107.9, BYUCougars.com and the BYU Cougars app. Live stats are available at StatBroadcast.com. Game three is scheduled for Saturday, March 20 at 1:00 p.m. PT.

PROVO, Utah — BYU baseball is on the road again this week in St. George, Utah for a single game on Tuesday, March 16 with Dixie State. The Cougars will then head to Los Angeles to kickoff West Coast Conference play in a weekend series with LMU on March 18-20. 

Dixie State
The non-conference game on Tuesday against the Trailblazers is scheduled to be played at Bruce Hurst Field with the first pitch at 6:05 p.m. MT. The game will be streamed live on the WAC Digital Network and also broadcast by BYU Sports Network on BYU Radio FM 107.9, BYUCougars.com and the BYU Cougars app. Live stats are available through the Dixie State website.

The Cougars (3-10) have yet to play at home in 2021, having played 13 road games at Texas State (4), No. 10 Texas (4), No. 23 Oregon State (3) and Utah (2). BYU was originally slated to play its season home opener versus the Utes on Saturday, March 13, but the game was rescheduled for May 18 due to inclement weather. 

Dixie State (1-10) returns home after playing seven-straight games on the road at Wichita State (3) and New Mexico State (4). The Trailblazers outslugged the Aggies in game four of the series 19-13 for their first victory as a member of the Western Athletic Conference and first win as a NCAA Division 1 baseball program. 

BYU and Dixie State have previously met 10 times in baseball, with the Cougars having won all ten games. Cougar skipper Mike Littlewood was the head coach at Dixie State from 1996-2012. In 16 seasons, he complied a record of 605-249 (.708), while leading DSU to four NJCAA College World Series appearances and a NJCAA National Championship in 2004. 

Loyola Marymount
LMU (7-7) returns home to host BYU after playing seven-straight games on the road at Washington (3) and Cal (4). The Lions took two of three games from the Huskies and one of four from the Cal Bears. 

The Cougars and Lions have met 32 times with LMU holding a 17-15 advantage in the series. Due to the 2020 pandemic, the conference foes last met during the regular-season at BYU on March 2-4, 2019. LMU took game one 5-1, but BYU bounced back with wins on Friday (8-5) and Saturday (10-3) to capture the series and propel the Cougars towards a WCC regular-season title. 

The BYU-LMU games are scheduled for 6:00 p.m. PT on Thursday and Friday, with Saturday’s game at 1:00 p.m. PT. Thursday's game will be streamed live on the WCC Network. The other two games will not be streamed. The BYU Sports Network on BYU Radio FM 107.9, BYUCougars.com and the BYU Cougars app, will broadcast all three games live. Stats are available through StatBroadcast.