PROVO, Utah — BYU baseball fell 3-1 to San Francisco Saturday afternoon at Miller Park, dropping the three-game series with the Dons, 2-1.

“They did just a little bit more than we did today,” said BYU head coach Mike Littlewood. “Their pitchers did a great job. We hit a lot of balls hard but right at guys. Sometimes that’s how baseball works.”

The Dons opened the scoring in the top of the first frame, as a two-out, RBI double off the right-center wall put USF up 1-0.

In the fifth, the Dons added a run on a hit by pitch with the bases loaded. With just one out, Reid McLaughlin then took the mound for BYU and struck out back-to-back USF batters to keep the score at 2-0.

The Cougars loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth with singles from Danny Gelalich, Peyton Cole and a bunt single from Andrew Pintar. Brock Watkins then grounded into a double play but Hayden Leatham, pinch running for Gelalich, scored to bring BYU within one, 2-1.

An RBI single up the middle extended USF’s lead to 3-1 in the top of the sixth. The Cougars threatened in the bottom of the ninth with runners on first and second but couldn’t capitalize, ultimately falling 3-1.

BYU scored a single run on five hits, while the Dons scored three on eight hits. Both teams left 10 runners on base on the afternoon.  

Player Highlights

• Peyton Cole: 2-3, 1 BB
• Josh Cowden: 1-2, 2 BB

The Cougars travel to California next week to take on Santa Clara in a three-game series Thursday through Saturday, April 1-3. The Thursday and Friday games are set for 3 p.m. PDT while the Saturday matchup will start at 1 p.m. PDT.

All three games will be broadcast live on the WCC Network. The BYU Sports Network will have audio broadcasts available on BYU Radio FM 107.9, BYUCougars.com and the BYU Cougars app. Live stats are available on StatBroadcast.com.