PROVO, Utah — BYU baseball defeated rival Utah 10-3 at Smith’s Ballpark in Salt Lake City on Tuesday. Home runs by catcher Collin Reuter in the second inning and right fielder Cole Gambill in the third set the tempo early for the Cougars, who collected 12 hits on the night.

“We really swung the bats well tonight,” said BYU head coach Mike Littlewood. “I thought our defense was great, and we pitched really well tonight. The guys seemed relaxed from the start and didn’t show any anxiousness you typically see in a rivalry game. Overall, it was a great team win.”

Gambill got things started for the Cougars with a lead-off walk in the top of the second inning and scored on a triple to center field by Alex Sardina. Reuter then homered to left center to give the Cougars an early 3-0 lead. 

BYU (9-5) scored two more runs in the third. Andrew Pintar started the inning off with a single to right center and scored on Gambill’s opposite-field home run to right center for 5-0 lead. 

Back-to-back singles by Austin Deming and Brock Watkins, combined with a walk by Mitch McIntyre, loaded the bases for Hayden Leatham, who singled through the left side for two more Cougar runs in the fourth. McIntyre then advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a Pintar groundball for an 8-0 lead. 

BYU tacked on two more runs in the sixth on hits by Watkins, Gambill and Josh Cowden, combined with a walk by Leatham and McIntyre, who was hit by a pitch. Pintar’s fielders-choice groundball scored Watkins and later Pintar scored on a Gambill single to left center. 

Utah (11-4-1) got on the board late in the eighth inning with three runs on two hits, a walk and a hit batter to finish the scoring at 10-3. The Cougars are now 7-0 on the season when scoring at least six runs. 

The Cougar pitching rotation of Bryce Robison (2.0 innings), Jake Porter (1.0), Ayden Callahan (1.0), Peyton Cole (2.0), Nate Dahle (1.0), Boston Mabeus (.2), Carter Foss (.1) and Justis Reiser (1.0) held the Utes to three runs on six hits. Robison got the win for BYU to improve to 3-0 on the year. For freshman right-hander Porter, it was his first appearance of 2022.  

Notables
  •  Alex Sardina: 2-4, 1R, 1RBI
  •  Cole Gambill: 2-2, 2R, 3RBI
  •  Collin Reuter 1-1, 1R, 2RBI

The Cougars now head to Oregon, to kick off West Coast Conference play with Portland. The weekend series with the Pilots (11-4) is scheduled for March 17-19 at Joe Etzel Field. The game will be streamed live on the WCC Digital Network, and broadcast by the BYU Radio Network on FM 107.9, BYUCougars.com and the BYU Cougars app.
 

PROVO, Utah — BYU baseball is on the road again this week, with a stop in Salt Lake City for a single game versus rival Utah on Tuesday, March 15, before heading to Portland, Oregon, to kickoff West Coast Conference play with Portland. The weekend series with the Pilots (11-4) is scheduled for March 17-19 at Joe Etzel Field. 

The non-conference game on Tuesday versus Utah (11-3) will be played at Smith’s Ballpark with the first pitch at 6:05 p.m. MDT. The game will be streamed live on the Pac-12 Digital Network, and broadcast by the BYU Radio Network on FM 107.9, BYUCougars.com and the BYU Cougars app. Live stats are available on Statbroadcast.com.

The Tuesday evening game is the first in a series of three games between the rival schools during the 2022 season. The other two games are scheduled for April 19 in Salt Lake City and May 17 in Provo. 

PREVIOUS WEEK RECAP
The Cougars (8-5) head north to take on the Utes having just returned from a three-game neutral site series at Globe Life Field with No. 6 ranked Oklahoma State in Arlington Texas. The series, originally scheduled for Miller Park in Provo, was moved to the new home of the Texas Rangers due to inclement weather and cold temperatures in Provo. 

BYU took game one of the series with a bases-loaded, two-out grand slam in the fifth inning by Ryan Sepede. The junior from Las Vegas, came off the bench and deposited a fastball into the left-field seats to pace BYU to an 8-6 victory over the Cowboys. BYU dropped game two of the series in a 3-0 pitching duel on Friday, and lost the rubber match the next day 8-5. 

Utah is coming off a mid-week road win over Fresno State, 5-4, followed by a 2-1 series win over Pac-12 foe Washington in Salt Lake City. Against the Huskies, Utah overcame a game-one 6-3 loss to win game two 7-6 and game three 3-1. 

RIVALRY SERIES HISTORY
The Cougars and Utes have previously met 372 times in baseball since 1948, with BYU holding a 247-124-1 series advantage. The first recorded intercollegiate athletic event at BYU was a baseball game between then Brigham Young Academy and the University of Utah in 1895. The game ended in a 3-3 tie when a controversial call started a bench-clearing brawl.

Utah holds a slim 13-12 advantage in the 25 games since current BYU baseball head coach Mike Littlewood took over the helm in 2013. Home field has proven to be a big advantage since 2013 as BYU is currently 8-3 at Miller Park, while Utah is 10-4 in Salt Lake City. 

ON THE HILL
Sophomore right-hander Bryce Robison will start on the mound for BYU in what will be a midweek staff day for the BYU pitching staff.