PORTLAND, Oregon — A three-run fifth inning—combined with an outstanding pitching performance by starter Jack Sterner—gave BYU a 6-2 win over Portland in the opening game of West Coast Conference play at Joe Etzel Field on Thursday. 

“Jack really did a real nice job tonight,” said BYU head coach Mike Littlewood. “He kept his pitch count down and their hitters off base. I thought Portland pitched it well tonight, we just got timely hits.”

Sophomore righthander Sterner scattered six hits over six innings and surrendered no earned runs to pick up the BYU victory. Sterner is 1-1 on the year and has 21 strikeouts over 25.2 innings. 

The Cougars jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning on a Mitch McIntyre triple to right center that scored Brock Watkins, who had a bunt single to open the inning. 

BYU (10-5, 1-0) got three more runs in the fifth to extend the lead to 4-0. The big hit of the inning came on an Andrew Pintar double with one out. The Cougar second baseman hit a 1-2 pitch into the left center gap to drive in McIntyre and Hayden Leatham who had reached on a single and a hit by pitch. Ryan Sepede then drove-in Pintar with a single to left center. 

Portland (12-5, 0-1) picked up an unearned run in the bottom half of the inning on a hit and a couple of Cougar errors to cut the lead to 4-1. 

BYU tacked on two insurance runs in the top of the eighth to extend the lead to 6-2. Ryan Sepede led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on an Ozzie Pratt single through the left side. After a Collin Reuter sacrifice bunt moved Pratt to second and pinch runner Dawsen Hall to third, Deming singled through the left side to score Hall. Pratt then scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Brock Watkins to give BYU a 6-1 advantage. 

Portland got one run in the bottom of the ninth off a solo shot by Sam Brown to finish the scoring at 6-2. 

Notables
  •  Andrew Pintar: 1-4, 1R, 2RBI, 2B 
  •  Ryan Sepede: 1-3, 1R, 1RBI
  •  Mitch McIntyre: 2-3, 1R, 1RBI
  •  Jack Sterner: 6 innings, 5K, Win
  •  Cy Nielson: 2 innings, 3K

The Cougars are back in action on Friday, March 18 at 2:00 p.m. PDT in game two of the three game series with the Pilots. The game will be streamed live on the WCC Network and broadcast on the BYU Radio Network —107.9 FM, BYUCougars.com and the BYU Cougars app.

PROVO, Utah — The Cougars head to Portland this weekend to kick-off West Coast Conference play with the Pilots. The three-game series is scheduled for March 17-19 at Joe Etzel Field. The series opener is Thursday at 6:00 p.m. PDT, with Friday's game at 2:00 p.m. and the final game Saturday at 1:00 p.m. 

BROADCAST PLANS. All three games will be streamed live on the WCC Network and broadcast on the BYU Radio Network —107.9 FM, BYUCougars.com and the BYU Cougars app.

COUGAR REVIEW. BYU is coming off a convincing 10-3 win over rival Utah in Salt Lake City on Tuesday. Home runs by Collin Reuter in the second inning and Cole Gambill in the third set the tempo early for the Cougars, who collected 12 hits on the night.

Last weekend the Cougars faced No. 6 ranked Oklahoma State in a three-game series at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. 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.

POWER BALL. The Cougars are 6-2 versus Power Five programs in 2022. In addition to the wins over Oklahoma State and Utah, BYU posted a 9-6 neutral-site win over Ohio State and a series sweep of Arizona State in Phoenix (4-2, 6-5, 19-3). 

PILOT RECAP. Portland (12-4) enters the weekend series having won four-straight. The Pilots swept UC Riverside on the road over the weekend (5-4, 7-6, 10-0) before returning home to knock off Pac-12 rival Washington 5-4 on Tuesday. The Pilots are 4-0 at home with a 3-0 sweep of Creighton and the win over the Huskies.

SERIES HISTORY. BYU and Portland have met 44 times in baseball, with the Cougars holding a 29-15 advantage. The WCC foes last met during the 2021 regular season at BYU on April 8-10. The Pilots won the series (2-1) for the first time ever in Provo. BYU finished the 2021 WCC season in fourth place (15-12), while Portland was fifth (14-13).

BAT CATS. Lead-off hitter Mitch McIntyre paces the Cougars in several statistical categories, including hits (15), doubles (4), walks (10), HBP (5) and on-base percentage (.455). Right fielder Cole Gambill leads BYU in runs (14), RBI (18) and home runs (4), and is second in hits (14), walks (7) and slugging percentage (.509). 

ON THE HILL. BYU’s game-one starter Jack Sterner has started four games for the Cougars. The right-handed sophomore is 0-1 on the season with a 3.66 ERA and 19 strikeouts. Game two starter Janzen Keisel is 2-0 and leads the team with 20.1 innings pitched and strikeouts (25). The freshman righty has a 1.77 ERA and has surrendered just four runs. Game three starter is Ryan Brady who is 1-0 on the year and has appeared in four games with a 3.77 ERA.