PROVO, Utah — BYU opened its three-game series with Santa Clara on Thursday night with a 5-1 win at Miller Park. 

The Cougars scored five runs on seven hits, with Brock Watkins and Collin Reuter scoring two runs each. Dawsen Hall recorded the other run for BYU, while Ozzie Pratt added two hits and an RBI. 

“It was a great team win,” said BYU head coach Mike Littlewood. “I thought our effort on the mound and at the plate was excellent tonight. We also made some great plays defensively. I was real proud of the way we came ready to play tonight with a lot of energy.”

The Cougars (15-12, 4-6) got on the board first in the bottom of the third with three runs on three hits. BYU loaded the bases with a Reuter single, a Hall walk and Watkins hit-by-pitch. Pratt then singled to shortstop for an RBI as Reuter scored the Cougars’ first run of the game. Mitch McIntyre then reached on a fielder’s choice, scoring Hall and advancing Watkins to third. Jacob Wilk then singled through the left side, scoring Watkins for a 3-0 lead. 

Santa Clara (17-11, 6-4) picked up a run in the top of the fourth inning with back-to-back doubles that put the score at 3-1. BYU answered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Reuter scored again on a single by Watkins after a Hall walk had moved him to second. Pratt then singled and advanced to third on a Santa Clara error, while Watkins scored again, pushing the Cougar lead to 5-1.

Starter Jack Sterner, along with relievers Nate Dahle and Cooper McKeehan, held the Broncos scoreless over the final five innings for the 5-1 victory. Sterner scattered five hits over 5.1 innings for the win to improve to 3-1 on the season. The three Cougar hurlers combined for 17 strikeouts, a new season high and tied for the fourth highest total since 1979. BYU has now won six of its seven series openers in 2022. 

The Cougars and the Broncos will face off again again on Friday night at Miller Park, with the game time scheduled for 6 p.m. MDT. The game will be broadcast live on BYUtv and the BYUtv app, while the radio broadcast can be heard on the BYU Sports Network—BYU Radio 107.9 FM, BYUcougars.com and BYU Cougars App.

PROVO, Utah — BYU welcomes Santa Clara to Miller Park for a three-game series, April 7-9. The Thursday-Friday games are set for 6 p.m. MDT, while the Saturday contest is scheduled for Noon. 

BROADCAST INFO. All three games will be broadcast live on the BYUtv App. The radio broadcast can be heard on the BYU Sports Network—BYU Radio 107.9 FM, BYUcougars.com and BYU Cougars App. 

SERIES HISTORY. Thursday’s contest will be the 35th meeting between the two schools. The Cougars are 22-12 all-time versus the Broncos. Last year, Santa Clara won the three-game series, 2-1, at home. The first baseball game between the two schools was played on April 4, 1968 in Santa Clara and ended in a 7-2 Broncos victory. 

SERIES BY THE NUMBERS
Overall 22-12 BYU (H: 9-3 | A: 13-6 | N: 0-3)
First Meeting 4/4/1968 | 7-2 SCU
Last Meeting 4/3/1921 | 3-1 BYU
Littlewood Era (2013–): 18-6 (H: 7-2 | A: 11-4 | N: 0-0)

SCU REVIEW. Santa Clara enters Thursday’s game with a 17-10 overall record and is 8-4 in Western Coast Conference play, good for a second-place tie with San Diego. The Broncos have won six of their last 10 games, including a 2-1 series win on the road at Pacific last weekend. SCU also has 2-1 series wins over San Francisco and LMU in WCC play.

COUGAR REVIEW. BYU is 14-12 on the year and 3-6 in WCC action. The Cougars played four games last week, posting wins over Washington State (9-3) on Tuesday and Saint Mary’s (12-2) on Friday. BYU lost close games to the Gaels in the weekend series 4-3 and 4-3 and opened this week with a road loss on Tuesday at Dixie State, 7-5. 

BYU ON THE HILL. Taking the mound for game one is right-handed sophomore Jack Sterner, who has a 2-1 record in seven starts. He leads BYU in innings pitched (38.2) and has an ERA of 2.33 (fourth best in the WCC). In his last outing, Sterner went seven innings, surrendered just one earned run and struck out a career-high 10 batters in a no-decision at Saint May’s.

The rest of the starting rotation includes righties Ryan Brady, a sophomore from Park City, Utah, and Janzen Keisel, a freshman from Gunnison, Utah. Both will be making their eighth appearance in 2022. Keisel is 2-2, has thrown 28.1 innings with a 4.45 ERA and leads the Cougars in strikeouts with 36. Brady is 2-2 in four starts with an ERA of 4.82 over 28 innings.

Through 26 games, the BYU pitching staff has an ERA of 3.54 and has recorded 233 strikeouts, an average of nine per game. 

AT THE PLATE. Offensively the Cougars are led by Mitch McIntyre, Brock Watkins, Ryan Sepede and Jacob Wilk. 

McIntyre leads the team in hits (30), runs (17), walks (16), stolen bases (6) and OBP (.447). Watkins leads the team in total bases (47), is third in batting average (.315) and is tied with McIntyre for the lead in runs (17) and triple (3). Sepede is the Cougars RBI leader with 25 (third in the WCC) and is second in total bases (44). 

Wilk has been on fire in WCC games and is ranked in the top 10 in the conference in several categories. In conference games, he leads the WCC in batting average (.450), slugging percentage (.900) and OPS (1.422). He is also third in home runs (3) and fourth in on base percentage (.522).