SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — BYU baseball dropped a tough back-and-forth battle with rival Utah, 8-7, at Smith’s Ballpark Tuesday night to even the 2022 rivalry series 1-1. 

“Uncharacteristically our pitchers walked a lot of guys tonight and it ended up hurting us,” said BYU interim head coach Trent Pratt. “This one will sting on the bus ride home, but we’ll put it behind us tomorrow and get ready for a big home series with San Diego this weekend.”

After watching the Utes take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, the Cougars struck back with five runs on four hits in the top of the second to jump out to a 5-1 lead. 

Back-to-back doubles by Ryan Sepede and Austin Deming to open the inning tied the game at 1-1. Rogers then singled to move Deeming to third and Mason Strong was hit by a pitch to load the bases. A sacrifice fly by Dawsen Hall to deep center scored Deming, followed by Ozzie Pratt reaching on a fielder’s choice. With two on and two outs, Brock Watkins hit a blast over the wall in left center to give BYU a four-run lead.

Utah (22-14-1, 6-7) got three runs back in the third inning on two hits and two walks to cut the BYU (20-14, 6-6) advantage to 5-4. 

The Cougars scored again in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Mitch McIntyre that scored Hall, who had reached on a walk to open the inning. Utah responded with a run of its own in the bottom of the inning on two walks, a hit batter and a single, cutting the BYU lead to 6-5.

Utah took a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the sixth on two walks combined with two hits that scored a pair of runs. The Cougars answered in the top of the seventh with a run of their own to tie the game at 7-7. The BYU run came off a Deming sacrifice fly to center that scored Sepede, who had tripled down the right-field line to open the inning. 

After a scoreless eighth inning, Utah was able to put a run across the plate in the bottom of the ninth for the victory. Davis Cop, who drew a walk to lead off the inning, scored the winning run. 

BYU resumes WCC play against San Diego in a three-game series this week at Miller Park, April 21-23. The Thursday and Friday games are scheduled for 6 p.m. MDT, with the Saturday game set for 1 p.m. 

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

After winning a four-game series, 3-1, at Nebraska over the weekend, BYU baseball is back in action versus rival Utah on Tuesday, April 19 at 6 p.m. MDT at Smith’s Ballpark in Salt Lake City. 

BROADCAST PLANS. The game will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network, while the audio broadcast can be heard on the BYU Sports Network—107.9 FM, BYUCougars.com and BYU Cougars app.

RIVALRY SERIES HISTORY. The Cougars and Utes have previously met 373 times in baseball since 1948 (first year of complete records), with BYU holding a 248-124-1 (.667) 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 spring 1895. The game ended in a 3-3 tie when a controversial call started a bench-clearing brawl.

BYU holds a slim 15-14 (.517) advantage in the 29 games played since 2012, when the two universities joined different conferences. Home field has proven to be a slight advantage as BYU is currently 8-5 (.615) at Miller Park and Utah is 9-7 (.563) in Salt Lake City. The Cougars defeated the Utes in the first meeting of the year on March 15 by a score of 10-3.

UTAH REVIEW. The Utes are currently 21-14-1 overall and 7-6 in Pac-12 play. Utah is 5-5 over its last 10 games, including a 2-1 series win over No. 20 ranked Arizona last weekend.

COUGAR RECAP. BYU is 20-13 on the year and 6-6 in WCC action. The Cougars are 7-3 in their last 10 games, including 3-1 series victory over Big Ten powerhouse Nebraska last week in Lincoln. BYU came from behind in each of the three road wins. 

ON THE HILL. Taking the mound for Tuesday’s staff game at Utah is Peyton Cole, who is 1-0 with seven appearances on the year. The right-handed sophomore has pitched in 10.2 innings with an ERA of 3.38 and eight strikeouts. Peyton’s older brother Taylor, who pitched for the Cougars in 2011, is currently in the Red Sox organization and has pitched in the Major Leagues with the Angels and the Blue Jays. 

Through 33 games in 2022, the BYU pitching staff has an ERA of 3.37 and has recorded 300 strikeouts, an average of 9.1 per game. Only the 1967 and 1968 Cougar pitching staffs had a lower ERA than the 2022 squads current 3.37.  

AT THE PLATE. Offensively the Cougars are led by Mitch McIntyre, Ozzie Pratt, Brock Watkins and Jacob Wilk. McIntyre is the team leader in on-base percentage (.425), walks (23), doubles (10), triples (3) and stolen bases (6) and ranks second in hits (34). Watkins leads the team in total bases (58), runs (22) and hits (36). 

Pratt was named WCC Player of the Week on April 11 and currently has the highest batting average on the team (.329). Wilk is hitting .302 (second) and leads the team in home runs (5) and slugging percentage (.556). In conference games only, Wilk ranks atop the WCC in average (.450), slugging (.900), on-base percentage (.522) and OPS (1.422). McIntyre is second to Wilk in both OBP and OPS. 

NEW SKIPPER. On Monday, April 11, BYU baseball head coach Mike Littlewood resigned from his position for personal reasons. Associate head coach Trent Pratt has assumed the role of interim head coach of the Cougars for the remainder of the 2022 season. Pratt joined the baseball staff as an assistant coach in 2012 and was promoted to associate head coach in 2017. The balance of the baseball staff continues in their current roles.

POWER BALL. The Cougars are 10-3 versus Power Five programs in 2022. In addition to the three victories at Nebraska, BYU has wins over No. 4 Oklahoma State (8-6), Ohio State (9-6), Utah (10-3), and a program-first series sweep of Arizona State in Phoenix (4-2, 6-5, 19-3). 

BYU & THE BIG XII. On Sept. 10, 2021, the Big 12 Conference announced the addition of BYU—along with Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston—to its existing member institutions, beginning in the 2023-24 athletic season. 

THIS WEEKEND. Following the midweek game at Utah, BYU will resume WCC play against San Diego in a three-game series at Miller Park, April 21-23.