PROVO, Utah – BYU took game one of a three-game series with San Diego, 11-7, on Thursday night at Miller Park. The Cougars scored 11 runs on 14 hits, the highest hits total of the year at home and third-best mark of the season. 

"Our hitting was great tonight,” said BYU interim head coach Trent Pratt. "We did a great job of staying patient and hitting pitches in the strike zone. I was really proud of our approach at the plate."

San Diego (23-13, 9-7) scored first with two runs in the top of the first inning to take an early 2-0 lead, but BYU (21-14, 7-6) responded with four runs in the bottom of the second for a 4-2 advantage. 

Singles by Ryan Sepede and Josh Cowden, along with a walk by Collin Reuter, set up an RBI ground ball by Dawsen Hall. Then back-to-back singles by Ozzie Pratt and Brock Watkins push the run total to four for the Cougars. 

The Toreros responded with one run, off three hits, in the top of the third to cut the lead to one, but BYU starting pitcher Jack Sterner induced back-to-back ground-ball outs to get out of a jam and hold the score at 4-3.  

The Cougars answered with consecutive hits by Mitch McIntyre and Jacob Wilk to open the top of the third, before Austin Deming doubled to center to bring them home and then advance to third on a wild pitch. Deming then scored on a Reuter sacrifice fly to center field for 7-3 lead. 

BYU blew the game wide open in the bottom of the fifth with three runs off another double by Deming, an RBI single by Cowden and a two-run blast over the left-field wall by Reuter for a 10-3 Cougar advantage. 

The Cougars picked up an insurance run in the seventh off a Sepede double and a Reuter sacrifice fly to center. San Diego scored a run in the eighth off a solo home run and three unearned runs in the ninth bringing the final tally to 11-7. 

Sterner (4-2) surrendered three runs over six innings to record the win, his fourth victory of the season. 

“Jack didn’t have his best stuff early in the game, but he just kept battling,” said Pratt. “He got some huge ground balls and let the defense help him. I though he just kept getting better and better as the game went along. We needed a solid performance from Jack tonight and he delivered.”

All nine offensive starters had at least one hit for BYU, with Jacob Wilk, Watkins, Deming, Sepede and Cowden collecting two. each.  

BYU takes on USD in game two of the series Friday night at Miller Park at 6 p.m. MDT. The game will be broadcast live on BYUtv and the BYUtv App. BYU Sports Network—BYU Radio 107.9 FM, BYU Radio App, BYU Cougars App and BYUcougars.com—will also carry the game live.
 

PROVO, Utah — BYU resumes West Coast Conference play against San Diego in a three-game series 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. 

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

SERIES HISTORY. Thursday’s contest will be the 34th meeting between BYU and San Diego in baseball. The Cougars are 9-24 all-time versus the Toreros and 8-22 since joining the WCC for the 2011-12 season. Last year, BYU won the three-game series, 2-1, in San Diego. The record is even at 6-6 over the past four meetings (2017-2021) between the two school schools. 

BYU-USD BY THE NUMBERS
BYU Overall 9-24 (H: 3-9 | A:  5-11 | N: 1-4)
First Meeting 3/21/1979 | 11-2 USD (in San Diego)
Last Meeting 5/8/1921 | 13-12 USD (in San Diego)

USD SEASON REVIEW. San Diego enters Thursday’s game with a 23-12 (.657) overall record and is 9-6 (.600) in WCC play, good for a second-place tie with LMU. The Toreros have won six of their last 10 games, including a 2-1 series win over LMU last weekend, sandwiched between wins over San Diego State. 

COUGAR RECAP. BYU is 20-14 on the year and 6-6 in WCC action. The Cougars are also 6-4 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 (3-2, 7-6, 4-3). 

ON THE HILL. Taking the mound for game one versus USD is right-handed sophomore Jack Sterner, who has a 3-2 record in nine starts. He leads BYU in innings pitched (50.2) and has an ERA of 2.13. In WCC games Sterner has an ERA of 0.95, second best in the league.

The rest of the starting rotation for the weekend are also sophomores in righthanders Ryan Brady from Park City, Utah, and Bryce Robison from Las Vegas. Robison will be making his fifth start and 15th overall appearance on the mound. He is 5-0 and has thrown 35.2 innings with a 3.79 ERA. Brady is 2-2 in six starts with an ERA of 4.29 over 35.2 innings.

Through 34 games in 2022, the BYU pitching staff has an ERA of 3.48 and has recorded 311 strikeouts, an average of 9.1 per game. 

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 (.424), walks (23), doubles (11), triples (3) and stolen bases (6) and ranks second in hits (35). Watkins leads the team in total bases (62), runs (23) and hits (37). 

Pratt was named WCC Player of the Week on April 11 and currently has the highest batting average on the team (.311). Wilk is hitting .288 (third) and leads the team in home runs (5) and slugging percentage (.530). In conference games only, Wilk leads the WCC in average (.450), slugging (.900), on-base percentage (.522) and OPS (1.422). McIntyre is second to Wilk in conference in both OBP and OPS. 

Freshman catcher Mason Strong was named the WCC Player of the Week on April 18 for his performance over the weekend at Nebraska. Strong appeared in all three BYU victories hitting .333 for the series with a slugging percentage of .667. In the second game of the double header on Friday, he broke a 6-6 tie in the top of the eighth inning with a solo home run that proved to be the game winner in a 7-6 Cougar victory. The next day, in the series finale, he singled in the seventh inning to move the tying run to third, and later scored the winning run to give BYU a 4-3 win. Strong also threw out two runners trying to steal second, one in each game. 

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 10-4 versus Power Five programs in 2022. In addition to the three victories at Nebraska (3-2, 7-6, 4-3), 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.