SAN FRANCISCO — BYU baseball gave up four runs in the bottom of the second inning and never recovered, losing 8-3 to San Francisco on Thursday afternoon at Benedetti Diamond.

"We didn't do a very good job of battling at the plate today,” said interim head coach Trent Pratt. “Their starter had a little cut on his fastball and struck out our first four guys. It seemed like we let that get to us and got impatient at the plate. We’ll talk about it tonight as a team and come back ready to get after it tomorrow.”

San Francisco (22-23, 10-9) also got off to a quick start offensively with four runs in the second inning on three hits, two walks and a Cougar error.

BYU (22-17, 7-9) got a run back in the top of the third inning off a solo home run by catcher Collin Reuter. The freshman blasted the ball over the left-field wall to cut the Dons’ lead to 4-1. 

San Francisco extended its lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a lead-off double and a clutch two-out, two-base hit. The Dons picked up three more insurance runs in the eighth for an 8-1 advantage. 

The Cougars had runners in scoring position in the sixth and seventh innings but were unable to come up with a key hit to drive in a run. BYU did pick up two runs on two hits and two walks in the top of the ninth for a final score of 8-3. With bases loaded, Jacob Rogers singled to score Ryan Sepede and Austin Deming, who had back-to-back walks to open the top of the ninth. 

On the day, BYU collected six hits, while San Francisco had 12. Reuter and Rogers each produced three RBI for the Cougars.

Game two of the three-game conference series is scheduled for Friday at 1 p.m. PDT. The game will be broadcast live on the WCC Network as well as the BYU Radio Network—BYU Radio 107.9 FM, BYU Radio App, BYUCougars.com and the BYU Cougars app.

BYU baseball resumes West Coast Conference play April 28-30 with a three-game series versus San Francisco at Benedetti Diamond. All three games on Thursday, Friday and Saturday are scheduled for 1 p.m. PDT.

BROADCAST INFO. The games will be streamed live on the WCC Network and broadcast on the BYU Radio Network —107.9 FM, BYU Radio App, BYU Cougars app and BYUCougars.com.

SERIES HISTORY. The series opener will be the 38th meeting between BYU and San Francisco in baseball. The Cougars are 20-17 all-time versus the Dons and 17-11 since joining the WCC for the 2011-12 season. Last year, USF won the three-game series, 2-1, in Provo. The Dons hold a 12-7 home advantage over BYU in San Francisco dating back to the first game between the two schools on March 13, 1969.

BY THE NUMBERS
BYU Overall: 20-17 (H: 12-4 | A: 7-12 | N: 1-1)
First Meeting: 3/13/1969 | 5-2 Dons (in San Francisco)
Last Meeting: 3/27/2021 | 3-1 Dons (in San Diego)

USF SEASON REVIEW. San Francisco enters Thursday’s game with a record of 21-23 (.477) and 9-9 (.500) in WCC play, good for sixth place just one spot ahead of BYU. The Dons are 4-6 in their last 10 games, including a 2-1 series win over Pepperdine and a non-conference victory over Pac-12 foe Cal, 14-11.

COUGAR RECAP. BYU is 22-16 (.579) on the year and 7-8 in WCC action. The Cougars are 6-4 in their last 10 games, including 3-1 series victory over Big Ten powerhouse Nebraska in Lincoln, and a 7-0 shutout of Utah Valley at Miller Park on Tuesday night.

ON THE HILL. Taking the mound for game one is right-handed sophomore Jack Sterner, who has a 4-2 record in 10 starts. He leads BYU in innings pitched (56.2) and has an ERA of 2.38. In WCC games Sterner has an ERA of 1.80, third best in the WCC.

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 sixth start and 16th overall appearance on the mound. He is 5-1 and has thrown 39.1 innings with a 3.66 ERA. Brady is 2-3 in seven starts with an ERA of 4.99 over 39.2 innings.

Through 34 games in 2022, the BYU pitching staff has an ERA of 3.48 and has recorded 343 strikeouts, an average of nine 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 (28), doubles (11), triples (3) and stolen bases (7) and ranks second in hits (36). Watkins leads the team in total bases (71), runs (24) and hits (43).

Pratt was named WCC Player of the Week on April 11 and currently has the highest batting average on the team (.304). Wilk is hitting .277 and leads the team in home runs (5) and slugging percentage (.494). In conference games only, Wilk leads the WCC in average (.394), slugging (.727), OPS (1.201) and is second in on-base percentage (.474). Austin Deming is second in the WCC in average (.378) and third in slugging (.622) and OPS (1.039)

WCC HONOREES. Five Cougars have received WCC honors in 2022, including three that have been named player of the week—Cole Gambill (Feb. 28), Ozzie Pratt (April 11) and Mason Strong (April 18). Two others have been honored as pitcher of the week in Janzen Keisel (Feb. 21) and Bryce Robison (April 11).

SLAMMING THE DOOR. BYU closer and all-time career saves leader Reid McLaughlin has been named to the midseason watch list for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award. The junior from Scottsdale, Arizona, has appeared in 18 games for the Cougars in 2022. He is 1-2 with seven saves and 20 strikeouts over 18.2 innings of work. The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association will announce the finalists for the award on June 8 with the winner being named on June 17 at the 2022 College World Series.

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).