SAN DIEGO — BYU baseball scored 10 runs in the first three innings, then cruised to a 10-6 win over San Diego at Fowler Park in San Diego Thursday night. BYU junior southpaw Mason Olson threw 120 pitches over 6.1 innings, striking out nine Toreros in the victory. 

BYU improves to 19-24 (9-10 WCC) on the year, while San Diego falls to 20-22-1 (13-9). The Cougars will face the Toreros in game two of the three-game West Coast Conference series on Friday at 6 p.m. PDT. 

“I thought Ozzie set the tempo for us early with a home run in his first at bat,” said BYU head coach Trent Pratt. “As a team we had a lot of good at bats tonight. We hit the ball well and put a lot of pressure on them early. Mason battles every time he takes the mound and give us a chance to win. He did that again tonight.”

Game Summary
  •  BYU hit .395 (15-38), while USD hit .278 (10-36)
  •  The Cougars scored 10 runs on 15 hits, while the Toreros scored 6 runs on 10 hits
  •  BYU had four extra base hits, including home runs by Austin Deming and Ozzie Pratt

BYU Highlights
  •  Deming: 3-5, HR, 3 RBI, 2 Runs
  •  Pratt: 3-4, 2 RBI, 2 Runs, HR, 2B
  •  Cole Gambill: 4-6, Runs
  •  Mason Olson: 6 IP, 9 SO, Win

BYU jumped out to an early lead with four runs on four hits in the first inning. Ozzie Pratt led off the inning with a solo home run. Back-to-back singles by Austin Deming and Cole Gambill, combined with a walk by Ryan Sepede loaded the bases for a Cooper Vest single down the right field line that scored two more runs. Easton Jones then picked up an RBI with a sacrifice fly to center field for a 4-0 advantage. 

San Diego got a run back in the bottom of the second on a double, and back-to-back ground balls to cut the Cougar lead to 4-1. 

The Cougars exploded for six more runs in the top of the third on six hits. With two outs, Parker Goff singled to score Sepede, who had singled to left field to open the inning. Pratt then singled to center to score Easton Jones, who had been hit by a pitch. Another single up the middle by Luke Anderson brought home Goff. Deming then homered to right field on a 0-1 count to push the BYU advantage to 10-1. 

USD fought back with one run in the bottom of the third, two in the fifth and two more in the seventh to narrow the BYU lead to 10-6 through seven innings. Peyton Cole and Boston Mabeus then held the Toreros scoreless in the eighth and the ninth innings to preserve the 10-6 BYU win. 

BYU starter Mason Olson (4-3) went 6.1 innings, striking out nine for the win, while USD starter Garrett Rennie (1-3) took the loss. 

The Cougars and Toreros will face-off in game two of the series on Friday at 6 p.m. PDT at Fowler Park in San Diego. 

The game will be broadcast live on the BYU Radio App and simulcast on 107.9 in the northern Utah market. Jason Shepherd will have the call. San Diego will also broadcast the game on the WCC network.

SAN DIEGO — BYU resumes West Coast Conference play against San Diego in a three-game series, May 4-6, at Fowler Park. The Thursday and Friday games are scheduled for 6 p.m. PDT, with the Saturday game set for 1 p.m. 

BROADCAST INFO. ALL three games will be broadcast live on the BYU Radio App with Jason Shepherd on the call. The games will also be simulcast on 107.9 FM in the northern Utah market.

SERIES HISTORY. Thursday’s contest will be the 37th meeting between BYU and San Diego. The Cougars are 10-26 all-time versus the Toreros and 9-24 since joining the WCC for the 2011-12 season. Last year, San Diego won the three-game series, 2-1, in Provo. 

BYU-USD BY THE NUMBERS
BYU Overall: 10-26 (H: 4-11 | A:  5-11 | N: 1-4)
First Meeting: 3/21/1979 | 11-2 USD (in San Diego)
Last Meeting: 4/23/1922 | 4-3 USD (in Provo)

TORERO REVIEW. San Diego enters the weekend series with a 20-21-1 (.488) overall record and is 13-8 (.619) in WCC play, good for a second-place tie with Portland and Gonzaga. The Toreros have won six of their last 10 games, including a 3-0 series sweep over USF last weekend. 

COUGAR REWIND. BYU is 18-24 on the year and 8-10 in conference play. The Cougars are also 6-4 in their last 10 games and are currently in seventh place in the WCC standings. 

BYU ON THE HILL. Taking the mound for game one versus USD is junior lefty Mason Olson, who has a 3-3 record in eight starts. He leads BYU in innings pitched (63.0) and has an ERA of 5.14. The rest of the starting rotation for the weekend includes righthanders Bryce Robison and Ben Hansen. Robison will be making his 12th start on Friday. He is 5-2 and has thrown 61.1 innings with a 6.60 ERA. Hansen is 0-2 in seven starts with an ERA of 4.89 over 42.1 innings.

AT THE PLATE. Offensively the Cougars are hitting .248 as a team with a slugging percentage of .500 and are averaging 7.2 runs per game. 

Austin Deming leads the Cougars in just about every offensive category. The senior All-WCC third baseman is hitting .409, with 52 hits, 51 RBI, 14 HR, 19 2B and 113 total bases. He has a conference leading slugging percentage of .963 and an OBP of .496.

The Cougars are also getting big offensive numbers from Cole Gambill who is hitting .336, with 49 hits, 34 RBI, 12 HR, 47 runs and 113 total bases. Copper Vest is hitting .328 with 33 RBI and 23 runs, while Luke Anderson is hitting .322 with 22 RBI and 29 runs.