SPOKANE, Wash. (April 25, 2013)—No. 22 Gonzaga was again led by junior All-American lefty Marco Gonzales in securing a 6-4 victory Thursday over BYU baseball.

Gonzales improved his record to 6-2 and was 2-for-4 as a designated hitter. The league-leading Bulldogs improved their record to 27-13-1 overall and 14-5 in the West Coast Conference to end a three-game losing streak.

“He (Gonzales) is one of the best pitchers in the country, but our approach at the plate was good tonight,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said.  “He induced ground-ball double plays when he needed to and we can’t let a pitcher like that off the hook.’

BYU, now 20-16 and 7-6 after ending a three-game win streak, took the initial 1-0 lead in the third when Jacob Hannemann scored on the third consecutive single.

Hannemann got aboard with a two-out single, stole second, advanced to second on Hansen’s poke past Gonzales and scored on Adam Law’s roller to right field. Hansen and Law extended their hitting streaks to five and four games, respectively.

Hannemann, who led off the first with a single, had advanced to third previously where he was stranded on an inning-ending double play.

The Zags evened the score in the bottom of the third with a solo two-out homer by Caleb Woods.

“We had a botched play in the fourth inning and it kind of deflated us,” Littlewood said.

That controversial play prevented BYU from retaking the lead when Brock Whitney led off with a double and later was called out at the plate on an inning-ending double play.

Gonzaga scored two in the seventh, the last of which came off a one-out safety squeeze bunt to make the score 6-1.

“We kept playing and we need to focus up more on Friday and play nine innings instead of seven. We just didn’t make plays when we needed to and they got key hits when they needed them.”

The Cougars did battle back when Jaycob Brugman’s one-out, two-run triple in the right field corner narrowed the score to 6-3 in the eighth. Brugman then scored BYU’s fourth run when Whitney singled up the middle.

BYU junior pitcher Desmond Poulson was tagged with his first loss, now with a 5-1 record.

The two teams square off again on Friday night at 6 p.m., in a game broadcast live locally by KOVO Radio 960 and on the Internet.

A rematch in the Deseret Duel Tuesday against Utah in Provo precedes BYU baseball’s return to league action this week at Gonzaga.

The Cougars, 19-15 overall and 7-5 in the West Coast Conference, host Utah (16-19) on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Desmond Poulson (5-0, 2.14) will start for one inning in the rematch against Utah. The rotation is set for the three-game series at first-place Gonzaga (26-11-1 and 13-5 in the WCC). Poulson, Jeff Barker (3-2, 3.93) and Adam Miller (2-6, 5.98) are scheduled to throw in that order starting Thursday at Spokane, Wash.

But first up is Utah who beat the Cougars 5-4 in 10 innings last month in Salt Lake City.  The Deseret Duel baseball points are still up for grabs in the four-game series.  BYU has won four of the five Deseret Duel baseball portions, with the Utes winning in 2011 on run differential.

“The next series we play is going to be one of the toughest series we play all year,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said.  “We need to go up there and find a way to sneak a game or two from Gonzaga. The goal would be to be above .500 when we come back home, that would be huge for us.”

The Cougars have been idle from competition for over a week due to final exams. The time off has been beneficial for the return of catcher Dakota Hernandez who broke his thumb 16 games into the season after starting nine of those contests.  Hernandez’ return comes just in time as his replacement Jarrett Jarvis, who started the past 18 games, will be sidelined from a broken fibula in a collision successfully defending the plate in BYU’s last action.

The Utah and Gonzaga games will be broadcast live locally on KOVO Radio 960 AM, on Satellite Radio Sirius 143 and streamed on the Internet.

The next BYU home game after the Utah tilt is on May 9 after the Cougars play the Utes in Salt Lake City on May 7. The Cougars play in Orem at Utah Valley University on April 30.