SPOKANE, Wash. — League-leading No. 22 Gonzaga beat BYU baseball 5-1 Friday night behind the complete-game pitching of lefty Tyler Olson.

Olson improved his record to 8-2 as Gonzaga improved its record to 28-13-1 overall and 15-5 in the West Coast Conference. BYU fell to 20-17 and 7-7.

Olson threw 113 pitches and scattered seven hits as the Bulldogs held a 5-0 lead until BYU outfielder Jaycob Brugman belted a leadoff homer in the seventh inning. Brugman hit Olson’s hanging curve ball on a 1-0 count over the right field fence, his fifth dinger of the season.

Brugman continued stellar play with a diving catch in foul territory in the bottom of the seventh. A shovel toss from Brock Whitney to Dakota Hernandez at home in the eighth prevented run number six.

Gonzaga center fielder Alex Bonczyk hit a two-run homer, his first of the year, in the sixth to put the Zags up 5-0.

“Tonight you see why they are in first place,” BYU head coach Mike Littlewood said. “They have two of the best pitchers in the conference, if not the country. He (Olson) had pinpoint control and carved us up.

“It was a tough, frustrating night. You have to tip your hat to them. They played solid defense, and got key hitting."

One of those Bulldog defensive plays came when first baseman Marco Gonzales made an acrobatic catch of Bret Lopez’ line drive just after Cougar Kelton Caldwell led off the fifth inning with a double to the left center wall.

“It was a momentum shift, that play would have picked us up a little bit,” Littlewood said. “In a four-run margin, those plays count. We’re in the middle of the pack and need to pick it up. I like our matchup with Adam Miller and expect good things tomorrow."

The two teams conclude the three-game series on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. PDT, in a contest broadcast live locally by KOVO Radio 960 AM 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.