LMU series is key this week

A third of BYU baseball’s remaining league schedule happens this week in its last full road trip of the West Coast Conference season.

BYU, 22-17 overall and 8-7 in the WCC, faces Loyola Marymount, 21-23 and 9-9, in a three-game series starting Thursday that could determine the Cougars’ qualifying for the WCC tournament the end of this month.

Desmond Poulson (5-1, 2.44) takes the mound for BYU in Thursday afternoon’s game, followed by Jeff Barker (3-3, 3.80) on Friday also at 3 p.m. PDT. Adam Miller (3-6, 5.34) is scheduled to start on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. PDT.

“Live at bats are key for us,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said after his team’s 15-7 win at Utah Valley prior to the LMU games. “It’s a huge series for us. There’s no disputing that we have to go down there and win the series to stay in the hunt in my mind. It’s going to be a battle this weekend, but we are looking forward to it.

“Desmond (Poulson) is the guy who sets the tone for us. You’ll never see him show a lot of emotion on the mound.”

The BYU-LMU series will be broadcast live over KOVO Radio 960 AM and on the Internet.

After the series at LMU, BYU plays at Utah on Tuesday before returning to league play at home against San Francisco.