Booted balls costly in 6-1 loss at Nicholls St.

THIBODAUX, La.— Grant Borne struck out 11 Cougars Saturday night en route to his second victory of the season as Nicholls State defeated BYU 6-1.

But it may have been six errors that were more costly to BYU, 7-10, as Nicholls State improved to 8-8 after winning the last two of the four-game series.

“We gave that game away,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “It was a gift. We had some ugly, ugly moments and our infielders couldn’t field a ground ball team at times. We’ve got to get more on the offensive side, too.”

BYU’s undoing came in the fifth and sixth innings when the Cougars failed to score a run with the bases loaded and one out.

“That set the tone for the next inning,” Littlewood said. “Desmond (Poulson) threw well enough and didn’t lose his composure, but he hurt himself booting three balls in a row. We wanted to limit his pitch count, so we pulled him when we couldn’t score the next inning.”

The Cougars took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Brock Whitney doubled in Brennon Lund for BYU’s only run and only extra-base hit.

Jarrett Jarvis extended his current hitting streak to 14 games with a one-out single to center field in the ninth inning. The loss was Poulson’s first of the season, now with a 3-1 record.

The Cougars next play on Monday at Dallas Baptist University (11-4) with lefty Hayden Rogers on the mound. That 3 p.m. CST game will have free live audio and video streaming on schedule links on www.byucougars.com.