LMU series starts long home stretch

An uphill battle for BYU baseball is aided by a long home stretch beginning this week with a three-game series against Loyola Marymount University.

LMU, 23-14 overall and 11-4 in the West Coast Conference, is tied for second place in the league. BYU brings a 14-24 overall record and a 5-10 conference record into the series.

“We need to pitch better than we did last week,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “They (LMU) have a good team, but being at home, I like our chances. Until someone tells us we are mathematically out of the race we are going to play like we have a spot. We plan on playing hard the rest of the way, one inning and one game at a time. We understand we need to win every series and probably sweep some.”

Senior co-captain Desmond Poulson (4-4, 4.92 earned run average )will start on the mound for the Cougars in Thursday night’s series opener at 6 p.m. MDT and will be televised live by BYUtv. Junior Jeff Barker (2-5, 4.94) will start Friday’s game at 6 p.m., televised live on TheW.tv. Sophomore Kolton Mahoney (4-5, 4.55) will start in Saturday’s game at 1 p.m., televised live by BYUtv.

“He (Poulson) really needs to set the tone for us,” Littlewood said. “We know what is in front of us; we just need to get it done.”

The Cougars host LMU, followed by a week’s break for final exams. They then host Gonzaga and Santa Clara before finishing the regular season at Portland.

For more information please see the multi-page PDF game notes below: