Four homers elevate Cougars in 17-6 victory at Utah Valley

OREM, Utah (May 10, 2016)—Four home runs along with Brennon Lund finishing a homer shy of the cycle, elevated BYU baseball to a 17-6 victory at Utah Valley University on Tuesday night.

The Cougars improved to 32-13 before a season-high crowd of 4,120 at Brent Brown Ballpark as they now get ready for West Coast Conference action on Thursday against the University of San Francisco. Utah Valley is now 28-20 after losing two of three to BYU as the Wolverines return to play in the Western Athletic Conference.

“I thought our approach at the plate tonight was really good,” BYU Coach Mike Littlewood said. “We were patient and swung at good pitches.”

Lund, who was 4-of-6 on the night, led off with a single in the first inning and scored on Eric Urry’s three-run homer to right field. Lund then doubled in the second inning, scoring again as the Cougars took a 4-0 lead. Lund singled again in the sixth before tripling to right center with a belt that cleared the loaded bases for a 9-3 lead.

BYU built a 5-0 advantage until the Wolverines scored a pair of runs in the fifth frame.

“I changed our lineup a little bit last weekend and it seemed to work well for us tonight,” Littlewood said. “Overall, we looked comfortable at the plate and played with a lot of confidence and energy. It felt a lot like the way we played the first five weeks of the season.”

The victory marked a return of Tanner Chauncey to the defensive lineup for the first time in three weeks. Chauncey, who doubled against UVU along with Keaton Kringlen, had been batting in previous games only as the designated hitter. Connor Williams threw for one inning in the third, marking his first action in three weeks as well.

Urry’s homer was the first of two for the senior who extended his hitting streak to a team-best 11 games. He also knocked a two-run dinger in the eight-run seventh inning for his fourth and fifth RBI of the night. Bronson Larsen added a two-run homer in that frame.

Colton Shaver hit his team-leading 10th homer of the season with a single shot in the ninth inning as the score soared to 16-5. Shaver’s blast completed the accomplishment of every starter recording at least one hit in the victory.

The Cougars threw six pitchers, with starter Hayden Rogers credited with the victory, improving his record to 5-3.