Defense of WCC title begins this week at LMU

League play begins Thursday for BYU baseball at Loyola Marymount University to start a three-game series.

The Cougars (9-9, 0-0) begin defending their West Coast Conference title when they face LMU (11-9, 2-1). The Lions got bookend wins last week in their WCC opener on the road and now readies for the Cougars at home.

“Despite our .500 record we feel good about how we've played overall,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “We've played quality opponents and had some very tough games; this has prepared us well as we open up league play this week at LMU.”

The Cougars also took two of three last week when they hosted UConn against quality pitching.

The pitching rotation remains the same this week for BYU with Maverik Buffo (2-3, 5.40) and Brady Corless (2-0, 4.35) on the hill for the 6 p.m. PDT games on Thursday and Friday. Lefty Hayden Rogers (1-0, 2.59) will start for the Cougars in Saturday’s game at 1 p.m. PDT.

Shortstop Daniel Schneemann leads the Cougars with a current 13-game hitting streak after posting a second game-winning home run for the season. However, Schneemann remains day-to-day after a hamstring injury in game two against UConn.

Behind Schneemann with current hitting streaks are catchers Bronson Larsen at seven games and David Clawson with six games.

All three games at LMU will be broadcast live locally in Utah on ESPN 960 AM with Brent Norton calling the action. That station’s website along with the site for BYU radio will stream his call. Video on all three games will be streamed on theW.tv on the Internet.

Following the LMU series, the Cougars return to play at Utah on Tuesday (March 28) before hosting Saint Mary’s College in a three-game series in WCC action.