Buffo, Cenatiempo pitch BYU to 5-3 win in WCC debut

LOS ANGELES (March 23, 2017)—Maverik Buffo and Keaton Cenatiempo pitched BYU baseball to a 5-3 victory in its 2017 West Coast Conference debut over Loyola Marymount on Thursday night.

Cenatiempo registered his first save of the season throwing the final three innings to enable Buffo to even his record at 3-3. The Cougars began defense of their WCC title by improving their record to 10-9 and 1-0 in their league opener.

LMU evened its conference record to 2-2 and fell to 11-10 overall. BYU took the initial 4-0 lead in the second inning and never trailed.

BYU’s Brock Hale lasered a double half way up the Mikos Blue Monster, a 37-foot-high wall in left field, to lead off the second inning. Keaton Kringlen got aboard with a shortstop error, then both runners advanced to second and third before Hale scored on a Bronson Larsen single to left field.  Kyle Dean tagged the Blue Monster for a double to plate Kringlen. Colton Shaver looped a shallow single to right center to score Larsen. Then Dean scored on Brennon Andersen’s sac fly.

“The guys were really ready to play tonight,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “Maverik was a bulldog tonight and Keaton did a great job shutting the door.”

Buffo caught a napping Lion off first base when he threw to Tanner Chauncey for the first out in the bottom of the fourth before LMU got an RBI single to get on the scoreboard.

In the sixth inning BYU squandered a scoring opportunity when Casey Jacobsen was tagged out on his bunt, then LMU completed the double play when it caught Larsen coming home with Shaver stranded on second. The Lions plated two runs in the bottom of that frame before good defensive plays from Hale and Jacobsen extinguished the rally.

In the seventh inning, Cenatiempo took over for Buffo, who struck out four in six innings, and recorded a strikeout with a Lion on second to end the frame.

With bases loaded in the eighth, Cenatiempo got his second strikeout of the inning when he fanned LMU’s pinch-hitter to snuff out the Lions.

“Our hitters put the pressure on them early, but we need to do a better job tomorrow (Friday) staying with it for a full nine innings,” Littlewood said.

The Lions and Cougars play game two of the series on Friday at 6 p.m. PDT.