Corless and heavy hitting lead Cougars over Gaels for 6-2 win

PROVO, Utah — Six strikeouts from Brady Corless and heavy hitting from the Cougars lineup gave BYU baseball a 6-2 win over Saint Mary’s in second of three games held at Larry H. Miller Field on Friday.

“Brady really settled in and did a tremendous job for us,” BYU head coach Mike Littlewood said. “His velocity was really good and he spotted up. It is exactly what we want. Both Brady and Bo (Burrup) did exactly what we are asking from our pitching staff.”

Corless pitched for seven innings, striking out six and allowing two earned runs. Bronson Larsen led the Cougars (13-11, 3-2 West Coast Conference) offensively, going 3 for 4 and recording two RBIs, while Tanner Chauncey went 3 for 5 with two runs.

After Chauncey gave BYU its first hit of the game in the bottom of the first, Brock Hale singled on a ground ball through the right side to move Chauncey to second.

Keaton Kringlen then skied a ball to left field to score Chauncey. As the Saint Mary’s (17-9, 3-2 WCC) left fielder misplayed the ball, Hale scored to give the Cougars the 2-0 early lead.

Saint Mary’s knocked an RBI double to close the gap to 2-1 in the top of the second. The Gaels then pushed another run across the plate to tie the game at 2-2.

Nate Favero ripped an RBI triple in the right-center gap to score Kyle Dean in the bottom of the second. BYU regained the 3-2 advantage.

With a Saint Mary’s runner on third in the top of the fifth, Corless recorded his fifth strikeout to retire the side and keep the Gaels off the board.

Daniel Schneemann singled to center to move Chauncey to third in the bottom of the fifth. Schneemann then advanced to second on a wild pitch before Larsen punched a two-run single through the left side, giving BYU the 5-2 lead.

After Corless retired the first two batters in the top of the sixth, the Gaels hit a deep ball to left field, but Kringlen covered ground to make the diving catch and bring the inning to a close.

Brennon Anderson singled to right field to score Noah Hill and increase the Cougar lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the sixth.

BYU held Saint Mary’s scoreless through the last three innings. Bo Burrup relieved Corless after seven innings and struck out two.

The third game of the series against Saint Mary’s will begin Saturday at 12 p.m. MDT.