Hosting Utes Tuesday before ESPNU telecast with Gonzaga

BYU vs. Utah, Gonzaga Game Notes

Both BYU and Utah’s baseball teams look to salve wounds from last week as they play on Tuesday in the first of four meetings this season.

The Cougars bring a 9-9 record into the Deseret First Duel against the Utes who are 2-16.  Tuesday’s game is at 6 p.m. MDT and will be televised live on BYUtv as well as broadcast live over ESPN 960 AM and on BYU Radio-Sirius XM 143.

“We need to be even keel and stay the course,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said.  “The process has proven pretty fruitful over the last five years, so we need to persevere through this.”

Lefthander Bo Burrup (1-0, 14.14) will start for the Cougars against Utah. BYU has won the Duel the past six years and nine of the last 10 times it has been contested in this format. BYU leads the series with the Utes, 244-116-2, with Utah defeating the Cougars in the last meeting, 7-6, in 13 innings in Provo.

That non-league game precedes BYU hosting another fellow defending West Coast Conference tri-champion on Thursday when the Cougars meet Gonzaga in a nationally televised game on ESPNU at 6 p.m. That game with the Bulldogs begins a three-game series and ends an 11-game home stand.

Jordan Wood (1-1, 3.98) will start on the mound for BYU in Thursday's game, followed by Hayden Rogers (2-2, 5.16) on Friday and Blake Inouye (1-2, 7.71) on Saturday.

Gonzaga brings a 2-1 league record into Thursday’s game, which is a rematch of an ESPNU telecast last season in which the Bulldogs won 6-2 in Spokane. The announcers for the ESPNU telecast are Roxy Bernstein and Wes Clements who also called last season’s game. Friday’s game at 6 p.m., and Saturday’s game at 1 p.m., will both be televised live by BYUtv.

BYU is 0-3 in the WCC after being swept last week in Provo by league co-leader Loyola Marymount.