BYU Seeks to Seal WCC Title at Santa Clara

PROVO, Utah - The No. 24-ranked BYU baseball team will look to claim its third West Coast Conference regular season title in its final series of the year at Santa Clara starting Thursday, May 16.

BYU vs. Santa Clara Game Notes

Should BYU (34-14, 17-7) sweep the Broncos (11-38, 4-20) or lose one less game than Gonzaga (28-21, 16-8) in the Bulldogs’ series at Pepperdine (23-23, 13-11), the Cougars would win their first outright and third WCC regular season title while also claiming the No. 1 seed in the WCC Tournament for the first time. The Cougars were co-champions of the conference in both 2016 and 2017 and won the tournament in 2017.

BYU has won 10-straight games over Santa Clara and six of seven series since the Cougars started WCC play in 2012. The Broncos have not claimed a win in the series since 2015. 

After rolling through much of the season on the strength of their pitching, the nationally ranked Cougars have been hot from the plate lately in winning two of three against San Francisco and defeating Utah on Tuesday. Sophomore shortstop Jackson Cluff was named a national player of the week and conference player of the week after hitting five doubles and a home run with nine RBIs and seven runs over four games.

The long ball has been a favorite of the BYU outfield lately as well. Against Utah on Tuesday, sophomore outfielder Danny Gelalich hit a grand slam to break a 2-2 tie and help the Cougars defeat the Utes. Senior outfielder Brock Hale had two grand slams of his own in the series against the Dons before hitting a solo shot against Utah. Sophomore outfielder Mitch McIntyre has also hit home runs in back-to-back contests.

Jordan Wood (5-2, 4.36 ERA), Easton Walker (6-1, 1.76) and Justin Sterner (8-3, 3.09) will start each game for BYU as the Cougars look to win their seventh WCC series in nine tries.

The Thursday and Friday games will start at 6 p.m. PT while Saturday's game will begin at 1 p.m. PT. All games will be aired on TheW.tv, BYU Radio and ESPN960.