BYU baseball to face Milwaukee in home opener Thursday

PROVO, Utah — After seven road games to begin the 2022 season, BYU opens the home schedule with a three-game series with Milwaukee-Wisconsin, March 3-4, at Miller Park. The Thursday doubleheader is set for 1:00 and 4:00 p.m. MST, with the Friday matchup scheduled for noon MST.

All three games will be broadcast live on the BYUtv App as well as the BYU Sports Network—BYUCougars.com and the BYU Cougars app. Ticket information can be found at BYUtickets.com.

ASU RECAP. BYU (5-2) is coming off a sweep of Arizona State, where the Cougars scored 29 nine runs in three games (4-2, 6-5, 19-3). BYU is on a five-game winning streak that includes the three games in Phoenix, a 9-6 win over Ohio State on Feb. 21 and a 3-2 victory over Marshall on Feb. 19.

P5 WINNING STREAK. The Cougars’ five-game win streak includes four consecutive wins over P5 opponents, making it the longest streak since a six-game span during the 2015 and 2016 seasons (Utah-2, Kansas-3, Utah-1). It’s the longest BYU single-season streak in the quarter-century of the P5 era.

ON THE HILL. BYU pitching is off to a great start, holding opponents to just 3.1 earned runs per game. The bullpen has been especially stingy, surrendering a total of seven earned runs over seven games in 32.2 innings of work. A total of 12 Cougars have appeared in at least two games, nine in relief. 

BYU closer Reid McLaughlin leads the nation with four saves. The junior right-hander pitched 2.2 innings of relief over three games last week, picking up a save versus Ohio State (Feb. 21) and two more at Arizona State (Feb. 24 and 25). His first save of the year came against Marshall on Feb. 19.

HOT BATS. BYU outfielder Cole Gambill was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Week for his performance last week against Ohio State and ASU. Over four games Gambill hit .471, with 8 hits, 2 HRs, 12 RBI and 8 runs. He also had 2 walks and stole a base. Joshua Cowden (.412), Mitch McIntyre (.346), Brock Watkins (.320) and Gambill are all hitting over .330 on the year. 

THE VISITORS. Milwaukee-Wisconsin (3-4) arrives in Provo having dropped four games (14-3, 9-1, 9-1, 8-6) to No. 11 ranked Arizona (7-1) in Tucson last week. The Panthers swept Alabama A&M in a three-game series the first week of the season.

GAME ONE STARTERS. Taking the hill for game one for BYU is right-handed sophomore Jack Sterner, who led the Cougars in starts (14) in 2021 and was second in Ks (50) and third in innings pitched (56.2). Sterner has started two games this season and thrown a combined 9.1 innings with a 0-1 record. The sophomore has an ERA of 3.86 with 11 Ks while surrendering just two walks. 

Milwaukee will start lefty Riley Frey. The sophomore has started two games in 2021 and is 1-1. He's pitched a combined 8.0 innings with 15 Ks, with a 12.83 ERA. In 2021, Frey had an ERA of 3.37 over 74.2 innings with 63 Ks and was named second team Horizon League All-Conference and  to the All-Freshman Team.

SERIES NOTES. BYU holds a 3-0 record in the series. The Panthers and the Cougars met previously on March 7-9, 2019 at Miller Park. BYU won the three games with scores of 11-8, 14-6 and 5-3. Current BYU senior center fielder, Mitch McIntyre, had five hits in 10 at-bats, scored four runs and had four RBI in three games in 2019. McLaughlin, who came on in relief in two of the three games is the only other Cougar on the 2022 roster to appear in the series. 

Current student assistant coach Noah Hill caught all three games of the 2019 series and Justin Sterner, older brother of current BYU game-one starter Jack Sterner, was the winning pitcher in game one. Jarod Lessar won game two and Jordan Wood won game three.

The offensive star for the Cougars in the 2019 Milwaukee series was Jackson Cluff, who went seven for 10, with two doubles, four runs and four RBI. Cluff is currently with the Washington Nationals organization, Justin Sterner is with Tampa Bay Rays and Jarod Lessar with the New York Yankees organization.