BYU takes down No. 19 Gonzaga 11-2 in game one of series

PROVO, Utah –  BYU took down No. 19 Gonzaga 11-2 on Thursday night at Miller Park led by multiple-runs in the seventh and eighth innings.

"We worked really hard on hitting high velocity pitching in practice this week," said BYU head coach Mike Littlewood. "Our guys did a great job of staying on fastballs and not chasing pitches out of the zone tonight. We also did a good job with two strikes and it showed in the final results." 

The Cougars scored seven of their 11 runs in the seventh and eighth innings, led by an Alex Sardina two-RBI double with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh and Ryan Sepede’s three-run homer in the eighth.

Gonzaga opened scoring in the first inning when a BYU fielding error led to a base hit and 1-0 lead. The Cougars ended the threat on a Mitch McIntyre rocket from center field to home, where Collin Rueter applied the tag for the final out of the inning.

BYU responded with two runs of its own in the bottom of the first when McIntyre scored on a sacrifice fly from Cole Gambill and Hayden Leatham scored on an RBI double from Sepede for 2-1 lead. 

After neither team scored in the second, third and fourth innings, BYU got on the board again in the bottom of the fifth as pinch-runner Dawson Hall came in for Jacob Wilk and scored from second on a Leatham’s RBI single through the right side for a 3-1 lead. 

Sepede hit his second double of the night to open the sixth inning and scored on a Brock Watkins double to centerfield to push the lead to 4-1. 

The Bulldogs scored a run in the seven with a double and back-to-back ground-ball outs to cut the score to 4-2. 

BYU responded with three runs in the bottom half of the inning when Ozzie Pratt got on base with a bunt single and later scored on a safety squeeze from Leatham to increase the Cougar lead. Following walks by Gambill and Sepede, Sardina doubled down the right field line, scoring Leatham and Gambill for an 7-2 advantage.

BYU blew the game wide open in the eighth with a McIntyre RBI triple that scored Pratt, followed by the Sepede bomb to center field that scored Leatham and Jacob Rogers and gave BYU a 12-2 win over the nationally-ranked Zags.

The Cougars take on Gonzaga in game two of the three-game series Friday night at Miller Park at 6 p.m. MDT. The game will be broadcast live on BYUtv and the BYUtv App. BYU Sports Network—BYU Radio 107.9 FM, BYU Cougars App and BYUcougars.com—will also carry the game live.