Cougars lose midweek game 7-5 at Dixie State

ST. GEORGE, Utah — Despite hitting four home runs, BYU dropped a non-conference game to Dixie State, 7-4, on the road Tuesday at Bruce Hurst Field. 

“We had plenty of opportunities to score runs tonight but we didn’t deliver with guys in scoring position,” said BYU head coach Mike Littlewood. “We also had a few pitchers that took the mound tonight without conviction or intent and it ended up hurting us.”

After a pair of scoreless innings, Dixie State got on the board first with two runs in the third inning on three walks, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly.

BYU got a run back in the top of the fifth on a sacrifice fly to centerfield by Alex Sardina that scored Collin Reuter, who had reached on a hit-by-pitch and advanced to third on a double down the first-base line by Ozzie Pratt. 

Dixie State answered with four runs in the bottom half of the fifth to increase its lead to 6-1. A walk, triple, double, followed by a home run by Kaden Hollow, accounted for the damage. 

Back-to-back Cougar home runs over the 420-foot wall in centerfield by Brock Watkins and Ryan Sepede cut the Trailblazers’ lead to three runs in the top of the sixth, but DSU got a run back in the bottom of the inning to hold a 7-3 advantage. 

After a scoreless seventh inning, BYU picked up another run in the eighth on a second home run by Sepede to pull within three at 7-4.  

The Cougars picked up another run in the top of the ninth off a solo shot by Jacob Wilk to left center, but that would be as close a BYU would get as Dixie State closed out the inning for a 7-5 win. 

The Cougars out hit Dixie State 13-9, but left 10 runners on base to the Trailblazers’ three.