Cougars blank Wolverines in 7-0 home win

PROVO, Utah — BYU baseball defeated UVU 7-0 Tuesday night as the Cougar pitching staff held the Wolverines to just five hits in the shutout victory at Miller Park.

“Our pitching staff was unbelievable,” said BYU interim head coach Trent Pratt. “Jake Porter and Peyton Cole kept the ball down in the bottom of the zone, got a lot of ground balls and we played great defense tonight.”

BYU (22-16, 7-8) scored seven runs on 12 hits to take down Utah Valley (15-26, 8-13) for the second time in 2022 and sweep the season series. Eight different Cougars had hits in the win with Brock Watkins, Ryan Sepede, Alex Sardina and Josh Cowden recording two hits each. 

On a night dominated by the Cougar pitching staff, Cowden gave BYU all the runs it would need as he went 2-for-4 with two home runs and two RBI. 

UVU threatened in top of the third inning when Mick Madsen singled to left field with a runner on second. Cowden fielded the hard-hit ground ball and threw out the runner at the plate to end the inning, keeping the game scoreless.

Cowden then broke the scoreless streak in the bottom of the fifth by taking a 1-0 pitch deep to right field for his second home run of the season to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead. Alex Sardina hit the next pitch to right field for a single, ending the night for UVU starter Luke McCollough.

Collin Reuter followed Sardina and worked a 1-2 count before blasting the next pitch 415 feet over the center field fence to break the game open and extend the Cougar lead to 3-0.

In the bottom of the sixth, BYU tacked on another run as Cowden sent his second ball of the night into the trees over the center field fence. Cowden’s home runs came in back-to-back at-bats with the second dinger traveling 452 feet.

“It was good to see Josh break out tonight,” said Pratt. “He’s got thunder in his bat and if he can hit like that the rest of the season he'll be a big help for us down the stretch.”

Ozzie Pratt led off the seventh inning with a stand-up double to right-center before Watkins reached on an infield single, putting runners on first and second with no outs. McIntyre grounded into a fielder’s choice, moving Pratt to third and putting runners on the corners. On a 1-0 count, Ryan Sepede doubled off the right field wall scoring both Pratt and McIntyre to give the Cougars a 6-0 lead through seven innings. 

Cole Gambill entered the game in the eighth as a pinch hitter, his first at-bat since a foot injury sidelined him on March 24. After drawing a full-count walk, Dawsen Hall came into to pinch run for Gambill and immediately stole second. Bryan Call then pinch hit for Pratt and singled off a 2-0 pitch to score Hall for a final score of 7-0. 

BYU pitchers Jake Porter, Carter Foss, Peyton Cole, Carter Smith, Ayden Callahan and Janzen Keisel surrendered just five hits, while striking out nine Wolverines in the win. 

The Cougars will resume WCC play as they take on San Francisco in a three-game series, April 28-30. All three games are scheduled for 1 p.m. PDT and will be broadcast live on the WCC Network. The radio broadcast of the weekend series can be heard on the BYU Sports Network—BYU Radio 107.9 FM, BYU Radio App, BYUcougars.com and BYU Cougars App.