BYU defeats Cal State Fullerton 10-5 Tuesday night

FULLERTON, California — BYU baseball defeated Cal State Fullerton, 10-5, at Goodwin Field on Tuesday. Home runs by Austin Deming in the fourth inning and Ryan Sepede in the sixth set the tempo for the Cougars, who collected 13 hits on the night.

“I thought we played great team baseball tonight,” said interim head coach Trent Pratt. “We got good pitching, played great defense and had some big hits. It was a really good road win for our guys.”

Mitch McIntyre got things started for the Cougars with a double to right center in the top of the first inning that scored Ozzie Pratt, who had led off the game with a single. The Cougars added a second run in the second inning when Josh Cowden walked with bases loaded to score Cole Gambill, who had reached on a single and advanced to third on an Austin Deming hit-by-a-pitch and a Jacob Rogers single.

Cal State Fullerton (17-25, 10-8) took its only lead of the game at 3-2 with three runs in the bottom of the third thanks to three hits, two hit batters and a walk.

BYU (24-18, 8-10) responded with six runs on four hits in the top of the fourth to retake the lead, 8-3. Cowden singled to lead off the inning and advanced to second after a Collin Reuter walk. Pratt was hit by a pitch and Brock Watkins drew a walk to score Cowden with the first run of the inning. With bases loaded, McIntyre singled to score Pratt and Reuter. Later, with with two outs, Gambill singled to right scoring Watkins. Austin Deming then homered over the left filed wall for two more runs and a five run cushion. 

Fullerton picked up a run in the fifth off a triple and a ground out, then got one more in the eighth with two singles that wrapped up the scoring for the Titans.

BYU tacked on a run in the sixth inning on a solo blast by Ryan Sepede off the right-field foul pole. The final Cougar run came in the seventh on a double by Deming followed by a Rogers single that put runners on the corners. Cowden then scored Deming on a fielder’s choice.

Notables
  •  Austin Deming: 3-4, 2 RBI, 2 Runs, HR
  •  Mitch McIntyre: 2-5, 3 RBI, 2B
  •  Cole Gambill 2-4, 2 Runs, RBI

Cougar righty Carter Smith came on in relief and pitched one inning for the win, his second of the year. Eight BYU pitchers scattered seven hits while recording eight strikeouts in the midweek staff game. The Cougars are now 9-0 on the season when scoring double digits.

BYU will resume WCC play with a three-game series at Pepperdine on May 5-7 at Eddy D. Field Stadium in Malibu, California. The Thursday and Friday games are scheduled for 3 p.m. PDT, with Saturday’s contest at 1 p.m. PDT.

The series will be streamed live on the WCC Digital Network and broadcast by the BYU Radio Network—107.9 FM, BYU Radio App, BYUCougars.com and the BYU Cougars app.