BYU falls to Utah on a wild night full of offense

PROVO, Utah — Utah defeated BYU, 29-14, Tuesday night in a slugfest at Miller Park. The two teams combined for 34 hits and 43 runs in a game that lasted nearly four hours. 

With the win the Utes are now 14-21-1 on the year, while the Cougars fall to 14-21. BYU and Utah will play game-three of the season series on May 9 at Smith's Ballpark in Salt Lake City. The Cougars defeated Utah in the first game of the year on March 14, 7-0, on a combined one hitter. 

Game Summary
  •  Utah scored 29 runs on 20 hits, while BYU had 14 runs on 14 hits
  •  Utah set a new stadium record for runs scored at Miller Park (opened in 2001)
  •  The two teams combined for 43 runs, also a new Miller Park record, breaking the old mark set on May 11, 2017, when BYU defeated Portland 23-19.

BYU Highlights
  •  Chad Call: 2-3, 2 RBI, 2 Runs
  •  Parker Goff: 1-2, 2 RBI, 2 Run
  •  Luke Anderson: 2-3, RBI, Runs
  •  Peyton Cole: 2.0 IP, 0 Runs, 2 Ks

Utah jumped out to a big lead early with three runs in the first inning and three more in the second for a 6-1 lead. The Utes scored all six runs without a hit on five walks, two hit batters and a Cougar error. BYU picked up a run in the bottom of the first on a ground ball by Cole Gambill that scored Luke Anderson, who had reach on a single to right field. 

After a scoreless third inning, BYU took the lead in the bottom of the fourth on five hits and a Utah error. A single by Cooper Vest scored Austin Deming and advanced Gambill to third. After a walk by Jacob Wilk, Chad Call singled through the right side to score Vest and Gambill. Parker Goff drove in two more runs with a single to left center that scored Wilk and Call, then Anderson tripled to deep center to score Goff for a 7-6 advantage. 

Utah tacked on eight runs on its next at bat in the fifth on a walk, seven hits and two costly Cougar errors that gave the Utes six unearned runs. Utah struck again with four additional runs in the sixth on five hits for a commanding 18-7 lead. 

BYU fought back with five runs of its own in the bottom of the sixth, making the score 18-12. A double by Call, followed by three-straight walks by Goff, Ozzie Pratt and Anderson, combined with a wild pitch scored the first run. Deming then walked to score Goff for the second run. Pratt scored on a Ryan Sepede sacrifice fly to left field and Anderson scored on a wild pitch. Cooper Vest then singled to center field scoring Deming for the fifth and final run of the inning. 

Utah tacked on two more runs in the top pf the seventh, while BYU responded with two in the bottom half of the frame to make the score 23-14. Bryant Ball scored the first run for BYU on a triple down the right field line by Chase Peterson, who then scored on a single to right field by Alex Sardina. 

Utah scored five insurance runs in the eighth and one more in the ninth for a 29-14 final. 

Bransen Kuehl (1-0) got the win for the Utes, going 1.2 innings in relief, while Jameson Ferraro (0-1) took the loss for BYU.

BYU will host UNC Greensboro in a three-game, non-conference series on April 20-22 at Miller Park. The games will be broadcast live on the BYU Radio App and BYU Radio 107.9 FM in the northern Utah market, with Greg Wrubell on the call. BYUtv will also broadcast the game live on the BYUtv App, with Dave McCann and Gary Sheide providing play-by-play and analysis.

Ticket information for the weekend home series at Miller Park can be found at BYUtickets.com.