First MWC Games In Provo

Home again, this time it is BYU’s baseball team’s first league games in Provo as it hosts UNLV in a three-game series starting Thursday.

BYU, 8-11 overall and 1-2 in Mountain West Conference action, hosts UNLV, 14-8, in the Rebels’ first league games.

The probable BYU pitching rotation will be freshman Chris Capper (1-0, 2.16) and sophomore Matthew Neil (2-2, 5.62) for Thursday and Friday’s games which both start at 6:30 p.m. Saturday’s likely pitcher for the Cougars at Miller Park will be freshman Chunner Nyberg (0-2, 10.12) with a start time of 1 p.m.

The Cougars are fresh off a 5-4 upset over then No. 4 TCU in the final game against the MWC defending champion. Among those to keep an eye on are senior Sean McNaughton, who leads the team with a 12-game hitting streak.

The confines of Miller Park proved friendly earlier this month when BYU won two of three games against Washington. In that three-game series with Washington, the Cougars improved their batting average from .299 to .329 and Alex Wolfe ended up being named the West Region Player of the Week and MWC Player of the Week when he belted three of BYU’s eight homers in that series.