Whitney, Chauncey Spark Great Night

IRVINE, Calif.—Brock Whitney drove in five runs, three in the four-run sixth, to lift BYU to a 6-1 victory Friday night at UC Irvine.

Whitney, a sophomore first baseman, hit a two-out double in the seventh to clear the bases and give the Cougars that 6-1 margin. Dillon Robinson led off the seventh with a double and scored when Tanner Chauncey hit a one-out, bases loaded single to give BYU a 3-1 lead.

“Tanner continues to impress with his at bats,” said BYU coach Vance Law.  “Brock Whitney’s big two-out RBI were pluses for us.  Any time you get two-out RBI, it can really help us win games.  Good pitching, defense and timely hitting are a formula we’ve been looking for.”

Whitney singled in BYU’s first two runs, scoring the freshman Chauncey in both the second and the sixth for the 1-0 and 2-1 leads, respectively.  Chauncey and Whitney went 4-for-5 and 3-for-4 on the night from the plate, respectively.

Cougar lefty Mark Anderson improved his record to 3-0 and was effective in the first five innings until he beaned three consecutive batters in the sixth to exit the mound.

“Mark Anderson got us deeper into the game and Milke (Matt) got a huge out for us in the sixth,” said Law.  “Our whole team had much better at bats.”

That victory ended a three-game skid and evened BYU’s record at 5-5.

The Anteaters (7-6) hosts BYU in the finale of the three-game series on Saturday.