Poulson Blanks Seattle

Tacoma, Wash.—Sophomore Desmond Poulson fired the salvos on Military Night to lead BYU baseball to a 4-1 victory over Seattle University at the AAA Raniers’ Cheney Stadium.

The Redhawks (15-15) dressed in camouflage tops, but were blanked by Poulson who was set to account for the first BYU shutout since beating New Mexico 1-0 last season.  Seattle got its unearned run in the ninth inning off BYU ace reliever Mason Marshall.

BYU (17-12) winning its fourth in a row, settled into an early comfort zone with a 1-0 lead in the second, which increased to 3-0 in the third and 4-0 in the sixth.  Poulson tossed a one-hitter through the first four innings, then surrendered his second hit in the fifth.

“Desmond was outstanding tonight,” BYU coach Vance Law said.  “He dominated the game.  Once we got the lead, Desmond took it from there. His breaking ball was working for strikes.  He and Wes (Guenther) kept their batters off balance.”

Poulson recovered from two struggles when he struck out the final batter in the third, stranding two aboard via walks.  And in the seventh, two Redhawks advanced to second and third, but Poulson induced a pop-up, which he caught with a basket catch to end the inning.

Poulson, now 1-2, left the game with two outs in the eighth as lefty Chris Howard fanned the Seattle batter with one on to end that frame.

Offensively, Cougar shortstop Austin Hall stroked a pair of doubles, the first of which came in the second off the left-field wall, scoring Jaycob Brugman.  Hall scored in the sixth on consecutive BYU doubles.

In that sixth inning, Hall doubled down the left-field line, then scored on Kelton Caldwell’s double to deep left field.

“Austin swung the bat well again tonight and Kelton (Caldwell) got a big hit.  We were patient until their pitcher elevated his off-speed pitches.  I’m encouraged by our approaches at the plate.  The last two weeks we’ve been swinging better.”

The teams conclude the four-game series at Seattle’s home field, Bannerwood Park, on Saturday at noon PDT.