It was time to do or die for Utah shortstop Cory Hunt. He stepped to the plate with two outs and a runner on third in the bottom of the ninth, down by one run against BYU. After drawing a full count, Hunt smoked a line drive down the right field line for a triple that scored Tyler Relf to tie the game.
Hunt was 4-4 on the game with two RBI. His triple took the Utes to extra innings, where T.J. Bennett hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th to give Utes the 5-4 win.
“BYU battled the whole night,” Hunt said. “It was just a BYU, Utah game. That’s what you’re going to get every time. It ended the way we like, absolutely.”
BYU had only managed to tally three hits against Utah’s pitching staff heading into the ninth. Then the Cougars got hot. Kelton Caldwell led off the ninth for BYU by smashing a home run over the right field fence to tie the game at one apiece.
The Cougars weren’t done yet. After loading the bases, BYU first baseman Brock Whitney plated another run on a fielder’s choice up the middle to take the lead. With runners on the corners, Adam Law continued his eight-game hitting streak by lining a double into the right field corner to score two more. It was 4-1 in BYU’s favor heading into the bottom of the 9th.
Despite the late-inning rally, Hunt said the Utes never gave up.
“I wasn’t going to lose it like that,” Hunt said. “Our team battled all night.”
For the third time in a week, the Utes went to extra innings and came out on top. Dallas Carroll led off the 10th by getting hit by a pitch. Trey Nielsen hit a hard ground ball that got past BYU’s third baseman Adam Law and moved Carroll to third. Nielsen then stole second base and the Cougars intentionally walked Will Taylor to load the bases with one out. Bennett stepped into the batter’s box and came through in the clutch once again, smacking a walk off single to center field just like he did against Utah Valley University in extras a week ago.
On the same day Carroll was named the first ever Pac-12 Player of the Week for Utah, he scored the winning run.
“It’s good to win just because it’s such a big rivalry,” Carroll said.
The Utes have now won three consecutive games and four of their last five. Utah has proven it can come through in the clutch, outscoring opponents 22-8 in the ninth inning and 3-0 in extras.
It was yet another instant classic rivalry game between BYU and Utah that was everything fans expected.
“BYU played such great defense the whole night,” said head coach Bill Kinneberg. “They held us to one run [through eight innings] because of their defense. I’m really proud of our guys to come back the way they did and tie it, then end up winning it in the 10th. It was a good game for a Tuesday night, maybe a little bit too much for a Tuesday night, but hats off to them.”