It was a warm sunny spring evening as the Utes and the Cougars squared off in Provo. And it didn’t take long for the fireworks to go off.
Utah’s third mid-week game of the year was a slugfest as both teams came strong on both sides of the ball. But at the end of the night, a few pitching errors and key hits made all the difference as BYU was able to outlast Utah and win, 7-6.
“[It was] a great battle, a great college baseball game,” head coach Bill Kinneberg said. “Our problem is the last two runs were in direct correlation with walking guys. Those things happen in a game but [it was] the wrong timing for us and in those situations we’ve got to be a little bit better.”
In the opening inning, junior Cody Scaggari got the Utes off to a great start by blasting a solo home run into left field to give Utah the early lead. It was his team leading fourth home run of the season.
The Cougars tied things at one in the second inning on a passed ball from starting pitcher sophomore Dylan Drachler, but the Utes were able to get out of the inning without surrendering another run.
Sophomore Josh Rose smacked a double in the third for the Utes and would later score on a sacrifice fly.
BYU took charge in the third inning, though, with a three-run home run by Colton Shaver, which pushed the Cougars to the lead, 4-2. Drachler then struggled to get out of the inning after giving up a following double, but was able to get a batter to ground out to end the inning.
Utah continued to battle as sophomore Dallas Carroll gave his team the lead back with a grand slam in the fifth inning. It was his first homer of the year and his career.
“It’s cool and all, my first home run, a grand slam and all, especially against BYU,” Carroll said. “That means a lot but at the end of the day it just hurts that we lost.”
Drachler was on a pitch limit, and was removed in the fifth inning, and BYU took advantage. With freshman Tanner Thomas on the mound, the Cougars replied to the Ute grand slam with another homer by Shaver, but Utah still held a slim 6-5 lead heading into the sixth inning.
Drachler finished with 4 2/3 innings while giving up four runs on six hits.
“We wanted to give Drachler 4-5 innings,” Kinneberg said. “He was at a pitch limit. He did a nice job for us.”
Thomas finished with 1 1/3 innings and allowed one run on one hit.
Utes pitcher Bret Helton gave up the hit that tied the game at six, but returned strong to strike out the next two batters he faced to get out of the inning. Helton finished with three strikeouts on the night and earned the loss, dropping to 2-6 on the year.
After the Cougars loaded the bases in the eighth, the Utes turned to their most experienced pitcher senior Brock Duke to get them out of the bind. But this time, Duke could not get out of the inning cleanly by giving up a single that brought home the leading run for BYU.
“We go to our three guys, our top bullpen guys in Helton, Rodriguez and Duke thinking we have a pretty good chance there in the seventh, eighth and ninth,” Kinneberg said. “We didn’t get it done.”
BYU wasn’t able to extend its lead heading into the final inning as it left three runners on base as the next two batters flew and grounded out.
Utah was against the wall trailing by one run in the ninth with two outs and junior Kody Davis gave the Utes some hope with a single into right field, but it wasn’t enough to sway the outcome of the game.
“A couple walks here and there and a couple of clutch hits for them,” Carroll said of why the Utes let the game slip. “[There is] not much more to say. They came through when they needed it.”
@ISmithAtTheU