The BYU baseball team suffered an 8-1 loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks in front of a record-breaking crowd of 2,832 Wednesday in Arkansas.
The Cougars’ record fell to 4-4 as the fourth-ranked Razorbacks dominated the second game of a two-game series. Arkansas also won Tuesday’s game, 5-0.
“We walked too many guys with pitches that didn’t go our way,” said BYU coach Vance Law in a press release. “We need to hit the ball better and I have no doubt we will.”
In the first game the Razorbacks loaded the bases in the second inning, getting an early 4-0 lead.
Tyler Westensee, a sophomore from Washington state, got his first start since returning from a mission to Peru. When he seemed a bit out of sync, Law replaced him with Marc Oslund.
“We dug ourselves a hole, and got off to a poor start when we walked too many batters,” Law said. “We can’t give a team like Arkansas free passes, because they take advantage of that.”
The Cougars got off to a good start in the first inning with senior Austin Hall getting a single and then later stealing second and third base. The problem for the Cougars was consistency.
The team struggled to score in the first game, leaving both Wes Guenther and Jaycob Brugman stranded on third base.
In Wednesday’s game the Cougars didn’t fare any better. The Razorbacks took an early 3-0 lead in the first inning, causing frustration for the Cougars.
Desmond Poulson, a sophomore pitcher from Taylorsville, suffered the first loss of his college career on Wednesday.
Relief for the Cougars came as Mason Marshall and Chris Howard gave steady performances by pitching shutouts for three innings. Although the team’s pitching improved, hitting for the Cougars suffered.
“It was tough for our batters to get a real gauge on how they were being pitched because they couldn’t settle in on one guy,” Law said. “Arkansas is well-coached and they executed very well, showing a lot of class and hustle.”
The Cougars are home for the weekend before the team heads to California to take on UC Irvine in a three-game series.
