BYU (9–10) lost a three-game series to the University of San Diego (14–6). The Cougars lost the first game 7–5, the second 5–3 and the last one 10–9.
The Cougars took the Toreros through five innings of overtime in Saturday’s game and played for four hours and 42 minutes before losing the game in the 14th inning.
“It doesn’t get any more bitter than this,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “We need to find a way to get over the hump. We keep getting punched and punched and punched, but we need to be resilient right now.”
BYU started all of the games in the lead, but USD consistently overpowered the Cougars by the ends of the matches.
“We came out with a great mind-set, but we need to get more production out of our middle infield even though they are playing so well defensively,” Littlewood said.
USD All-American, Kris Bryant, constantly challenged the Cougars hitting a total of four home runs between the three games, including two game-ending homers, one on Thursday and the other on Saturday.
“Kris Bryant is a great player and he beat us a couple times,” Littlewood said. “We tip our hat to him and move on.”
The Cougars put up a tough fight against the Toreros, completing a total of nine double plays and maintaining their position among the top-ranked NCAA teams for double plays.
“All that is nice, but it is not a W,” Littlewood said referring to the Cougars’ defensive performance. “No matter who we play, we need to give ourselves a chance to win.”
BYU stops in Las Vegas on Monday to play against UNLV before heading back to Provo for a four-game home series against the University of Kansas.
