Following a split doubleheader on Friday, the BYU baseball team pulled out the victory against UC Riverside on Saturday in Riverside, Calif.
In the final game of their season-opening series, the Cougars were up 4-1 in the ninth inning until the Highlanders scored three runs to tie the game. Wes Guenther, BYU’s catcher and co-captain from Kansas, saved the game for the Cougars as he tagged out a would-be game-winning run for the Highlanders.
“I felt comfortable going into the ninth with a 4-1 lead,” BYU coach Vance Law said in a news release. “The relay was an outstanding play. To knock down the winning run was huge.”
The Cougars had a huge 10th inning, taking an 8-4 lead for Cougar pitcher Marc Oslund, who struck out a batter and ultimately clinched the game for the Cougars.
“Our guys were gutsy in the top of the 10th because we had a time limit with no new inning starting after 3 p.m., in order to make our flight,” Law said in a news release. “It would have ended up a tie, but we got a clutch two-out base hit by Wes [Guenther] to give us the lead and by [Tanner] Chauncey with a two-run double that helped us out.”
Adam Miller, a sophomore from California, threw a no-hitter for almost four innings. With UC Riverside crowding the bases in the third inning, Miller threw a curveball for a second out, and caused a fly out to outfielder Jaycob Brugman to get the Cougars out of a jam.
Friday’s doubleheader started off a bit rocky for the Cougars despite co-captain Chris Capper’s impressive seven strikeouts against the Highlanders in the first five innings. The Cougars weren’t able to pull out of a 4-0 deficit in the third inning and lost the first game.
The second game showed signs of improvement for the Cougars as freshman catcher Dakota Hernandez scored the final run of a hit from his cousin Brugman, putting the team up 6-2 in the eighth inning.
BYU will have its first West Coast Conference game this week as the Cougars face St. Mary’s on Thursday to begin a three-game series. The game will be broadcast on BYU Radio and 960 AM.
