Cougars fall to Utes in baseball rivalry

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The University of Utah baseball team found their stroke at the plate, and BYU could never recover as the Cougars fell to the Utes 6-4 Tuesday night at Miller Field.

The Utes (10-25) had 15 hits in the game, after coming into the game batting just .238 as a team. Meanwhile, the Cougars struggled throughout the game to match their rivals’ on-base percentage, collecting just eight hits.

“A lot of pitches were up in the zone and Utah took advantage of it,” BYU assistant coach Wally Ritchie said. “They put good swings on the ball and hit the ball well. Give all the credit to them. They swung the bat well.”

Senior outfielder Shaun Cooper had a big game for the Utes, getting the first home run as well as having three other hits, one of which resulted in a double. The early onslaught of hits and runs is not typical for junior pitcher Chris Capper, who is known for his tough pitches.

“He was off a little bit today,” Ritchie said. “His velocity was still good, his break on his breaking ball was still good. He just didn’t locate pitches well today. Maybe he was a little too excited, just a little bit out of sorts mechanically.”

The Cougars’ four runs were more varied among the players, coming from four different players, but three of them came on errant pitches by Utah right-hander Ben Mordini in the second and third innings.

The Utes jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the opening inning on Cooper’s two-run homer and a run by senior James Brooks. The Cougars chipped away at the lead in the next few innings, but the Utes kept putting it on.

“When you get down early, the biggest thing you can do is just stay positive and try to keep your team in it,” Ritchie said. “I think we did a pretty good job of that. You can only score one run at a time. We got it to 5-4 and we gave ourselves a chance.”

In the bottom sixth, sophomore third baseman Dillon Robinson scored off of a base hit by sophomore Adam Law for the Cougars to bring the score to 5-4 and giving BYU hope for the comeback victory. Then Morin hit the late home run and Ute closer Tyler Wagner sealed the victory.

“Every game we go into, we feel we can come back and win,” Ritchie said. “We kept it close and we can’t score five runs at one time in one swing. We got close and we had a chance to win at the end.”

With the loss, the Cougars (17-14) fall to 3-4 at home, and will not play again in Provo until May 3, where they have a 3-game series against San Diego. They next play at Stanford April 17.

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