Hayden Nielsen gets a hit against San Diego. (Ari Davis)
The BYU baseball team won one out of three games against St. Mary's over the weekend.
It was the first series BYU has lost this season.
The Cougars moved to 27-7 on the season and are now tied for first place in the West Coast Conference with the Gaels.
The series began on Thursday, April 14. The Cougars came back from 1-0 and 4-3 deficits during the game but a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Gaels the 5-4 walk-off win.
'We have to give credit to St. Mary's,' said BYU head coach Mike Littlewood. 'They got good pitching and timely hitting in the last couple of innings and that was the difference in the game.'
BYU fell out of first place in the WCC with a 7-4 loss on Friday, their second straight loss to St. Mary's. Starting pitcher Maverik Buffo left the game in the first inning with an arm injury. The Cougars had five errors in the game.
'Saint Mary's outplayed us,' Littlewood said. 'We made it very diffiult on ourselves with five errors and a lot of two-strike mistakes in key situations.'
Designated hitter Colton Shaver had a two-run home run in the loss.
The Cougars bounced back in the final game of the series with a 5-4 win. Left-handed pitcher Bo Burrup earned his third win of the season and right-handed pitcher Keaton Cenatiempo earned the save.
BYU moved to 10-5 in the WCC and is back in first place of the conference, tied with St. Mary's.
The Cougars will come back to Provo to take on Creighton University in a three-game series beginning on Friday, April 22.