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Baseball

BYU Baseball loses nail-biter to Georgia State in 10 innings

Ari Davis

Head coach Mike Littlewood watches from the dugout last season. (Ari Davis)

The BYU baseball team suffered a tough loss to Georgia State in the bottom of the 10th inning on Monday.

The game was the last of three played by the Cougars in the Atlanta Challenge and the loss gives BYU a 1-2 record.

A play that could have sent the game to an 11th inning ended up allowing the winning run and keeping Georgia State's undefeated season alive.

In the bottom of the 10th the umpire ruled that Cougar first baseman Colton Shaver pulled his foot off the bag with runners on the corners and two outs allowing a Panther baserunner to cross home plate and finish the game with a score of 3-2 in the Panthers' favor.

The Georgia State pitchers and defense were not intimidated by a BYU offense that had just scored 13 runs on Kennesaw Sate, holding the Cougars to five hits and two runs.

Three of BYU's five hits in the game were doubles, one from Colton Shaver and two from Brock Hale.

Although BYU had a 2-1 lead after the second inning the Cougars failed to score for the remainder of the game.

Coach Mike Littlewood noted that BYU pitching was a silver lining in the loss.

'Our pitching staff did a great job tonight and our hitters were very average,” Littlewood said. “We've got a couple guys pressing at the plate right now, but we had great energy and competed well against a very solid team.”

The Panthers tied the game 2-2 in the bottom of the 6th but lefty Riley Gates showed some clutch relief pitching for the Cougars by striking out batters to end the eighth and ninth innings without allowing a run.

BYU left runners on third in both the 9th and 10th innings, narrowly missing opportunities to win the game.

The Cougars now prepare for Thursday doubleheader in California, opening with Northern Colorado at 2 p.m. PST, followed by a night game against host San Jose State at 7 p.m.