Hayden Rogers delivers a pitch to home plate. Rogers pitched eight strong innings but was still saddled with the loss against LMU. (BYU Photo)
The BYU baseball team opened up conference play with a three game series against Loyola Marymount University this weekend.
The Cougars split the first two contests then found themselves on the wrong end of a no-hitter in the last game.
The first game was a 5-3 BYU victory thanks to solid pitching from ace Maverik Buffo and reliever Keaton Cenatiempo.
Buffo allowed only seven hits through six innings and struck out four, Cenatiempo struck out three in his three innings pitched and gave up four hits.
“The guys were really ready to play tonight,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “Maverik was a bulldog tonight and Keaton did a great job shutting the door.”
BYU batters hit .270 highlighted by Brock Hale who went 3-for-4.
The Cougars lost the second game 9-5 in spite of a hot start.
Hale hit a double on the first pitch of the game and was driven in by a Daniel Schneemann ground out for an early 1-0 lead.
The Lions came roaring back in the second inning with four runs and BYU couldn't come back.
BYU also had to start Bo Burrup at pitcher in place of an ailing Brady Corless who sat out due to arm soreness.
“Bo did a great job stepping in as a starter,” Littlewood said. “Nothing went right for us in the second inning and we spent the rest of the night playing catch up.”
The third game BYU found itself unable to produce any offense as opposing pitcher Cory Abbott had his way with the Cougars and pitched a no hitter in a complete game.
Abbott had pitched an eight inning shutout against Pepperdine last year but this was the first no-hitter of his career.
Abbott struck out 13 of the 27 batters he faced and only had to throw 11 pitches per inning.
The excellent pitching by Abbott overshadowed the solid performance from BYU's Hayden Rogers. Rogers pitched the full eight innings of the game and held Lion batters to a .225 average, but the two runs allowed were enough to win the game for LMU thanks to the no-hitter from Abbott.
“Cory Abbott just carved us up today,” Littlewood said. “I feel bad for Hayden (Rogers) because he threw a gem as well.”
Up next for the Cougars is a single game at the University of Utah Tuesday night at 6:00 p.m.