BYU followed up its opening series win against Utah with an 8-1 Friday night loss.
Garrison Sumner pitched six innings for the Cougars, giving up three home runs after giving up only five home runs on the season. BYU’s relieving pitchers combined for two runs with only one strikeout.
Utah’s Payton Riske gave up only four hits and one earned run through five innings. Jet Gilliam had a solid night hitting the ball for the Utes with three RBIs, including a solo home run.
Coach Trent Pratt said postgame on BYU Radio that they "could never get any type of momentum rolling offensively tonight, but give them credit, when they needed to make big pitches, they made them, when they needed to get a big swing, they did it .. give Utah credit tonight, they played a great game."
BYU now sits at 12-11 and in seventh place in Big 12 conference play.
The Cougars will look to rebound Saturday for the final game of the series, 1 p.m. at Larry H. Miller Field.