The BYU baseball team is heading up the California coast to take on UC Riverside after going 1-1 in the Tony Gwynn Classic in San Diego over the weekend.
Monday’s game is the first of five total games on the schedule for this week, with Tuesday as the only off day. This week marks the final stretch of the Cougars' season-opening road trip that started Feb. 13 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. They return to Provo for their home opener against California Baptist on March 5.
The Cougars are coming off a 9-7 win against the UC San Diego Tritons on Saturday, picking up their sole win in the Tony Gwynn Classic after a loss to the San Diego State Aztecs on Friday. The bottom of the lineup came up huge for the Cougars in the win, with seven of the RBIs coming from the six to nine hitters.
Wayland Crane had a strong showing on the mound for the Cougars in the win, giving up two runs and striking out four over four innings of work.
Nate Gray shined out of the bullpen, holding the Tritons scoreless through the next four innings and earning his first win of the season. The Tritons made a late push, putting up five runs in the bottom of the ninth before Luke Sterner came in to earn his first save of the year.
Monday’s matchup will mark the 31st all-time meeting between BYU and UC Riverside, a series that the Riverside Highlanders control 19-11. The two teams last faced off in February 2012, a series that the Cougars won 2-1.
The Highlanders are 2-5 coming into the matchup, coming off a series win against the Wagner Seahawks. They opened the year against a familiar foe in the Utah Tech Trailblazers, a four-game series in which they got swept. They finished last year 16-36, including a 5-25 record in conference play.
They’re led on offense by senior Jaxon Byrd, who comes into the contest hitting .438 and slugging .813. Junior Manoah Chapman leads the team with 10 hits, boasting a .370 average. The team has only three combined home runs on the year, but have only given up one in return.
On the pitching side, they are led by senior Matthew O’Brien who leads the team in strikeouts with 8. They have had 15 different pitchers toe the rubber over the course of the first seven games, and are pitching to the tune of a 5.95 ERA as a staff.
First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. MST Monday afternoon. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ as well as on BYU radio.