BYU baseball competed in its Blue and White scrimmage on Friday night at Miller Field. The White team beat the Blue team 5-3 in a contest that featured 24 strikeouts.
The Blue team jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. After the three runs the inning was stopped although there was just one out. Utah transfer Jaden Harris led the defense out in the bottom of the first wearing a Cougar uniform for the first time.
“It feels amazing to be able to get back into a game environment," Harris said. "We have been scrimmaging a lot, but nothing quite compares when you have the fans in the stands and you’re able to treat it like a real game."
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Harris would go three-up-and-three-down, racking up three of his seven strikeouts in his first three batters.
The White team quickly bounced back as Payton Gubler had two strikeouts and it got another quick groundout. The White squad then followed this by bringing two runners home to bring the lead to just one.
Both teams pitched well throughout the game. The Blue and White teams combined for 24 strikeouts.
“We threw a lot of strikes and that was encouraging. We got a lot of new pitchers and I thought we did a pretty good job on the mound,” said Coach Trent Pratt.
The teams used nine pitchers throughout the night four for the Blue and five for the White. Harris led the team with his seven strikeouts.
“I had command of a lot of my pitches, and I knew if I just kept attacking the zone and getting ahead I’d be able to get the swing and the miss,” said Harris.
The teams would go scoreless in the third and then the white team hit two doubles from Rockwell Lybbert and Ryder Robinson in the bottom of the fourth with runners in scoring position. This took the lead by two that would not be given up for the rest of the game as the final would be 5-3.
Neither team was able to hit a home run in the game but many deep hits came in the nine innings. Totaling eight doubles on the night including one that got to the wall from freshman catcher Ridge Erickson. Erickson was competing in a Cougar uniform for the first time as a freshman.
“The culture here is great, fans are all hyped to be here, they are all clapping to the songs and it’s awesome,” said Erickson.
Both teams competed hard and there was a lot of great defense played throughout the game. Many players on both sides came from other schools or are freshmen this year. This game was a great opportunity to see those new guys like Harris and Erickson in action.
“It’s good to get out under the lights with the crowd in the stands,” said Pratt. “For some guys in their first year to get their jitters out and play a game, it was a lot of fun tonight.”
As most Blue and White games are, there is competition, but competition focuses on experience and practice.
“We did a lot of good things tonight, we’ve got some things to work on, so we’ll write those things down, talk about it Monday and then get back to work,” said Pratt.
Going forward the Cougars will compete in two more games during this fall season. Having all the players from both teams competing together will be a huge boost for BYU. The next contest is on Oct. 19 in Miller Park against Air Force Academy.
This will be the Cougars' first of two competitions in their Fall Exhibition schedule and they will head to San Diego to finish it on Nov. 9.