PROVO, Utah — Gonzaga baseball jumped out to a 3-1 lead, but couldn't hold it in a 7-4 loss at BYU on Friday night in Provo, Utah.
A bases loaded double by BYU's Brock Hale broke a 3-3 tie and put the Cougars (13-4, 1-1) in front for good. Gonzaga (7-9 1-1) got three hits from
Ernie Yake, but couldn't capitalize on base runners in the eighth and ninth.
"All around, we did not play our best game tonight," head coach
Mark Machtolf said. "We had too many mistakes that led to opportunities and runs for BYU. We are looking forward to a good battle tomorrow to secure a series on the road."
In addition to Yake,
Troy Johnston had two hits and
Austin Pinorini,
Nick Nyquist and
Jack Krauel each knocked home a run.
On the mound,
Justin Blatner went 4.2 innings, allowing six runs on just three hits while striking out five and walking three.
Nick Trogrlic-Iverson entered for two batters, the first of which was the bases loaded double by Hale.
Taylor Davis went the final 3.1 innings and gave up just one run on three hits.
Yake opened the game with a double down the left field line and later scored on a sac fly off the bat of Pinorini to make it 1-0. After a BYU solo homer in the bottom of the first to make it 1-1, GU quickly answered with two in the second.
Troy Johnston opened the frame with a triple and Nyquist followed with a double to score him. After Nyquist moved to third on a groundout, Krauel brought him home with a sac fly to make it 3-1.
BYU was able to put up runs in each of the next four innings, and GU found itself down 7-3 heading to the seventh inning.
Gonzaga got one more run in the eighth when Sullivan scored on an error by the third baseman off the bat of Nyquist.
Gonzaga and BYU will play the series finale on Saturday at 12 p.m. PT/1 p.m. MT. Links to live coverage will be available at GoZags.com.
