SAN FRANCISCO—Hurler Kolton Mahoney helped BYU baseball snap an eight-game losing streak Friday for a 7-5 win over the University of San Francisco.

Mahoney garnered his fifth save of his Cougar career as he preserved the victory and gave BYU its first win this season in West Coast Conference action.

BYU (8-16, 1-4) built a 7-0 lead through six-plus innings before USF knocked a pair of homers in the seventh and eighth innings, followed by three doubles to close the gap to 7-5. 

Cougar junior Jeff Barker got his second win of the season as he threw 7.1 innings and struck out seven Dons with effective pitches. Then Barker struggled as did two Cougar relievers before Mahoney came in for the save.

Mahoney threw Bradley Zimmer two strikes before being fouled off and then struck him out swinging as the only batter he faced in the disastrous eighth inning.

“When he (Zimmer) got out I was thinking he’s (Zimmer) done for the game,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “He (Zimmer) is a lineup changer. Kolton is probably the only guy on our staff that could get him out. He is not only a first-rounder; he’s a top 15 pick.”

Littlewood was complementary of Barker and his team.

"Barker had an incredible game,” Littlewood said. “I looked at it as a must win. Not for one second did I think it was going to be easy. I am proud of our guys. You almost expect bad things to happen when you see a team put together a run like they (USF) did, but we showed a little resiliency and that is what I want us to show. I tip my hat to our guys for doing that. I wanted to score first and put the pressure on.”

Cougar Brennon Lund led off with a single, stole second, advanced to third on Parker Starr’s sac-bunt and scored on Brock Whitney’s sac-fly for a 1-0 first inning lead.

BYU cranked three runs in the third as Bryan Heward drew a lead-off walk, Hayden Nielsen doubled and both scored from singles by Lund and Starr.

Nielsen and Lund combined again for two of the three runs in the fourth. Nielsen stole second after being robbed of a single for a fielder’s choice. Lund singled and took second on a throw home when Nielsen scored. Lund then stole third when Starr faked a bunt and he scored BYU’s sixth run off a wild pitch.

Nielsen initiated a key double play for the first two outs of the ninth inning on a 6-4-3 effort.

“We executed well with most things we did,” Littlewood said. “Those are the things that make a season turn around (key double play). We’ll wake up and see how Kolton feels, but that double play gives him the opportunity to start tomorrow.”

The last of the three-game series in the ninth annual Dante Benedetti Classic against San Francisco (10-10, 1-4) Saturday at noon at AT&T Park, home of the Major League Giants at noon PDT.

Both BYU and San Francisco’s baseball teams are hoping to break into the winning column, but each has a non-league game before their three-game series starts on Thursday.

The Cougars (7-14) and USF (8-9) are both 0-3 after the first week of play in the West Coast Conference. Fresno State brings a 13-7 record into this week, hosting California before its game with BYU on Wednesday evening.

“As we move into our second week of conference play I just want our guys to take the field with the same confidence and passion we had against Utah and Seattle,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said.  “San Francisco is a quality team that we will have to beat in order to challenge for one of the four conference tournament spots.”

Michael Springer (0-1, 13.97 earned run average) will be BYU’s starting pitcher on Wednesday night at Fresno State. Teammates Desmond Poulson (3-2, 3.71), Jeff Barker (1-3, 4.86) and Kolton Mahoney (2-3, 4.75) start in that order at San Francisco.

BYU ran into a buzz saw last weekend hosting defending champion San Diego who vaulted back into the nation’s top 25 rankings at No. 17 (Collegiate Baseball), No. 24 (Baseball America) and No. 25 (NCBWA and Perfect Game).

Injured Cougars Hayden Rogers and Dillon Robinson will be making this California trip after being sidelined with a concussion and ankle injuries, respectively, in Texas and Louisiana. Rogers passed concussion protocol and has been cleared to pitch, while Robinson could appear in a designated hitter or pinch-hit role, according to Littlewood.

At San Francisco, BYU will be part of the 9^th Annual Dante Benedetti Classic on Saturday when the two teams precede a high school game at AT&T Ballpark, home of the Major League Giants. This will be BYU’s first game at a Major League ballpark since playing before crowds of 11,699 vs. Notre Dame and 2,804 vs. Washington in 1994 games at the Seattle Kingdome.

KOVO Radio 960 AM will broadcast BYU’s games on Thursday and Friday at 3 p.m. PDT and Saturday’s game at noon.

NOTE: The live video for Fresno State is free, the only live audio at Fresno is paired with the video

For more information, please download the 9-page game notes below: