PROVO, Utah ­-- Three home runs and a Trace Hansen three-run double provided plenty of offense in BYU's 16-2 victory over Santa Clara on Friday night at Larry H. Miller Field.

Cougar second baseman Hansen went 3-for-4 and drove in five runs for BYU (19-29, 9-14). His bases-clearing double in the fifth inning scored three runs and gave BYU an 8-1 lead. He added a two-run double in the seventh inning which put the Cougars up 16-1.

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"We just looked like world beaters tonight," BYU head coach Mike Littlewood said. "We turned a couple double plays, Jeff Barker threw strikes, worked out of some jams and we got some timely hitting."

BYU starting pitcher Barker went seven innings and only allowed two hits and one run, while striking out four. It was his fifth win of the season and snapped a four-game losing streak for the Cougars. Chunner Nyberg pitched the final two innings, giving up one hit and a run.

In front of 1,139 fans, BYU hit back-to-back home runs to start the second inning. Both Brock Whitney and Kelton Caldwell hit 3-1 pitches. Whitney's went to center and Caldwell's went to right field and gave the Cougars a 2-0 lead. Jarrett Jarvis followed with a double to the left field wall, but didn't get any farther.

In the third, Jarvis singled in Dillon Robinson before Whitney scored on a wild pitch to put BYU up 4-0. The Cougars added another run in the fourth as Hansen singled to start the inning, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Brennon Lund's single.

Bret Lopez hit the third homer of the night for the Cougars in his second at-bat after entering in the fifth inning. Robinson and Whitney reached base on a single and walk and scored on Lopez's home run to left field making it 11-1. Lopez drove in another run with a single in the five-run seventh. He finished the night 2-for-2 with a home run and four RBI.

Jarvis finished the night 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI, while Lund, Robinson and Caldwell each had two hits.

"I can't say enough about our offensive approach for the last month," Littlewood said. "We've been really doing a good job swinging at strikes for the most part and we've been getting timely hits. We just haven't been able to put it all together."

Friday was the first time since the first week in March the Cougars have scored more than 11 runs.

The Broncos (24-26, 13-10) scored their runs in the fifth and the eighth innings. In the fifth inning, Kert Woods scored on a fielder's choice and in the eighth Tyler Meditz scored on a nub single that stayed fair down the third base line.

The Cougars and Broncos play the final game of their three-game series and final home game of the season on Saturday at 1 p.m. MDT at Larry H. Miller Field. The game will be televised on BYUtv and the six Cougar seniors (Lopez, Caldwell, Nyberg, Whitney, Chris Howard, Desmond Poulson and Christian Mua) will be honored before the game.

PROVO, Utah – Finishing strong, winning the Deseret First Duel, and honoring seniors are goals for BYU baseball as it ends the home season this week.

On Tuesday, Utah (13-28) comes to Provo for a third meeting against BYU (18-27 and 8-13 in the West Coast Conference). That game will be televised live by KBYU-TV (channel 11 locally) at 6 p.m., with Cougar lefty Hayden Rogers (2-3, 2.98) starting against Ute righthander Bret Helton (2-4, 4.60). The Cougars have won the first two of four games against Utah in the battle for the Deseret First Duel baseball portion.  Then BYU readies for a three-game series against Santa Clara (22-25 and 12-9) in a return to league action.

"We may be mathematically out of the playoff race but we will still compete to the end of the season," BYU coach Mike Littlewood said.  "Our only focus now is to build for the future and get this program headed forward. Utah will always be a big game for us because it's Utah and there is a lot at stake when playing an in-state rival."

The Thursday and Saturday games will be televised live by BYUtv, while Friday's game will be streamed live by TheW.tv.  There will be a fireworks show after Friday's games. BYU's softball team will be playing at home Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the same time as the Cougar baseball games.

With six league baseball games remaining for BYU, a sweep would put BYU over the .500 mark. The Cougars are hopeful of the return of junior Dillon Robinson who leads the team with a .390 batting average, but missed the last two games due to a reinjured ankle.

"As a team we need to get over the disappointment of not making the tournament and focus on beating Santa Clara," Littlewood said. "We are looking forward to honoring our seniors on Saturday before the game.  They have had the unusual experience of a coaching change during their college careers and each one of them have handled the transition with class.  They made the transition to BYU easy for me and I will always appreciate this senior class for that."

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