SAN DIEGO—Perennial power San Diego continued its stranglehold over BYU baseball with a 7-1 victory Thursday night to start a three-game series.

No. 29 USD (14-9 overall, 6-1 in league), behind the nine strikeouts by David Hill (5-2), won a pitcher’s duel and padded its first-place lead in the West Coast Conference. The Cougars (11-14, 4-3) had runners in scoring position a couple times from their five hits during the game, but failed to capitalize like the Toreros.

“David Hill was the difference tonight," BYU coach Mike LIttlewood said. "We had a chance to strike early in the first inning, but he pitched his way out of it and he was lights out from there.  Once in a while you just have to tip your hat to the opposing pitcher and tonight was one of those nights.Our guys have a toughness about them and I know we'll come back tomorrow ready to play. ”

BYU’s lone run came in the fourth inning when Hayden Nielsen scooted around second and third bases to score after Colton Shaver stroked a two-out double down the left field line to close the gap to 2-1.

The rest of the way San Diego, who has a 14-1 series lead over the Cougars, took advantage of advancement opportunities, while BYU wasn’t as successful with similar chances. Few things went right for the Cougars, while the Toreros kept the pressure on them throughout the game, adding five hits in the two-run sixth inning to the five they tallied prior to that point.

USD tried to extend its 6-1 lead in the two-run eighth after pinch-hitter Conner Jauch led off that inning with solo home run. But BYU leftfielder Derrick Whitney fielded a double, then hit cutoff man Nielsen, who pegged the USD runner out at home when Jarrett Jarvis applied the tag.

Brennon Lund extended his hitting streak to 12 games, doubling on the first pitch of the game, and Eric Urry extended his streak to six games with a single in the second inning.

The Cougars continue the series at San Diego on Friday night with a live broadcast on BYU Radio 960 AM and live online on theW.tv.

Rival Utah precedes a three-game series at league frontrunner San Diego in what proves as a true showdown week for BYU baseball.

“The next six days are huge for us beginning with Utah on Tuesday and ending with a very good San Diego State team next Monday, not to mention the three-game series with San Diego on the weekend,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said.

“We really want to get the week started off on the right foot by going to Salt Lake and playing well.  As we all know the Utah/BYU games always seem to be knock down, drag out affairs and I'm sure this year won't be any different.  It's been a great in-state rivalry long before I played at BYU in the mid 80's and it will be long after we are all gone.  That being said, we try to keep the focus away from the rivalry and more towards executing the things we do well and playing a solid game.”

The Cougars (11-12) will start Salt Lake Community College transfer pitcher Brady Corless (1-2, 8.44) against Utah (7-15) in the 7 p.m., on Tuesday at Smith Ballpark, which will be televised, live by the Pac-12 Network.

Junior Kolton Mahoney (2-2, 3.69) and senior Jeff Barker (1-1, 3.67) will start Thursday and Friday’s games at 6 p.m. PDT, at San Diego.  Senior Brandon Kinser (2-1, 2.27) will be the Cougar starter for Saturday’s game versus the Toreros at 1 p.m.

“Our weekend series at San Diego is huge for us,” Littlewood said. “San Diego has a great baseball tradition and they are playing very well right now. Couple that with the confidence they feel in front of their home crowd and that makes for a very challenging weekend for us.”

The Cougars take a 4-2 West Coast Conference record in against the 5-1 mark by perennial league favorite San Diego (13-9).  USD leads the series, 13-1, with BYU winning once in 1990 at Las Vegas. BYU shortstop Hayden Nielsen leads the team with a 10-game hitting streak.

“I do like where our team is right now, both mentally and physically,” Littlewood said. “For the most part, we have been executing on offense and playing very good defense.  If you look back at the Gonzaga series we played excellent baseball on the road for 25 of 27 innings. If we do that against San Diego we will have opportunities to win ballgames. “

All of this week’s games will be broadcast live on Radio 960 AM and streamed by BYU Radio, except for Friday, through links found at www.byucougars.com.

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