PROVO, Utah — Six strikeouts from Brady Corless and heavy hitting from the Cougars lineup gave BYU baseball a 6-2 win over Saint Mary’s in second of three games held at Larry H. Miller Field on Friday.

“Brady really settled in and did a tremendous job for us,” BYU head coach Mike Littlewood said. “His velocity was really good and he spotted up. It is exactly what we want. Both Brady and Bo (Burrup) did exactly what we are asking from our pitching staff.”

Corless pitched for seven innings, striking out six and allowing two earned runs. Bronson Larsen led the Cougars (13-11, 3-2 West Coast Conference) offensively, going 3 for 4 and recording two RBIs, while Tanner Chauncey went 3 for 5 with two runs.

After Chauncey gave BYU its first hit of the game in the bottom of the first, Brock Hale singled on a ground ball through the right side to move Chauncey to second.

Keaton Kringlen then skied a ball to left field to score Chauncey. As the Saint Mary’s (17-9, 3-2 WCC) left fielder misplayed the ball, Hale scored to give the Cougars the 2-0 early lead.

Saint Mary’s knocked an RBI double to close the gap to 2-1 in the top of the second. The Gaels then pushed another run across the plate to tie the game at 2-2.

Nate Favero ripped an RBI triple in the right-center gap to score Kyle Dean in the bottom of the second. BYU regained the 3-2 advantage.

With a Saint Mary’s runner on third in the top of the fifth, Corless recorded his fifth strikeout to retire the side and keep the Gaels off the board.

Daniel Schneemann singled to center to move Chauncey to third in the bottom of the fifth. Schneemann then advanced to second on a wild pitch before Larsen punched a two-run single through the left side, giving BYU the 5-2 lead.

After Corless retired the first two batters in the top of the sixth, the Gaels hit a deep ball to left field, but Kringlen covered ground to make the diving catch and bring the inning to a close.

Brennon Anderson singled to right field to score Noah Hill and increase the Cougar lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the sixth.

BYU held Saint Mary’s scoreless through the last three innings. Bo Burrup relieved Corless after seven innings and struck out two.

The third game of the series against Saint Mary’s will begin Saturday at 12 p.m. MDT.

League-leading Saint Mary’s College comes to Provo this week, but first BYU baseball plays a nonconference game at Utah on Tuesday night.

The Cougars (10-11 overall and 1-2 in the West Coast Conference) play Utah (10-11 overall and 1-5 in the Pac-12) in the first of three games this season for the Deseret First Duel series. On Monday, April 3, BYU plays a second Pac-12 Conference foe when it hosts Oregon. Sandwiched in between those Pac-12 battles is a three-game WCC series against undefeated Saint Mary’s (3-0 in WCC and 17-6 overall).

“These next seven days are huge for us,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “The Utah game is big for all the obvious reasons, and then we host a team we shared the league title with last year. Saint Mary's is having another great season and they are playing well of late. This week provides a great opportunity for our guys to play high level programs and prove what they're made of.”

BYU will start sophomore right-hander Jordan Wood (1-0, 1.93) against Utah at 6 p.m. MDT on Tuesday. That game will be televised live by the Pac-12 Network at Smith’s Ballpark in Salt Lake City.

Against SMC, the Cougars will start Maverik Buffo (3-3, 5.24) on Thursday at 2 p.m. MDT and Brady Corless (2-0, 4.35) on Friday at 6 p.m. MDT at Larry H. Miller Field. Saturday’s game against the Gaels will start at noon with Hayden Rogers (1-1, 2.51) on the mound for BYU.

“It's great to have Oregon come to Miller Park and we look forward to playing another quality Pac-12 opponent,” Littlewood said. “Coach (George) Horton is a college baseball coaching legend and I'm excited to play his ball club.”

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