STOCKTON, Calif. – No. 1 seed BYU baseball couldn’t solve the West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year, falling 4-1 to No. 4 LMU in the Cougars’ first game of the WCC Tournament on Thursday at Banner Island Ballpark.

With the loss, the Cougars will play the loser of the Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s game at noon PT on Friday, May 24, in an elimination game. Should BYU win that game, they will play again on Friday at 7:30 p.m. PT.

BYU vs. LMU Box Score

Game Summary

• Mitch McIntyre hit two doubles for the Cougars
• BYU scored one run in the bottom of the ninth
• BYU has yet to win its first game of the tournament in five tries

Player Highlights

• Mitch McIntyre: 2-4, 2 2B, RBI
• Austin Deming: 1-4, 2B; 1.0 IP, 0 H, 1 K

Senior pitcher Jordan Wood pitched three sterling innings to start the ballgame before a hit batter and a home run by LMU (30-23) put BYU (36-16) behind, 2-0.

A double by freshman Austin Deming was the only hit through five innings for the Cougars against Lions pitcher Codie Paiva, voted the pitcher of the year by the conference’s coaches earlier this week. Paiva struck out a career-high 11 Cougars with one walk on the day.

BYU got a lead-off single by Danny Gelalich in the sixth and a double with one out in the seventh by Mitch McIntyre but couldn’t score. The Lions tacked on two runs in the top of the seventh on a pair of RBI-singles for some insurance to go up 4-0.

The Cougars scored a run in the bottom of the ninth on McIntyre's second double of the day, but the lone run was all BYU could manage.

STOCKTON, Calif. - No. 1 seed BYU baseball will face No. 4 seed LMU to start West Coast Conference Tournament action on Thursday, May 23, at 3 p.m. PT at Banner Island Ballpark.

BYU WCC Tournament Notes

Coming in with the top seed in the tournament for the first time after claiming the regular season championship, the Cougars are looking for their second WCC Tournament title after winning it all in 2017.

BYU finished the regular season with a 36-15 record, 18-9 in conference, and are ranked No. 24 in the nation by Baseball America. 

Senior right-hander Jordan Wood will get the start against LMU, coming in with a 4.48 ERA and a 5-3 record as an every week starter this season for the Cougars. 

BYU won two of three games at LMU this year, losing the first game 5-1 before winning 8-5 and 10-3 in the last two contests.

The Cougars are 5-7 all-time in four previous WCC Tournament appearances. Overall, BYU has played in 27 conference tournaments that have featured four teams or more, winning six (1983, 1985, 1988 in the WAC; 2001, 2002 in the MWC; and 2017 in the WCC). The Cougars have also won eight best-of-three conference championship series in WAC divisional play (1949, 1952, 1958, 1961, 1968, 1971, 1979, 1981). BYU has won regular season titles in 1989, 2001, 2016, 2017 and 2019.

No. 2 seed Gonzaga and No. 3 seed Saint Mary's make up the other half of the double elimination tournament with the winners and losers of the first two games playing each other on Friday. For the complete schedule, click here.