PROVO, Utah – Loyola Marymount used a 3-2 victory over BYU’s baseball team to return to sole-possession of first place in the West Coast Conference on Friday night.

LMU (13-13, 4-1) took an early lead through the first three innings and never trailed on their way to the win. BYU fell to 5-3 in WCC conference and 13-12 overall.

“Trevor Megill pitched really well for them,” BYU head coach Vance Law said. “He kept us off balance and had our number early. We had our opportunities late in the game, but we were unable to get that big knock.”

Jaycob Brugman and Stephen Wells both contributed an RBI in the loss.

LMU was the first on the scoreboard when a string of wild pitches led to a Lion run by Zac Fujimoto. The Cougars finally crossed the plate when Brugman brought Alex Wolfe home cutting the LMU lead to 2-1.

The Lions padded their lead when LMU’s Scott Harkin crushed a one-run double to the wall in the top of the seventh frame.

Trailing LMU by two runs, the Lions’ left fielder came in on a Wells’ bloop single but misjudged it, allowing the Cougar senior to advance to second. Dillon Robinson scored on that play, pulling BYU within one, 3-2. With runners on first and second and two outs, relief pitcher Ryan Hawthorne struckout Wes Guenther to end the inning.

Cougar Closer Mason Marshall came in the top of eighth and blew three straight pitches past LMU’s clean-up to end the threat.  Marshall then sat the Lions down in order for the first time all night in the ninth.  However, BYU was unable to bring in a run in its final at bat.

“We continued to battle,” Law said. “I’m proud of how they’re competing. We’ll back back and ready tomorrow.”

The two teams will meet Saturday, at noon in Miller Park. 

Game time has changed to noon for Saturday’s BYU-Loyola Marymount series, but Thursday and Friday night’s contests remain at 6 p.m.

The three-game series is the debut for West Coast Conference baseball action in Provo. BYU (12-11 overall and 4-2 WCC) hosts league-leading LMU (12-12, 3-0).

Due to tight travel plans game time was moved up one hour for Saturday.  The Lions were picked to finish fourth in the WCC pre-season poll, while BYU balloted seventh.

“I’ve always said pre-season rankings don’t mean a lot, so I’m not surprised Loyola is playing well,” BYU coach Vance Law said.  “We’ve got our work cut out for us.  Anybody can beat anybody on a given day in college baseball.

“We look forward to playing at home.  We feel at home in our home where we are comfortable.  I anticipate we will play well.”

Chris Capper (1-4, 3.10), Mark Anderson (4-1, 3.48) and Desmond Poulson (0-2, 4.44) will start for the Cougars against LMU. 

All of the BYU games this week will be broadcast live on 960 AM, with BYU Radio carrying and Thursday’s games on the Internet.  BYUtv will televise Thursday and Friday night’s BYU-LMU game live.