SPOKANE, Wash.—Juniors Adam Miller, Jaycob Brugman and Brock Whitney helped lead BYU baseball to a 9-6 upset Saturday afternoon over No. 22 Gonzaga.

Miller, who improved to 3-6 with the victory, was one out shy of a complete game and needed the relief of Matt Milke on the mound to seal the upset with the bases loaded.

BYU improved to 21-17 overall and 8-7 in the West Coast Conference, while Gonzaga is now 28-14-1 and 15-6. It was the fourth upset by BYU this season over ranked teams (beat No. 2 LSU and twice defeated No. 21 Cal Irvine).

"We showed a ton of character in the way we approached the game today," BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. "It would have been easy to pack it in, but our team came out with a lot of energy for this game. I can't say enough about Adam Miller's performance. He (Miller) had that 'Desmond Poulson attitude' today in that he wasn't going to let anybody beat him. If it weren't for his high pitch-count, I probably would have left him out there to finish the game. He was crisp, and I love to see that from Adam. He was ready to go today."

"It was a must-win game for us and I knew that," Miller said. "I felt my curve ball got stronger as the game went along. I just tried to pitch them inside and not let them get extended with all the lefties they had in their lineup."

The pitching duo of Miller and Milke, who recorded his third save, received plenty of help from the likes of Brugman, Whitney and several other teammates.

Adam Law produced BYU’s fourth consecutive single of the third inning to score Hayden Nielsen and Jacob Hannemann as BYU took a 2-0 lead. Brock Whitney hit a wind-aided three-run homer to left field, extending that lead to 5-0 in the third.

"Adam (Law) came up with a big hit to get us on the board," Littlewood said. "I loved our attitude coming out before the game. We talked about having a short memory and moving on to the next game. He (Gonzaga pitcher Arturo Reyes)  threw his slider a bit too often, and I’m proud of our hitters for plugging away."

In the fifth Hannemann led off with a triple and scored off Trace Hansen’s single. Then Brugman popped a two-run homer to left field that appeared to glance off the glove of the Gonzaga outfielder, increasing BYU’s lead to 8-1. Brugman pounded a two-out homer over center, his second round-tripper of the day and seventh of the season, to put BYU up 9-5 in ninth.

"On a normal day it probably would have been a warning track out," Littlewood said of Brugman's first home run.

"To me this was a do-or-die win," Littlewood said in explaining the hopes of a WCC playoff spot. "One of the top four spots in our league is within our grasp now."

The Cougars next play on Tuesday night at Utah Valley University, before returning to WCC action, when a three-game series starts on Thursday at Loyola Marymount University.

A rematch in the Deseret Duel Tuesday against Utah in Provo precedes BYU baseball’s return to league action this week at Gonzaga.

The Cougars, 19-15 overall and 7-5 in the West Coast Conference, host Utah (16-19) on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Desmond Poulson (5-0, 2.14) will start for one inning in the rematch against Utah. The rotation is set for the three-game series at first-place Gonzaga (26-11-1 and 13-5 in the WCC). Poulson, Jeff Barker (3-2, 3.93) and Adam Miller (2-6, 5.98) are scheduled to throw in that order starting Thursday at Spokane, Wash.

But first up is Utah who beat the Cougars 5-4 in 10 innings last month in Salt Lake City.  The Deseret Duel baseball points are still up for grabs in the four-game series.  BYU has won four of the five Deseret Duel baseball portions, with the Utes winning in 2011 on run differential.

“The next series we play is going to be one of the toughest series we play all year,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said.  “We need to go up there and find a way to sneak a game or two from Gonzaga. The goal would be to be above .500 when we come back home, that would be huge for us.”

The Cougars have been idle from competition for over a week due to final exams. The time off has been beneficial for the return of catcher Dakota Hernandez who broke his thumb 16 games into the season after starting nine of those contests.  Hernandez’ return comes just in time as his replacement Jarrett Jarvis, who started the past 18 games, will be sidelined from a broken fibula in a collision successfully defending the plate in BYU’s last action.

The Utah and Gonzaga games will be broadcast live locally on KOVO Radio 960 AM, on Satellite Radio Sirius 143 and streamed on the Internet.

The next BYU home game after the Utah tilt is on May 9 after the Cougars play the Utes in Salt Lake City on May 7. The Cougars play in Orem at Utah Valley University on April 30.