Cougars tally 13 hits in 7-4 win over Utes

PROVO, Utah — Led by Joshua Cowden's four RBI and a three-run seventh inning, BYU baseball defeated Utah, 7-4 at Miller Park on Tuesday night. 

"There was a feeling tonight in the dugout that we're not going to lose this game," said BYU head coach Mike Littlewood. "It was a huge win for us and a big confidence boost for the team. It showed our guys that when we put together a clean game, and don't hurt ourselves, we have the chance to win a lot of games."

Utah got on the board first, taking an early 1-0 lead. Leadoff batter Jaylon McLaughlin reached on a dropped third strike, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch.

The Cougars plated two in the third inning to go ahead 2-1. Mitch McIntyre walked before Cooper Vest and Andrew Pintar both beat out infield singles. Cowden then scored McIntyre and Vest with a single up the middle.

The Utes scored three runs in the sixth inning, all with two outs, on three walks and two base hits to right to take a 4-2 advantage. 

BYU got a run back in its half of the sixth, after Hayden Leatham reached on a deep double to left field and Brock Watkins brought him home on a flare single to right, making it 4-3, Utah.

A walk by McIntyre to start the seventh set up the Cougars, who had two runners in scoring position with one out after a Pintar double. Cowden delivered once again, with another two-RBI single, scoring McIntyre and Pintar. After Cole Gambill singled into right to advance Cowden to third, Bryan Call hit a sacrifice fly to deep left center that scored Cowden and gave BYU the lead back at 6-4. 

The Cougars added an insurance run in the eighth after getting singles from Watkins and Cole, with Watkins scoring on a Vest single to lead 7-4 heading into the ninth. 

In the top of the ninth, the Utes had a runner on first and got a base hit into right field, but Gambill threw a strike to Watkins at third, who tagged the runner out to end the game. 

BYU scored seven runs on 13 hits and Utah scored four runs on six hits. It was the Cougars’ seventh game this season with double-digit hits and the first since having 11 against UVU on March 26.

Player Notes 

• McIntyre: 1-3, 2 R
• Vest: 2-4, 1 R, 1 RBI
• Cowden: 2-5, 1 R, 4 RBI

It was a staff day for the BYU pitching staff, who used seven different pitchers, including senior Ayden Callahan, who saw action for the first time in two years coming off of Tommy John surgery. Callahan went two innings, retiring the side in order in both and finishing with two strikeouts.

The Cougars will head to Nebraska for a three-game series with Omaha at Tal Anderson Field on Thursday through Saturday, April 15-17. The first two games against the Mavericks are scheduled for 6 p.m. CDT first pitch, with the Saturday matchup set to begin at Noon CDT. 

The series will be broadcast on the BYU Sports Network—BYU Radio FM 107.9, BYUCougars.com and the BYU Cougars app—with Jason Shepherd on the call.