April 5, 2011

PROVO, Utah - Chris Benson's two-run triple in the fourth gave Utah Valley an early lead but it wouldn't hold up as BYU won the only game the two teams will play this season, 11-3, on Tuesday at Miller Park.

Down 1-0 in the fourth, Benson - who was named the Great West Conference Player of the Week earlier Tuesday - ripped a triple to left center to score Kirk Doxey and Cole McWhorter, who both reached after they were hit by a pitch. Billy Burgess' ground ball then scored Benson to make it 3-1 Wolverines (7-17).

BYU would score three times in the fifth to retake the lead when Wes Guenther's pinch-hit, bases-loaded double gave the Cougars (15-12) a 4-3 lead.

The Wolverines had a chance to at least tie the game in the fifth, when Austin Haws singled and Austin Heaps doubled to begin the frame, but reliever Matthew Neil came in a got a strikeout, foul-out and another strikeout to end the threat.

BYU would add a run in the sixth - on a solo home run by Alex Wolfe - and then scored three more two-out runs in the seventh to take an 8-3 lead before pulling away with a three-run eighth.

Matthew Neil (2-2) got the win while Ty Hansen, making his first collegiate start took the loss and dropped to 0-2. BYU took advantage of 11 walks and got several clutch hits, scoring 10 of its 11 runs after there were two outs.

The Wolverines, the 2010 Great West Conference regular season and tournament champions, begin conference play on Friday at NJIT with a doubleheader.