OREM, Utah – Greyson Bogden had three hits but Dillon Robison's first-inning home run proved to be the difference as Utah Valley University fell, 5-2, to BYU in front of a season-high 4,240 fans at Brent Brown Ballpark on Tuesday night.
The Cougars (22-19) led off the game with back-to-back singles before Robinson homered to right-center for a quick 3-0 advantage. For the Wolverines (13-28), Bogden was 3-for-3 but that accounted for half of UVU's six hits on the night.
Brady Corless (2-4) pitched 6.0 scoreless innings in relief, allowing just three hits and striking out six.
Jake Mayer (1-5) took the loss with the early home run accounting for the majority of the damage against him. He allowed just one run on five hits over his final 6.0 innings of work.
"That home run was the difference in the game. I thought Jake did a good job after he settled down," said UVU head coach
Eric Madsen. "We had chances to score some runs but BYU's a good club and they played solid. I thought it was a good baseball game in front of a great crowd."
Both Wolverine runs came in the bottom of the third as
Craig Brinkerhoff hit an RBI single to left that scored
Kade Andrus and
Zac Fuller followed with an RBI groundout that scored
Mark Krueger. Utah Valley had a chance to tie it in the bottom of the seventh inning but a deep fly ball hit by
Palmer Page to right center was caught at the base of the fence to end the inning.
BYU tacked on a run in the top of the sixth inning when Robinson doubled down the right field line and scored three batters later on a fielder's choice to make it 4-2. The Cougars added an insurance run in the top of the ninth when Robinson singled to left field, his fourth hit of the game, and scored two batters later on a Bronson Larsen single to left field. The win for BYU marks a three-game sweep in the season series against UVU.
The Wolverines now host New Mexico State in a key WAC series at Brent Brown Ballpark beginning Friday at 6 p.m. MT. Game two is Saturday at 6 p.m. MT with the finale slated for noon MT on Sunday.
