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BYU baseball wins WCC tournament for first time

By Joshua Ellis

Jun 28, 2016; Omaha, NE, USA; General view of the game between the Arizona Wildcats and Coastal Carolina Chanticleers in game two of the College World Series championship series at TD Ameritrade Park. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 28, 2016; Omaha, NE, USA; General view of the game between the Arizona Wildcats and Coastal Carolina Chanticleers in game two of the College World Series championship series at TD Ameritrade Park. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /
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Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports /

BYU baseball beat Gonzaga in back-to-back games on Saturday to clinch the West Coast Conference tournament championship and the WCC’s automatic NCAA tournament bid.

BYU baseball looked like a longshot for the NCAA tournament after losing its opening game of the WCC tournament to No. 27 LMU on Thursday.

The Cougars would have to win four consecutive elimination games to clinch their first ever WCC tournament title and make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2002.

Yet they did it.

An 8-4 win over Saint Mary’s and a 5-4 revenge win over LMU on Friday set BYU baseball up for a chance to upset No. 22 Gonzaga on Saturday.

The Cougars thumped the Bulldogs in game one 10-3 before sealing the conference title with a 16-3 win in the nightcap.

“I told the guys that besides getting married, these were the best two days of my life,” said BYU coach Mike Littlewood in a press release. “After the first game, we flipped the switch and put it all together. I’ve never been more proud of 35 guys in my life.”

Just last week, Gonzaga swept BYU to finish the regular season. BYU could have won the regular season conference title outright with one win over the weekend.

Instead, the sweep knocked BYU down to the third seed for the conference tournament and split the regular season crown three ways between Gonzaga, LMU and BYU.

But the Cougars overcame a 1-5 regular season record against those two schools and proved they belong in the postseason.

In the final game on Saturday, each BYU player had multiple hits and at least a run and an RBI.

BYU will learn its NCAA Regionals destination on Monday at 10 a.m. MDT on ESPN2.

Sunday Play

Traditionally, the College World Series utilizes weekend play through Sunday during the regionals.

BYU’s region will most likely be shifted to begin play on Thursday, similar to the NCAA softball tournament’s accommodations.

It was BYU’s 1958 and 1961 baseball teams that forfeited spots in the College World Series to avoid playing on Sundays.

The NCAA later created a rule that requires tournaments to adjust their schedules if a school has a written policy against playing on a certain day for religious reasons.

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