BYU baseball: Anatomy of an improbable West Coast Conference title

A short week ago, nothing was going right for BYU baseball. But facing their season coming to an end, the Cougars returned to prime form, and took the NCAA tournament bid by the hard road.

The BYU baseball team was not looking good.

In a three game series against Gonzaga, the Cougars needed only one win to win the conference regular season title outright. Their hot bats had plowed the way to a dominating 5th best in the nation runs-per-game scoring clip. The Batcats had a murderer’s row of base-hitters and heavy swingers, and they had all the momentum.

But Gonzaga flattened them. Over and over.

Pitchers were walking in runs with bases loaded. Celebrated slugger Colton Shaver suddenly was swinging at everything that moved, and not making much contact. Tanner Chauncey, one of the toughest players to strike out in the NCAA, found no quarter with the Zag’s pitching staff. Daniel Schneemann, the WCC DPOY, was throwing errors, and looking positively anemic behind the plate.

The Cougars were swept for a series for the first time all season. They lost their chance at an outright conference season title, and ended up having to share with two other teams. That dropped BYU baseball to the third seed in the conference tournament.

Hitting the bottom

Going into the the conference tournament, head coach Mike Littlewood to BYU Sports Nation that beating LMU in the opener was a “must win.” That losing that game meant a path to the tournament title was “almost impossible.”

And the Cougars lost. The bats were almost silent, managing only three hits in the 3-2 defeat.

Every indication said the Cougars were on the way out. They didn’t just lose four games in a row. They also looked terrible while doing it. Their offensive identity was in doubt, and their pitching was even worse.

Sports are a funny thing. They run on emotion as much as skill, preparation, and effort. And as such, with the end of a season on a line for a team with talent, a team that felt like the deserved to go to the postseason, something changed.

And it changed a lot.

Rising to the top

Saint Mary’s was supposed to have the best pitching staff top to bottom in the WCC. BYU blasted them 8-4 behind two 2-run bombs from Bronson Larsen. Hayden Rogers pitched them to a quality start.

LMU came in a bit stunned after dropping to Gonzaga despite throwing their ace pitcher. BYU baseball sent them home in the rematch behind a brilliant game from pitcher Maverik Buffo, who pitched 8.1 innings before he needed Riley Gates to take care of the final two batters.

Then, it was back to Gonzaga. Gonzaga, who the Cougars couldn’t even come within shouting distance of just the week before, who swept BYU into a piece of the conference title and the number one seed. Gonzaga, that was riding a five game winning streak.

The Bulldogs only needed one more win to own the conference title. BYU would have to beat them twice.

Maybe that made the Zags a little overconfident.

Sweet, sweet payback

With their mojo regained, the Batcats destroyed the Zag’s pitching staff 10-3 in the first game. On the other side, the Cougs had another quality start from their pitcher, this time Jordan Wood. Another bomb blasted by Bronson Larson. Chauncey back to himself, sending one long and deep. Schneeman turning double plays, getting 3 hits a game.

When the dust settled, it was a body-blow victory over Gonzaga. The next game would be for all the marbles: conference title and NCAA autobid.

And then Cougars delivered the knockout punch.

In the 16-3 thrashing of a championship game, every player in the BYU line up touched home plate. No pitcher for the Zags could prosper, and the Cougar’s Kendle Motes and Bo Burrup looked nails.

The Cougars didn’t just look like themselves again: they looked the best they had all year.

Who can say the difference a week made? Maybe it was just when their backs were to the wall, they refused to go quietly. Sometimes, when it looks like you’re going to go down swinging, you just might punch your way to a championship.

It was an improbable title, earning the Cougars their first trip to the NCAA region since 2002. And it was a piece of what makes sports so great.

BYU will take on Cal State Fullerton in the Stanford regional of the NCAA tournament starting Thursday.