BYU baseball’s first NCAA tournament appearance since 2002 got off to a rough start after the Cougars lost 13-2 to Cal State Fullerton in the first game of the Stanford Regional.
BYU baseball gave up 13 runs off of 22 hits while CSF gave up nine hits but held the Cougars to just two runs.
CSF pitcher Connor Seabold struck out eight BYU batters in seven innings, giving up seven hits but only two runs.
BYU baseball’s Brady Corless lasted just 2.2 innings and gave up four earned runs off of seven hits.
Jordan Wood and Bo Burrup each pitched an inning in relief of Corless, and each gave up two earned runs.
CSF jumped out to a 3-0 in the first inning behind two BYU errors.
The first came from Corless. He tried to pick off the runner at third, but a wild throw scored the first run of the game instead.
Brock Hale had the second error of the inning on a bad throw from right field.
Hale had BYU’s first hit of the game in the fifth and Nate Favero scored him on an RBI double.
Colton Shaver added a solo home run in the seventh to cut CSF’s lead to seven.
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The Titans added four runs in the eighth and sealed the win as BYU went 3-up 3-down in the ninth.
The Cougars were led by Hale at the plate. He had three hits to bring his average up to .406 for the season.
BYU baseball will face the loser of tonight’s No. 1 Stanford versus No. 4 Sacramento State game in an elimination game tomorrow at 2 p.m. MDT.