San Francisco—All stops were pulled out for BYU’s baseball team Thursday as it took another ninth-inning loss, this time to San Francisco, 8-7.

The Cougars (7-16 and 0-4 in the West Coast Conference) fell victim to a walk-off RBI single in the ninth inning after tying the game in the top of that frame. Outfielder Matt Sinatro hit a one-out single to score Michael Eaton for the winning run.

“We scratched and clawed to get back into this game,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “We have a lot of young guys that have to figure this out in a hurry. We have to get better production. Good players make plays when it counts and we didn’t do it today. We are too good to be 7-16.”

BYU tied the game for the second time when freshman outfielder Brennon Lund knocked a two-out single to left field in the ninth, scoring pinch-runner Bryan Heward from second base to tie the game at seven-all.

After surrendering a pair of runs in both the first and second innings, the Cougars hung five runs on the Dons in the third inning. Three consecutive singles by Hayden Nielsen, Lund and Parker Starr loaded the bases, enabling Eric Urry to draw an RBI walk. The big hits in the third were a two-out, two-run double by Kelton Caldwell and an RBI double off the leftfield wall by Jarrett Jarvis, giving BYU a 5-4 lead.

The Dons loaded the bases, chasing Desmond Poulson from the game in the fifth inning and scored a pair of unearned runs via a Nielsen error and hit batter to take a 7-5 lead.

“He (Poulson) had to rely on his fastball because he couldn’t locate his curve,” Littlewood said.

Caldwell brought the Cougars back within a run, 7-6, when he hit the 1-0 pitch over the right field wall for a lead-off solo homer in the sixth.

The Cougars were unsuccessful in stolen base situations, used three pitchers, a couple pinch-hitters and juggled the defense mostly to no avail and as they tried for their first league win.

The second of the three-game series at San Francisco (10-9, 1-3) is Friday at 3 p.m. PDT.

Both BYU and San Francisco’s baseball teams are hoping to break into the winning column, but each has a non-league game before their three-game series starts on Thursday.

The Cougars (7-14) and USF (8-9) are both 0-3 after the first week of play in the West Coast Conference. Fresno State brings a 13-7 record into this week, hosting California before its game with BYU on Wednesday evening.

“As we move into our second week of conference play I just want our guys to take the field with the same confidence and passion we had against Utah and Seattle,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said.  “San Francisco is a quality team that we will have to beat in order to challenge for one of the four conference tournament spots.”

Michael Springer (0-1, 13.97 earned run average) will be BYU’s starting pitcher on Wednesday night at Fresno State. Teammates Desmond Poulson (3-2, 3.71), Jeff Barker (1-3, 4.86) and Kolton Mahoney (2-3, 4.75) start in that order at San Francisco.

BYU ran into a buzz saw last weekend hosting defending champion San Diego who vaulted back into the nation’s top 25 rankings at No. 17 (Collegiate Baseball), No. 24 (Baseball America) and No. 25 (NCBWA and Perfect Game).

Injured Cougars Hayden Rogers and Dillon Robinson will be making this California trip after being sidelined with a concussion and ankle injuries, respectively, in Texas and Louisiana. Rogers passed concussion protocol and has been cleared to pitch, while Robinson could appear in a designated hitter or pinch-hit role, according to Littlewood.

At San Francisco, BYU will be part of the 9^th Annual Dante Benedetti Classic on Saturday when the two teams precede a high school game at AT&T Ballpark, home of the Major League Giants. This will be BYU’s first game at a Major League ballpark since playing before crowds of 11,699 vs. Notre Dame and 2,804 vs. Washington in 1994 games at the Seattle Kingdome.

KOVO Radio 960 AM will broadcast BYU’s games on Thursday and Friday at 3 p.m. PDT and Saturday’s game at noon.

NOTE: The live video for Fresno State is free, the only live audio at Fresno is paired with the video

For more information, please download the 9-page game notes below: