FRESNO, Calif.—Home plate had a lot to do with the outcome Wednesday night in Fresno State’s 2-1 victory over BYU baseball.

Fresno State (15-7) was the beneficiary of a pair of solo homers, while runners were thrown out at home three times in the game. BYU’s Brennon Lund was thrown out at the plate to end the game in the ninth inning, similar to the outcome in the fifth inning.

Defensively, on the heels of a double play, the Cougars also snuffed out a Bulldog run as the first inning ended when leftfielder Eric Urry relayed to shortstop Hayden Nielsen who threw out Jordan Luplow at home as he tried to score off Trent Woodward’s two-out double.

Designated hitter Jacob Ward put FSU on the scoreboard with a solo homer in the fourth inning for a 1-0 Bulldog lead. Woodward broke a 1-1 tie with a one-out solo homer in the sixth.

Nielsen scored BYU’s only run in the fifth as he singled, advanced to third on Parker Starr’s single and scored on Brock Whitney’s two-out double to left field. Starr was thrown out on the play at home to end the inning.

“I'm proud of the way our guys came out and competed tonight,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said.  “A couple great plays by Fresno State was the difference in the game. Mike Springer gave us a quality start and a chance to win against a good team on the road.”

Springer pitched six quality innings in his second start of the season. Whitney went 3-for-4 on the night. Lund advance to third base in both the first and third innings, but was stranded and was called out at first prior to an appeal by Littlewood in the seventh. BYU had runners in scoring position in the first, third, fifth, seventh and eighth innings, but managed only one run.

The Cougars (7-15, 0-3 WCC) return to league play Thursday, 3 p.m. PDT, at San Francisco (9-9, 0-3 WCC) to start a three-game series.

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: