STOCKTON, Calif. (May 27, 2016) — An uncharacteristic outing forced an early exit from the West Coast Conference baseball tournament Friday afternoon as No. 30 BYU was eliminated by Pepperdine, 7-2.

For the second time in as many days the Cougars (37-17) fell victim to multiple strikeouts from a pitcher who threw a complete game. Pepperdine (29-23) jumped out to a 5-0 first-inning lead which was capped by the pitching of Ryan Wilson, normally the Waves’ ace reliever.

The left-handed Wilson struck out 11 and scattered eight hits to improve to 2-0, yielding his first earned run since February.

A three-run homer by Wave Manny Jefferson helped chase BYU starter Keaton Cenatiempo from the mound after the first inning. Cenatiempo was relieved by Mason Marshall, who gave the Cougars ample opportunity to mount an attack after the fifth and sixth innings when he retired Pepperdine on five and six pitches, respectively.

The Cougars strung multiple hits in the third and ninth innings, resulting in a run each inning.  In the third frame, Bronson Larsen hit the first of three BYU singles, scoring after Tanner Chauncey’s centerfield single was bobbled. Chauncey was 3-for-4 on the afternoon.

Chauncey accounted for BYU’s score in the ninth also due to a Wave error after his one-out double was followed by consecutive singles by Keaton Kringlen and Brennon Anderson for the earned run. Kringlen’s single extended the WCC’s Freshman of the Year’s hitting streak to 11 games.

The tri-champion Cougars await hope for their season to continue as an at-large entry if they make the 64-team field in the NCAA baseball tournament when it is announced Monday.

PROVO, Utah (May 24, 2016)—Accolades for No. 30 BYU, regular season tri-champion, were announced Tuesday by the West Coast Conference.

Topping the list for the Cougars (37-15) are Keaton Kringlen as WCC Freshman of the Year and Brennon Lund and Michael Rucker as First Team All-WCC selections.  Kringlen was also named to the WCC Freshman Team and was Second Team All-WCC.

Colton Shaver was voted Second Team All-WCC.  Brennon Anderson, Tanner Chauncey, Hayden Nielsen and Eric Urry were Honorable Mention All-WCC from BYU.  Daniel Scheemann joins Kringlen on the WCC Freshman Team.  For the complete list of WCC honors see this link.

Rucker (11-0, 2.58) is scheduled to start as BYU’s opening day pitcher against Gonzaga (33-16) on Thursday at 7 p.m. PDT in the WCC post-season tournament at Stockton, California.

“The opening day of our tournament will feature four starting pitchers who will be playing professional baseball soon so it really doesn’t matter who we play," said BYU coach Mike Littlewood.

 “We feel really good about the way we are playing right now, and although we’ve had a couple injuries on the mound we have had guys step up and get the job done.  It’s been a rewarding season and the guys have put it on the line every night, but we all know we haven’t yet reached our main goal of reaching the NCAA tournament."

The Cougars tied with Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s (30-23) for the regular season title and are in the hunt with Pepperdine (28-22) for the automatic berth for the NCAA Regionals from the WCC Tournament.  BYU returned to the national rankings for the second time this month at the No. 30 spot in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll.

 “As far as pitching goes we are going to try and win the game we are playing that night,” Littlewood said.  “As thin as we are on the mound, we don’t have the luxury of saving someone for tomorrow when we need to win today."

All of the games BYU plays in the WCC Tournament will be broadcast live by ESPN960 AM, BYU Radio—Sirius 143, with a live video stream on TheW.tv.

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