STOCKTON, Calif. — A four-hit shutout over 8.2 innings by BYU starter Bryce Robison led BYU baseball a 6-0 victory over Pacific at Klein Family Field on Saturday.

The Cougars scored six runs on 10 hits to win the WCC series 2-1. In addition to Robison’s performance on the mound, BYU got solid hitting on Saturday from Cole Gambill who went 2-4 with a home run and two RBI and Mitch McIntyre who also went 2-4 with a triple, a walk, two RBI and two runs scored.

"Everyone did their job tonight," said BYU head coach Mike Littlewood. "We got solid hitting, played really good defensive and you can’t say enough about how Bryce pitched today. Its shows how good pitching can neutralize good hitting when you have the command of multiple pitches. I’m really proud of the way the guys played the last two nights.”

Robison came within one out of a complete game, going 8.2 innings allowing just seven of the 32 Tigers he faced to reach base. The Cougar sophomore from Las Vegas threw 104 pitches in his longest outing of the year.

“I just tried to focus on one pitch at a time and before I knew it we were in the eighth inning,” said Robison. “I really felt good on the mound tonight and the guys scored runs early to give me a lead. Cole is really hot right now. It’s sure nice to have a guy on your team like that who is helping us score runs.”

BYU (21-25, 13-11 WCC) scored early with a run in the first inning off a leadoff bunt single by McIntyre and a double by Gambill to leftfield to take a 1-0 lead. The Cougars picked up a second run in the top of the third with a home run to centerfield by Gambill, his 10th of the season and 35th RBI of the year.

The Cougars blew the game open in the sixth inning with four runs on four hits, including a triple by McIntyre. Austin Deming got the inning going with a single to leftfield. Following an out, back-to-back singles by Abraham Valdez and Brock Watkins scored Deming and put two runners on for the McIntyre 2-RBI triple. An error at third base, on a hard-hit ball by Andrew Pintar, brought in McIntyre to make the score 6-0.

The Cougars wrapped up the final two games of the Pacific (15-30, 5-16 WCC) series with back-to-back shutouts, holding the Tigers to nine hits in 63 plate appearances over 18 innings.

BYU returns home for the final four games of the 2021 season. The Cougars will face rival Utah at Miller Park on Tuesday at 6 p.m. MT, before hosting Pepperdine Thursday through Saturday. The Thursday-Friday games are scheduled for 6 p.m., with the Saturday contest at 1 p.m.  

All four games will be broadcast live on the BYUtv App as well as online at BYUtv.org. The BYU Sports Network—BYU Radio FM 107.9, BYUCougars.com and the BYU Cougars app—will have the radio broadcast of all three games. 

Photos by Samantha Toy | Pacific

STOCKTON, California — BYU baseball heads back to California this weekend for a three-game series with WCC foe Pacific at Klein Family Field on May 13-15.

Thursday and Friday games are scheduled for 6 p.m. PT, with the Saturday matchup at 12 p.m. PT. All three games will be streamed live on the WCC Network. The games will also be broadcast on the BYU Sports Network—BYU Radio FM 107.9, BYUCougars.com and the BYU Cougars app—with Greg Wrubell and Tuckett Slade on the call.

BYU (19-24, 11-10 WCC) has won seven of its last eight games headed into the Pacific series. The seven wins includes a victory over No. 26 ranked ASU (8-5), a three-game sweep (12-0, 4-2, 4-3) of Saint Mary's, a win over Utah Valley (11-4) in the UCC Crosstown Clash and a 2-1 series win over San Diego (6-4, 11-10, 12-13), who began the series in first place in the WCC.

Pacific (14-28, 4-14 WCC) enters the weekend series with BYU having won four if its last seven games, including a victory over No. 18 ranked Stanford (15-12), a victory over San Francisco (8-7) and a 2-1 series win over Santa Clara (11-7, 6-7, 11-3).

The Cougars are currently in fifth place in the WCC standings with a 11-10 record, while the Tigers are in 10th at 4-14.

BYU and Pacific have met 27 times in baseball, with the Cougars holding a 15-12 series advantage. BYU has played at Pacific 18 times with a record of 10-8. 

Due to the 2020 pandemic, the WCC foes last met during the 2019 regular season in Stockton on April 25-27. The Cougars swept the series 3-0 (11-7, 12-1, 5-0) and went on to finish the season at 36-17 and win the WCC regular season title with a 18-9 record. 

BYU infielder Andrew Pintar was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Week on Monday for his performance in four road games last week. Pintar was also honored by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper as one of its National Players of the Week. 

In 21 at-bats over the four games, Pintar had 10 hits, including three home runs, a double and a triple. He drove in eight runs, scored seven times and drew two walks. Pintar also had at least two hits in every game, including three hits in each of the first two games of the three-game series at San Diego. He amassed 19 total bases, hit .476 with an OBP of .522 and a slugging percentage of .905.

Pintar’s hitting, combined with tough BYU pitching, proved to be the difference in the Cougars 6-4 win over the first-place Toreros on Thursday. In five plate appearances, he had two home runs, a triple, four RBI and scored three times.