PROVO, Utah — BYU baseball dropped the final game of a four-game series against in-state rival Utah 11-5 at Miller Park on Tuesday.

“It's obviously tough to overcome an early deficit,” said BYU head coach Mike Littlewood. “We made some errors early that really hut us, but we kept fighting. I'm proud of our guys for that.”

Led by three homers—a three-run shot and two solo home runs—the Utes plated 10 runs in the first four innings to lead by double digits early. 

BYU got on the board twice in the fourth to cut the Utes’ lead to 10-2. After a leadoff double by Joshua Cowden, a Peyton Cole groundout advanced him to third. Cowden scored as Freddy Achecar tripled down the right field line, and Achecar made it home on a Cooper Vest groundout. 

A leadoff walk and two-straight singles by the Utah scored another run in the fifth inning, giving Utah an 11-2 lead. 

Andrew Pintar and Cowden both singled in the fifth as the Cougars threatened with two runners in scoring position and two outs. Achecar brought them home with a single up the middle, making it 11-4 through five. 

The Cougars made it 11-5 in the seventh inning when Cowden singled again and scored on a Cole double to left center.

In the ninth, the BYU side was retired in order and Utah clinched the season series with the win.

Player Notes

• Joshua Cowden: 3-5, 3 R
• Freddy Achecar: 3-5, 1 R, 2 RBI

The Cougars will host Pepperdine at Miller Park in the final series of the 2021 baseball season on Thursday-Saturday, March 20-22. Games one and two are scheduled for 6 p.m. MDT, with the Saturday afternoon finale set to begin at 1 p.m. MDT.

The series will be broadcast live on the BYUtv App. Audio broadcasts will also be available on the BYU Sports Network—BYU Radio FM 107.9, BYUCougars.com and the BYU Cougars app. Ticket information can be found at BYUtickets.com.

PROVO, Utah — BYU and Utah will play the final game of a four-game baseball series on Tuesday, May 18, at 6 p.m. MT at Miller Park.

The Tuesday night game 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 also have the live radio broadcast of the game.

The Cougars are coming off a 2-1 conference series win on the road at Pacific. After dropping game one to the Tigers (6-3) on Thursday, BYU bounced back with back-to-back shutouts on Friday (5-0) and Saturday (6-0) on the strength of outstanding pitching performances by starters Jack Sterner (7 innings, 2 hits) and Bryce Robison (8.2 innings, 4 hits).

Cole Gambill had the hot bat again for the Cougars over the weekend in Stockton. In 10 at bats over three games, he had five hits, including two home runs and two doubles. The junior from Alpine, Utah, scored three runs, had three RBI and amassed 13 total bases. For the week he hit .500 with an OBP of .615 and a slugging percentage of 1.30. Gambill is currently on a 16-game hitting streaking and has reach safely in 23-straight games. 

BYU is 21-25 on the year and 13-11 in WCC play. With three conference games remaining, the Cougars are tied with Portland for fourth place.

The Utes wrapped up a three-game weekend series on Sunday versus No. 9 ranked Oregon. The Ducks took all three games from the Utes (7-3, 16-3, 9-2) in Ogden at Lindquist Field. Utah is currently 14-29 on the year and 5-19 in Pac-12 play.

BYU and Utah have already met three times in 2021 with Utah taking the first two games at Smith’s Ballpark in Salt Lake City on March 11-12 (6-3, 7-1) and BYU winning the last meeting (7-3) at Miller Park on April 13.

The Cougars and Utes have previously met 371 times in baseball since the 1948 season, with BYU holding a 247-123-1 series advantage. The first recorded athletic event in BYU history was a baseball game between then Brigham Young Academy and the University of Utah in 1895. The game ended in a 3-3 tie with a bench-clearing brawl.

Following Tuesday’s home game, the Cougars will host Pepperdine at Miller Park in the final series of the 2021 baseball season. The Waves are 17-22 on the year and 9-12 in WCC play, good for seventh place in the conference standings.