SAN DIEGO--All-American Kris Bryant hit a walk-off, three-run home run to lead pre-season favorite San Diego to a 7-5 victory Thursday over BYU in the league opener.

The Toreros (12-6) snatched the victory away from BYU (9-8) in the West Coast Conference debut after the Cougars took a 5-4 lead in the seventh. Bryant, the reigning WCC Player of the Week, homered three times, each to lift USD over, even and over BYU.

"We played well enough to win," BYU head coach Mike Littlewood said. "I'm heart-broken for our players who went against a good team in a hostile environment. We didn't throw enough strikes in the seventh and eighth innings. We can't afford to give up walks when we think they don't matter, because it hurt us when we had to face Kris (Bryant) again."

Cougar junior Jarrett Jarvis lined a two-out single to score Brock Whitney in the seventh, for that 5-4 lead.

BYU used a couple defensive gems to protect its third lead of the game. Brennon Anderson fielded a chopper behind second and flipped to shortstop Hayden Nielsen to end the seventh after Desmond Poulson intentionally walked Bryant. Nielsen turned an inning-ending double play in the eighth as James Lengal became the second reliever on the mound for BYU.

BYU took the initial 1-0 lead when Jacob Hannemann opened the game with a count of 1-1 before homering over the right-field fence.

The Toreros evened the score in the second after a Louie Lechich triple, then took a 3-1 advantage when Bryant belted a two-run homer with no outs in the third. Bryant tied the score with a solo shot, his second homer of the night, in the fifth, 4-4.

Earlier in the fifth, Jaycob Brugman lined a three-run, one-out homer for a 4-3 BYU lead.

Among the missed Cougar opportunities was in the sixth frame when they loaded the bases. Torero freshman PJ Conlon adequately replaced Michael Wagner, striking out consecutive Cougars to end the inning. Conlon ended up improving his record to 4-0.

"I'm proud of the way Desmond (Poulson) pitched," Littlewood said. "We came out inspired and will have to have short memories as we get ready for the next game."

The two teams meet again Friday evening.

League play begins this week for BYU baseball as Thursday starts a three-game series at the University of San Diego.

BYU [9-7) meets USD (11-6) on Thursday and Friday at 6 p.m. PDT, with the finale on Saturday at 1 p.m.

“We want to take the same approach of concentrating on the things we can control, playing catch, throwing strikes and working to keep ourselves in games to give us a chance,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said.

Scheduled to start the opener for the Cougars is  Desmond Poulson (2-0, 1.57 earned run average). Fellow junior Adam Miller (1-3, 3.91) will be on the mound Friday evening, and sophomore  Jeff Barker (2-2, 3.27) will be on the hill Saturday.

The Cougars are coming off a pair of upset victories over No. 21 UC Irvine, 6-3 and 3-1, as they head to San Diego.

Seven of BYU’s pitchers have registered victories, Poulson and Barker each with two wins. Sophomore James Lengal  has recorded four of the Cougars’ five saves.
Thanks to freshmen mid-fielders Brennon Anderson and Hayden Nielsen, along with juniors Adam Law and Brock Whitney at the corners, BYU remains in the NCAA’s Top 10 teams in double plays.

USD is ranked No. 4 in the nation in home runs, led by All-American and reigning West Coast Conference Player of the Week Kris Bryant who is No. 1 in the nation in runs, home runs and walks.  Fellow Torero Dillon Haupt is also No. 1 in doubles.

The Cougars fly to San Diego, then bus to Las Vegas for a Monday non-conference game at UNLV before flying home for a four-game series with Kansas.  All of the games at USD and UNLV will be broadcast live locally over KOVO Radio 960 AM.