SAN DIEGO (March 16, 2013)— Kris Bryant knocked his second walk-off home run against BYU Saturday as first-place San Diego won 10-9 in 14 innings.

The Cougars (9-10) played four hours and 42 minutes, leading most of the game again against USD (14-6). Bryant put together bookend walk-off homers to help the Toreros to a three-game sweep of BYU.

“It doesn’t get any more bitter than this,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “We need to find a way to get over the hump. It would be nice to pull one of these out. We keep getting punched and punched and punched, but we need to be resilient right now.

“Kris Bryant is a great player and he beat us a couple times. We tip our hat to him and move on.”

BYU had the West Coast Conference leader on the ropes thanks to several outstanding plays. Among them were four double plays in the first, second, fourth and ninth innings on Saturday. The Cougars jumped out to a 3-0 first-inning lead off a pair of singles, the second of which came from the hot bat of Brock Whitney. Whitney also had the two-out RBI in the 14th inning, which gave BYU a 9-8 lead.

Earlier in the game with two out in the third frame, Whitney homered, scoring Jaycob Brugman to regain the lead, 5-3.

BYU mounted another challenge in the ninth to tie the game and take the lead. Bret Lopez singled off the butt of the bat and Whitney scored in the confusion to tie the game, 7-7. Pinch-runner Andy Isom scored the go-ahead run, 8-7, when P J Conlon overthrew second base. Isom scored when the errant throw went into centerfield.

Torero Connor Joe tied the game at eight-all in the bottom of the ninth with a leadoff homer.

BYU centerfielder Jacob Hannemann combined with Nate Favero on a defensive gem in the 12th inning. The Cougar duo threw out Lucas Hagberg at third after he was held up from scoring.

“All that is nice, but it is not a W,” Littlewood said. “We’re dejected. It doesn’t get any easier. No matter who we play, we need to give ourselves a chance to win. We’ll keep plugging away. We play hard every single day.”

BYU next plays at UNLV in Las Vegas on Monday afternoon to start five consecutive non-conference tilts, ending with a four-game series against Kansas in Provo.

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.