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OREM — If BYU baseball was looking for its offense after scoring three total runs in a pair of losses at Pepperdine last weekend, it found those bats Tuesday night.
Eric Urry slammed two home runs, and the Cougars used an eight-run seventh inning en route to a 17-6 rout of rival Utah Valley at Brent Brown Ballpark in Orem.
Bronson Larsen and Colton Shaver each added a home run for the Cougars.
“Our approach was really good today,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “It’s a simple thing: we swing at strikes and take balls. But at Pepperdine, we went out of the zone a little bit and that wasn’t conducive to our game.
“Overall, our guys felt confident at the plate. I liked the energy we brought to the field.”
Brennon Lund went 4 for 6 with three RBIs and three runs scored to lead BYU (32-13), which clinched the three-game University Parkway series at 2-1. Urry finished 3 for 5 with five RBIs, and Larsen was 2 for 6 with three RBIs for the Cougars, who pounded out 19 hits.
“It felt really good to finally get the whole lineup going,” Lund said. “It’s always nice to have a game where you put up 19 hits.
“I feel like we just tried to relax a little more. We were a little uptight; it was a big series last weekend. It was good to come out, slow it down a little bit and relax.”
Urry’s first home run paced a 4-0 start for BYU. The senior from Tempe, Arizona, drove in a three-run homer in his first plate appearance in the first inning, and Hayden Nielsen added an RBI double in the second as BYU jumped out to a 4-0 lead.
“Eric’s just a guy who plays with such confidence. That’s unique at BYU,” Littlewood said. “We need that at BYU. He brings it every day. I changed the lineup and moved him to the four, and tonight it worked out to come back in key spots.
“He’s gotten big hits for us all year long, and he plays good defense, too.”
The Wolverines (28-20) pulled within two runs, 5-3, on Craig Brinkerhoff’s solo shot in the bottom of the sixth, but the BYU bats erupted in the next half inning to take control for good. The Cougars batted around in the seventh, paced by Urry’s two-run homer and Lund’s bases-loaded triple that drove in Daniel Schneemann, Larsen and Anderson.
“That was fun,” Lund said of the seventh. “We have good hitters, and it’s nice to have two-out scoring innings like that.”
BYU added two more in the eighth inning on a two-run home run by Larsen, effectively slamming the door shut on UVU’s comeback bid.
Hayden Rogers collected the win for BYU to improve to 5-3 on the season. The sophomore southpaw went two innings, allowing one run and one walk with two strikeouts.
“It felt like when it was 5-3 and Jordan Wood came out, it became a war of attrition,” Littlewood said. “I didn’t have many guys to go to.
“But it worked out well for us. We needed to put some runs up to help out our pitching staff.”
Score by innings
BYU 3 1 0 0 1 0 8 2 2 — 17 19 1
UVU 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 2 1 — 6 12 1
2B: BYU — Lund; Chauncey; Kringlen; Willis, Z.; Brinkerhoff, C.; UVU — Gothberg. 3B: BYU — Lund; UVU — Erlandson. HR: BYU — Urry 2; Shaver; Larsen; Brinkerhoff.
WP: Rogers (5-3). LP: Schmitt (0-2)
Utah Valley scratched across another run when Jake Atkinson’s sacrifice fly scored Spencer Gothberg from third base, and Paul Estrada drove in Justin Erlandson to pull within 15-5 going into the ninth. But BYU got two more runs in the top of the inning, and Zach Brinkerhoff finished off the six-pitcher win.
Erlandson led Utah Valley with a 3-for-4 appearance at the plate. Craig Brinkerhoff went 2 for 5 with an RBI double in addition to his home run for the Wolverines, who likewise went through seven pitchers as they prepare for their final conference home series beginning Friday.
BYU travels to San Francisco for a three-game series beginning Thursday, while Utah Valley hosts Texas-Rio Grande Valley for its final WAC series of the year beginning Friday.
“This helps out a lot with confidence,” Lund said. “It’s a big weekend; if we can beat these guys, then we have a good shot at winning the conference.”
