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OREM — When BYU baseball took a 6-0 lead after catcher Dave Clawson stroked a three-run homer outside of Brent Brown Ballpark, the Cougars knew things were going right in the first of a three-game rivalry series with Utah Valley.
As it turns out, the best was yet to come — defensively.
Tanner Chauncey was 4-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored, and Clawson and Keaton Kringle each went 2-for-4 to help lift BYU (18-12) to an 8-3 win over the Wolverines for the visitors’ fourth-straight win Tuesday night.
“I’m not trying to do too much,” Chauncey said of his career rarity with four hits in a game. “I’m not going to hit too many home runs, but what I can do well is find the holes and work good at-bats.
“I don’t really care if I get down to two strikes; I’m just looking for a good pitch, and then I’ll go up there and battle. I just do what I can to put the ball in play and find some holes.”
Trevor Howell went 4-for-4 to lead Utah Valley (11-20), but the Cougar defense held its opponents to just one hit in the first three innings in jumping out to a big lead in Jordan Wood’s second start of the season.
The sophomore allowed three earned runs on six hits in 5.1 innings to move to 2-0 on the season, and Bo Burrup, Mason Marshall and Riley Gates combined for the remaining 3.2 innings in relief.
“Our approach was just to bring energy and play our game,” Littlewood said. “We put together some good at-bats and tried to find that fourth starter like Jordan Wood.
“He gave us exactly what we needed.”
COUGAR FANS ... IT'S TIME!!#GoCougspic.twitter.com/XkEJuWred6
— BYU Baseball (@BYUBaseball) April 12, 2017
BYU jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two innings, including Clawson’s three-run homer that scored Dean and Shaver on a ball that caromed onto the onramp at University Parkway. The Cougars rode their defense to a six-inning shutout of the regional rivalry before giving up three runs in the sixth.
“Our fielding percentage is great,” Littlewood said. “Most of the time, we’re going to field the ball when it is hit to us. Kyle (Dean) ran down a ball, and Keaton (Kringlen) must have Velcro in his glove. If he gets the glove on it, the ball sticks like I don’t know how. Bronson (Larsen) plays like a catcher in left field, and we really trust our infield.
“With Nate Favero going in at first base, we had five guys who played high school shortstop in the infield. We feel really comfortable when guys hit it on the grounds that we will make plays.”
Trevor Peterson scored Utah Valley’s first run of the game, and Jackson Overlund’s triple paced a three-run sixth inning. But the Cougars pulled one back when Larsen drove in Kringlen in the seventh, and the Wolverines didn’t score again.
In eight games since Loyola Marymount pitched a perfect game March 25 against BYU, the Cougars have held opponents to six runs or fewer seven times. The only exception was a 9-6 home loss to Oregon — a six-error mess that BYU players said was exceptional on their part.
“I think we all take a lot of pride in defense,” Chauncey said. “The Oregon game was a fluke; every other game, we only make one or two errors, or less. I think it helps our pitchers out, and they know they can attack hitters and throw a lot of strikes.”
Kringlen scratched across another run on Dean’s high sac fly to right field for an 8-3 lead in the ninth, and Gates struck out the side in the bottom of the inning to close out the victory.
BYU earned its seventh win in the past eight games, and the No. 1 team in the West Coast Conference continues league play Thursday against Pepperdine at Miller Park in Provo. The Wolverines return to Western Athletic Conference play Thursday at Cal State Bakersfield.
