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SALT LAKE CITY — Any indication that the BYU baseball team might be nervous or sluggish to open its rivalry game at Utah were gone after the second at-bat, when Tanner Chauncey ripped a double.
Chauncey finished 3 for 5 with two doubles and three runs scored, and BYU scored four runs each in the first and ninth innings to take an 11-6 win over the Utes in the first of a three-game series Tuesday at Smith’s Ballpark.
“Tanner Chauncey, he came in the first inning and got up to lead us off,” said BYU outfielder Keaton Kringlen, who went 2 for 3 with three RBIs and two runs. “That was huge to get our momentum up, and that’s our team captain. He did a great job.”
Brock Hale and Bronson Larsen each slugged two hits for the Cougars (11-11), who open a three-game series against West Coast Conference standout Saint Mary’s at 6 p.m. Thursday in Provo.
“I introduced Tanner Chauncey to everybody else after the game, because that was a new guy showing up today,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “That’s the guy we know he is, that kind of hitter. I feel like he is the best overall hitter on the West Coast in consistency and approach, and he’s been putting too much pressure on himself.
“To have him get going like that was really special — not just for this game, but moving forward.”
BYU, which took 2 of 3 from Pac-12 champion Utah in 2016, broke open the game early with its first four-run inning and took a 7-2 lead into the bottom of the second that forced the Utes to make one of their seven pitching changes just two outs into the game.
“If (the top of the lineup) is rolling, everyone gets rolling,” Kringlen said. “It’s a momentum builder. It’s huge.
“When they started coming back, we knew we had to come through in the later innings.”
Zack Moeller got the Utes on the board with a two-run single, moving to second on an error as Dallas Carroll and Hunter Simmons scratched across the plate in the second.
Kringlen drove in two with a triple to highlight a three-run second inning for BYU, but the Utes pulled one back when Oliver Dunn’s triple scored Ellis Kelly from first in the bottom of the inning.
That was the beginning of Utah’s attempted comeback bid. The Utes held BYU scoreless for seven straight innings and pulled within a run, 7-6, when Wade Gulden plated Moeller and Simmons with a two-run liner to the right side in the bottom of the fifth.
But that was as close as Utah would get. Mason Marshall faced eight batters with one strikeout to earn the win on the mound, as BYU countered Utah’s eight pitchers with five of its own — including sophomore Jordan Wood, who made just the second start of his career.
“We went to sleep, but we had some good at-bats,” Littlewood said. “They played good defense, but one through nine, we’re going to put pressure on opposing teams.
“As long as we are having quality at-bats, we’re going to put up some runs.”
Utah nearly struck again in the bottom of the eighth, when Moeller walked to set up a two-out, bases-loaded opportunity. But Daniel Schneemann converted the put-out at second base to end the inning, and the Utes didn’t score again.
Schneemann drove in Chauncey from third base to start the top of the ninth, and Kringlen fired a base hit up the middle for his third RBI of the game en route to BYU’s second four-run inning that ended the game.
The two teams will meet again April 18 in Salt Lake City, followed by the series finale May 9 in Provo.
But first, BYU will face 2016 WCC co-champs Saint Mary’s — and Oregon at 2 p.m. MDT next Monday.
“It’s nicer than losing,” Littlewood quipped after the win. “It gets us going. It’s amazing when you are working with 18-24-year-old guys, there’s definitely confidence between wins and losses. Wins are better than losses, and it gets us off to a big start. We’ve got a big week coming up … and I feel like our team is playing really well.
“We just need to keep plugging away.”
