Ute Baseball Falls to Cougars, 4-1

Thursday, March 12

Salt Lake City (Franklin Covey)

3:00 PM

University of Utah

6-7, 0-1

BYU

9-6, 1-0

BYU

Utah

3/12/2009 12:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 12, 2009

Box Score

SALT LAKE CITY - The Utah baseball team dropped its first home game of the season, 4-1 to Brigham Young on Thursday, March 12.

Utah (6-7, 0-1 MWC) struck first in the bottom of the first as Rick Cornu hit a solo home run to right field.

BYU (9-6, 1-0 MWC) took the lead in the top of the second off Brandon Relf's two RBI single to right field, scoring both Sean McNaughton and Jonathan Cluff on the play.

The Cougars added two runs in the fifth inning. McNaughton singled to right field, scoring Kent Walton. Kasey Ko sent another run home with a double.

The Utes struggled at the plate with just three hits on the day as BYU pitcher Jeremy Toole had a solid performance, striking out nine and walking just two.

Brian Budrow went seven innings on the mound for Utah, allowing three earned runs and striking out six. Greg Krause pitched the final two innings, striking out four of the six batters he faced and allowing just one hit.

"We didn't have much going at any point offensively," head coach Bill Kinneberg said. "I'm a little disappointed in our offense, but I think [Jeremy] Toole was the big reason for that. He was really good today. He was able to command his fastball, throw his breaking ball for strikes and really tied our hitters up.

"You saw two good baseball teams out there today. Toole got the upper hand on us. We are just going to tee it up again and play hard tomorrow."

The final two games of the series will be played in Provo, beginning at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, March 13. Both games will be televised on BYU TV.