SALT LAKE CITY -- BYU's baseball players wondered if it was just their day. Maybe not the whole one, but definitely one incredibly long and bizarre three-out period that produced a stunning comeback Saturday on the rival's home field.

A memorable, unexpected way to end the regular season.

"I was already preparing a post-game talk to let our guys know how we let things slip away," BYU coach Vance Law said of what could be deemed a seven-inning wretch. "Somehow those guys, they just continued to believe that something was going to happen. But man I thought we went through the motions the first five or six innings. We had a couple of good at-bats a little later, but nothing to show for it. Then it all started.

"I truly have never witnessed anything like this before in my life, all the time that I played, coached."

A rally for the record books that started with a Dan Vargas hit and ended 15 batters later -- 11 hits, all singles -- is another bizarre twist in one of the more entertaining BYU-Utah competitions. There have been some wild games the past few years.

BYU pitcher Jake Wortham, who had the day off, recalled a few years ago playing the Utes in the Mountain West Conference tournament, also in Salt Lake City. He went to the bathroom and, following baseball's laws of routine and superstition, refused to leave until the rally was over (he insists he just stood there for most of the half hour).

When all of the Cougars appeared to be flushed this time, they found comfort in never-ending base hits and unspoken momentum.

Law never left his stoop, other players did whatever they were doing and stuck with it. It was 10-3 when the Cougars had the bases loaded, nobody out and the coach stared at the scoreboard and wondered if momentum could last long enough.

He was playing for the Chicago Cubs when they were trailing 9-0 in the sixth and came back to win 11-9.

This one had more pride at stake. BYU won the weekend series, 2-1, after dropping Thursday's opener. While Utah won April's single meeting, it did not count toward the Mountain West Conference standings.

Both teams went 10-14 in MWC games and they'll play again Tuesday in the first round of the conference tournament at TCU. While it appeared No. 5-seeded Utah (23-26) was saving some pitching for next week, how this one got away has to sting.

After the seventh, BYU (22-34, and a No. 4 seed next week) was maybe just thinking respectability.

"It was dead (in the dugout)," said Brandon Relf, whose RBI single score pinch runner Michael Bowen and served as the game-winning hit. "We just wanted something to happen, either the game to be over or someone to step up as a spark plug."

Relf, Kasey Ko, Jonathan Cluff and Vargas each had three hits for BYU, which won the hit parade 18-16.

Vargas' RBI double in the ninth produced the final score.

The most heralded role could also be given to a Cougar hurler, however. Jared Miller entered the game in the eighth, replacing Michael Ward after a 2-0 count. He walked the first batter (boy, was Law steamed at that) and followed with a single before getting the final six outs in as many batters.

Three strikeouts (two in the eighth) and a game-ending double play capped the game which took 3 hours, 11 minutes.

"Our offense did such a great job of getting us back in the game, I just wanted to throw up a zero and get a win," said Miller, a transfer from Cal State Northridge who said one of the best things about playing at BYU is the rivalry with the Utes.

Especially after this game.