“Kudos to Cooper and the guys in front of him who got on base and gave us a chance to win,” said BYU head baseball coach Trent Pratt. “We weren’t great in the early innings, but the guys hung in there and kept fighting. I’m so proud of Cooper. When we called his number, he was ready. As a coach, you can’t ask for more than that.”

Meanwhile, reliever Ashton Johnson was once again brilliant on the mound, holding WSU scoreless over the final five innings while scattering five hits and striking out three for the win. The senior lefty is now 2-0 on the year and has surrendered just one run in 15 innings of work.

“I can’t say enough about AJ (Johnson),” said Pratt. “He’s just been so consistent. Every time we put him out there, we know exactly what we’re going to get. He’s going to compete and give you a chance to win. When he kept putting zeros on the scoreboard it gave our offense hope that we could come back and win.”

Trailing 4-3 with two down in the ninth inning, Ridge Erickson kept BYU’s hopes alive when he was hit by a pitch. Easton Jones then drew a walk to set up the heroics by his younger brother, Cooper, who drove an 0-2 fast ball over the left-field fence for the 6-4 lead. Johnson then faced four batters in the ninth, getting three flyouts to seal the BYU victory.

BYU scored six runs on eight hits to improve to 5-4 on the year, while WSU (3-5) had nine hits in the loss.

Softball splits two games in California

FULLERTON, Calif. — BYU softball dropped a 3-2 contest at Cal State Fullerton before beating Cal 7-6 in a Judi Garman Classic opening doubleheader at Anderson Family Field on Thursday.

The Cougars saw their 6-1 lead trimmed to a 7-6 advantage late, but held on for the victory against Cal.

Cal plated one in the top of the first on a single, stolen base, fly out, walk and double steal. BYU answered back in the home half of the inning as Owens was hit by a pitch and Morrow crushed a home run down the left field line.

The Cougars added to their lead after a Bear pitching change in the second, stringing together a  Rita Tavita  single, Udall-Woolley fielder’s choice,  Bre Townsend  sacrifice bunt,  Danica Acosta  safety squeeze, Owens single, Bennett single and Morrow ground out to score four and go in front, 6-1.

Both teams scored in the fourth, with Cal adding two on a walk, double and single and BYU picking up a Shuler sacrifice fly to make it 7-3.

After fairly quiet fifth and sixth frames, Cal threatened in the top of the seventh with two singles, a pair of walks, catcher’s interference and fielder’s choice that had the Cougar cushion down to one, at 7-6, but BYU induced a first pitch groundout to pick up the win.

In the first game of the day, Cal State Fullerton took a 2-0 lead through one. The Titans added another run in the bottom of the second on a walk, groundout, stolen base and infield single, making it 3-0 after two.

After a leadoff Lexie Bennett walk was erased by a double play in the top of the fourth, the Cougars put two on with two outs in a Brittingham walk and Shuler single through the left side. Maddie Udall-Woolley then double the pair home, lacing a ball to right to cut into the Fullerton lead at 3-2.

After turning two in the bottom of the sixth to keep the Titan advantage at one, BYU was down to its final three outs in the seventh.  Lily Owens  drew a two-out walk, but the Cougars flew out to end the contest.