PROVO, Utah – The Milwaukee baseball team got things going on offense late in the game, but could not overcome an early hole in falling at Brigham Young, 11-8, Thursday night at Larry Miller Field.
The Panthers (6-4) brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth against the Cougars (9-3), but that was as close as they would get.
"Once again, I loved our fight," head coach
Scott Doffek said. "Unfortunately, we just didn't have our "A" stuff on the mound. That is a darn good lineup and you really have to sequence pitches to be successful against them. We have to come out tomorrow and fight."
The eight runs scored by MKE marked just the second time the BYU staff has allowed more than three runs in a game this season, coming into tonight's contest sporting a sparkling 2.48 ERA as a team.
Tyler Bordner paced the offense with a perfect 4-for-4 evening, collecting a pair of doubles, scoring twice and knocking in a run.
Trevor Schwecke added two hits and
Matt Quartel drove in a team-high three.
Held to just three baserunners over the first six innings against BYU starter Jordan Wood (2-0), the Panthers started to piece things together in the seventh and it all came with two outs and nobody on base.
Bordner singled,
Nate DeYoung walked and
Oakland Scanlan loaded the bases on an error. Quartel put them all in motion, sending a 3-1 pitch to the wall in center to make it 7-3 at the time. Milwaukee was unable to hold the Cougars there, however, as BYU responded with four in its half of the inning to push the lead back to 11-3.
The Panthers kept things rolling in the eighth, starting with back-to-back doubles by
Mitchell Buban and Schwecke.
Jack Kraus then came through with a big double to right field, plating a pair. Bordner cracked the fourth two-bagger of the inning for an RBI and then scored later on a balk to draw the visitors within four again at 11-7.
In the ninth, a walk and two base hits made it 11-8 and brought the tying run to the plate with just one out. However, a ground out and strikeout ended the rally and the game.
Jared Reklaitis (1-3) was touched for seven runs in 4.1 innings, striking out four.
Will Wohlt pitched a clean inning to end the night, striking out one.
These two teams are back at it tomorrow, with game one of a doubleheader slated to begin at 3 p.m. CST.
