After Arizona had leads in the first, second and seventh innings, BYU erupted for eight in the seventh on their way to a 12-5 win on Thursday in Provo. Arizona had leads of 1-0, 3-1 and 5-4 before the eight-run BYU seventh inning allowed the Cougars to take control.
Arizona and BYU exchanged runs that scored on groundouts to create a 1-1 tie after one inning. An Aaron Walton double in the third inning scored Easton Breyfogle and Tommy Splaine in the third to give Arizona a 3-1 lead. BYU took its first lead of the game on a Crew McChesney double that scored Tate Gambill and Bryker Hurdsman.
A Maddox Mihalakis double scored Adonys Guzman to tie the game at four in the top of the seventh inning. A Splaine sacrifice fly scored Garen Caulfield to put Arizona back in front 5-4 in the seventh BYU tied the score on a throwing error by Arizona pitcher Casey Hintz and went in front on a hit batter with the bases loaded.
A Gambill single scored two more and after the second out of the inning, BYU added four more runs to complete their eight-run seventh inning and take a 12-5 lead to the eighth. Arizona had opportunities with runners on base in the eighth inning but went down in order in the ninth.
Collin McKinnney, Hintz and Garrret Hicks all allowed at least three runs on Thursday. Carson Johnson pitched a scoreless eighth for Arizona. BYU started Justis Reiser pitched 1.1 innings, allowing three runs. Payton Gubler relieved Reister and allowed two runs in five innings for BYU. Hayden Coon pitched two scoreless innings to close the game.
Arizona and BYU play game two on Friday at 3:30 PM MST. The Wildcats are starting Owen Kramkowski (5-3, 4.86) versus Jaden Harris (1-3, 8.24) for the Cougars on Friday. Smith Bailey (1-1, 3.46) starts in the series finale for Arizona against Garrison Sumner (3-1, 7.36) for BYU with a 10:30 AM MST first pitch on Saturday.