BYU baseball: Cougars watch 7-run lead disappear against Beavers

PROVO — Through the first few innings of Tuesday's baseball game, BYU was sporting a relatively comfortable seven-run lead and looking more like the two-time defending national champions than the actual two-time defending national champions, No. 25 Oregon State.

But then the Beavers' bats showed up, and OSU showed why it has claimed back-to-back NCAA titles. Oregon State roared back to take the lead, then held on to defeat the Cougars, 17-11, before a crowd of 1,383 at Larry H. Miller Field.

The second of a two-game series between BYU and OSU was a zany slugfest that produced 28 runs, 38 hits, five errors and lasted three hours, 37 minutes.

"We know we can swing the bats with anybody in the country," said Cougar coach Vance Law. "The key to the whole ballgame was, every time we scored, they scored the next inning."

Not only did the Beavers score, it was how they scored. OSU plated eight of its 17 runs with two outs. Oregon State (11-7) scored 15 runs over the final six innings, including five runs in the fourth and ninth innings. And the Cougars couldn't keep up, scoring just two runs over that same span.

Beaver middle reliever Starr Taylor earned the win after pitching four scoreless innings, giving up just one hit and striking out five BYU batters.

"He did an excellent job," Law said of Taylor.

BYU's starter, Jake Wortham, pitched 3 2/3 innings, yielding 10 hits and seven runs to go along with three walks and four strikeouts.

"Wortham was breezing until we had two outs in the fourth," Law said.

In all, the Beavers stockpiled 22 hits compared to 16 for the Cougars.

Law said the opportunity to play an upper-echelon opponent will help his team the rest of the season as it competes for a Mountain West Conference championship.

"This series was very important for us moving forward," Law said. "I think we gained some confidence though we lost two games. We're getting better. We need more experience on the mound."

BYU (12-12) exploded for seven runs in the second inning as Kasey Ko singled and was driven home on a Thomas Bills single. J.T. Musso, Jonathan Cluff, Dan Vargas, Sean McNaughton and Kent Walton all followed with singles.

Parker led off the bottom of the third with a home run. A subsequent RBI single by Brandon Relf staked the Cougars to a 9-2 advantage.

But it didn't last.