BYU knocks out Gonzaga at WCC baseball tourney

STOCKTON, Calif. – The West Coast Conference regular-season champion Gonzaga Bulldogs in all likelihood saw their baseball season come to an early end as they lost their second straight game in the conference tournament on Friday afternoon.

The top-seeded Bulldogs (32-21-1) were eliminated after falling 8-1 to No. 3 seed Brigham Young (32-20) at Banner Island Ballpark.

With their seventh consecutive loss and an unimpressive RPI, the Bulldogs are not considered a probable candidate for an at-large NCAA tournament berth.

Gonzaga scored first but BYU collected four runs in the sixth and four more in the eighth.

Gonzaga got nine of its 11 hits off of BYU starter Jeff Barker (6-3), who went seven innings, walking three and striking out four. James Lengal pitched the final two scoreless innings.

Gonzaga had its opportunities early, but couldn’t capitalize. The Bulldogs loaded the bases with one out in the third, but Barker escaped.

The Bulldogs scored in the top of the sixth when Forbes’ two-out single brought in Marco Gonzales.

BYU responded in the bottom of the inning. Adam Law, Kelton Caldwell, Bret Lopez and Dakota Hernandez all hit RBI singles to give the Cougars a 4-1 advantage.

The Cougars added four insurance runs in the eight to cap the scoring.

Gonzaga’s Payden Cawley Lamb went 3 for 4 from the plate.

GU’s Tyler Olson (9-4), the WCC Pitcher of the Year, gave up six runs on 11 hits in seven innings. He struck out five and walked two.

GU fell 8-5 to San Francisco on Thursday. The Dons beat San Diego 10-8 Friday to advance to today’s championship game, also against USD, which defeated BYU 7-4 in Friday’s late elimination game. Today’s winner gets an NCAA berth.