@NCBearsBaseball Unable to Get Timely Hits Against BYU

Thursday, February 23

Stockton, Calif.

1:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

2-4

BYU

2-2

Northern Colorado

Brigham Young

2/23/2017 4:41:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

UNC had its chances against BYU, but was unable to get the key hit in a 6-0 loss.

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

STOCKTON, Calif. – Northern Colorado baseball began its second week of play on Thursday, falling to BYU in the San Jose State University Tournament 6-0. Despite being shutout, UNC's offense put pressure on the Cougars, just missing out on the timely hits.

How It Happened
UNC placed a runner on base the first two innings, but were unable to advance them around the base paths. BYU was sent down quickly in the first by starter Cody Carroll, but they came back and struck in the second.

After a groundout to begin the inning, the Cougars next five batters reached base. Nate Favero delivered the big hit of the inning, with a three-run home run to center field putting Brigham Young up 3-0. Before the inning ended, BYU added on two more runs to take a 5-0 lead into the third.

Northern Colorado had a chance to get on the board in the next half inning, when they loaded the bases with two outs, but it ended in a groundout to second.

BYU added to its lead in the bottom half of the third with a two out single making it 6-0.

In the fifth, the Bears once again loaded the bases with two outs, and again could not come up with the timely at bat, ending it with a strike out.

From the fifth inning on, Northern Colorado held BYU hitless, while UNC's offense did not muster much else the rest of the game either.

Game Changer
It took just one swing of the bat to change the game. BYU's Brock Hale and Kyle Dean started the rally with back-to-back singles before Nate Favero stepped up to the plate. The Cougars leading hitter sent a ball to center field for his first home run of the season and put his team up 3-0.

Notable
- After struggling during the first week of play, Corey Nakakura had his best performance at the plate this season. He ended the day with a career-high three hits in four trips to the plate.- Nick Tanner and Jack Pauley also had a multi-hit game for UNC, with a 2-for-5 and 2-for-4 effort at the plate.
- Zach Heath had another strong outing of relief for Northern Colorado going two full innings allowing just one hit and no runs. He induced a double play and struck out one Cougar.- The two teams combined for 21 hits and 21 strike outs in the game.

Quotable
Head Coach Carl Iwasaki

"We have to work on minimizing the big innings and getting the timely hitting when we are playing an upper third West Coast Conference team like BYU. We competed with them for eight of the nine frames, but that one frame was the difference. Tomorrow, we have to come back and compete in all three phases of the game."

What's Next?
It will be doubleheader Friday for the Bears. They will first face BYU again at 1 pm MT, before taking of host San Jose State at 6 pm MT. The games will once again be played at Billy Herbert Stadium in Stockton.