After winning three consecutive elimination games in the West Coast Conference Tournament, BYU is one game away from securing its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2002.
The Cougars got a strong outing from pitcher Jordan Wood while Tanner Chauncey and Bronson Larsen both smacked three-run home runs as No. 3 seed BYU defeated top-seed Gonzaga 10-3 Saturday afternoon at Banner Island Ballpark.
That sets up a winner-take-all WCC championship game Saturday night (7:35 p.m. MDT, TheW.tv), with an NCAA Tournament bid at stake.
Coming into the day, the Cougars needed to beat the Zags twice to claim the tournament championship.
BYU seized a 4-0 lead in the first inning, highlighted by Chauncey’s three-run homer and a sacrifice fly by David Clawson.
Gonzaga answered in the top of the second with a pair of runs, but the Cougars plated four more runs in the third, including Larsen’s three-run homer.
BYU scored one more run (nine) through the first three innings Saturday than it did in the entire three-game series last week at Gonzaga (eight).
Nate Favero’s solo home run put the Cougars up 10-2 in the eighth inning.
BYU broke the WCC Tournament record for home runs with eight this weekend. The previous record of six homers was set by Pepperdine in 2002.
Wood continued the Cougars’ outstanding starting pitching in this tournament. He gave up four hits and two earned runs and struck out five in seven innings of work.