The Seattle University baseball team took the early lead, but the BYU Cougars put together a big seventh inning to pull ahead and hold on for a 5-2 victory over the Redhawks Tuesday afternoon at Bannerwood Stadium.
In the second inning, Sean Narby (Auburn, Wash.) led off with a double, advanced to third on a deep flyout to right field by Grant Newton (Bend, Ore.), and scored on a single through the left side from Nick Latta (Tacoma, Wash.). Latta would advance to second on a wild pitch and hustled all the way home after a grounder hit by Zach Aaker (Ravensdale, Wash.) got away from BYU second baseman Brennon Anderson.
Redhawk starter Garrett Anderson (Kennewick, Wash.) cruised through the first five innings, allowing only one hit and two walks while striking out four batters. In the sixth, BYU's Anderson led off with a fly ball to right-center field that hit Narby's glove and bounced away. After advancing to third on a flyout, the Cougar would score on a groundout hit by Hayden Nielsen. After the next two BYU hitters reached base, Seattle U's pitcher induced a popout to end the Cougar threat.
With one out in the seventh inning, Bret Lopez and pinch hitter Jarrett Jarvis hit back-to-back singles. Ben Ruff (Fife, Wash.) came on in relief and walked BYU's Anderson to load the bases. Adam Isom laced a single through the right side, driving in Lopez, and Nielsen followed with a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Jarvis. Adam Law broke the game open with a single to right-center field that scored Anderson and Isom.
Seattle U put together one final opportunity in the ninth inning, as Nate Roberts (Silverdale, Wash.) led off with a single. After the next two Redhawk hitters struck out, Narby extended the inning with a single, but pinch hitter Josh Kutz (Seattle, Wash.) hit the first pitch he saw into left field, where it settled into Isom's glove to clinch the victory for BYU.
BYU (4-5) received four innings of two-hit relief from Keaton Cenatiempo, who picked up the victory for the Cougars. James Lengel allowed two hits in the final three innings for his second save of the season. Garrett Anderson suffered the loss for Seattle U, allowing four hits, three walks, and three runs, two of them earned, in 6 1/3 innings of work.
Narby and Latta each finished with two hits and one run scored to lead the Seattle U offense. Law went 2-for-3 with two runs batted in for the Cougars.
Seattle University (1-7) will look for a split of the midweek series Wednesday, Feb. 27, starting at 2:30 p.m. at Bannerwood Stadium. Skyler Genger (Kent, Wash.) is scheduled to go against Jeff Barker in a battle of righthanded pitchers.