BYU COUGARS
BYU Baseball Season Comes To Close At WCC Tournament
PROVO, Utah – The 2022 BYU baseball season has come to a close. BYU lost on Wednesday night to LMU in the opening round of the WCC Tournament, 5-1.
The first round in this year’s league tourney featured six teams, with the opening round being single-elimination. It was a win-or-go-home game for BYU, and the Cougars are packing their bags in Stockton and returning to Utah.
Final. pic.twitter.com/fHineV0JbY
— BYU Baseball (@BYUBaseball) May 26, 2022
Loyola Marymount, the lower-seeded team, scored first in the top of the fifth inning. Then began pulling away in the sixth after a two-run home run by Dylan Dennis. BYU’s Cole Gambill singled down the line in the bottom of the sixth to begin a rally effort, but it ended there.
BYU baseball falls to LMU in the opening round
The Lions, who had 15 hits on the night to BYU’s five, tacked on two more runs in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively to close the door on BYU’s up-and-down 2022 season.
BYU finishes the year at 33-21 overall.
After a season that saw BYU make a midseason coaching due to the sudden resignation of Mike Littlewood, the big storyline for BYU baseball going forward is the head coaching search.
Trent Pratt would “jump at the chance” to be BYU’s head coach
Interim coach Trent Pratt took over on April 11 and guided BYU to a 16-9 record. After the loss to LMU on Wednesday, Pratt expressed his desire to remain the skipper of a BYU baseball program he has been part of since 2013.
“Hopefully, we find something out soon, and we kind of go from there. But obviously, we want to be here,” Pratt said on the BYU Sports Network radio postgame. “I love BYU. I love the players we have and I love our administration for what they do. Man, I’d jump at the chance to be able to stay there and be able to coach here.”
Whether it’s Pratt or another candidate selected by BYU AD Tom Holmoe, the next skipper will have the challenge of not only trying to get BYU Baseball back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017. But also the rigors of life in the Big 12 Conference in 2024 and beyond.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for KSLsports.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
