4-run 6th helps Utah baseball take rubber match from BYU for Big 12 series win

SALT LAKE CITY — In the 69th and final meeting at Smith's Ballpark of a rivalry series that dates back to 1948, the University of Utah scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to outlast BYU and take the first conference series win between the two rivals in over a decade.

Kaden Carpenter was 2-for-4 with three RBI, a double and the go-ahead three-run shot to help the Utes win its first Big 12 series since March 23 with a 9-6 win Saturday over the Cougars.

Core Jackson and Austen Roelling each went 3-for-4 for the Utes (15-17, 4-11 Big 12), and Dylan Gazaway allowed two hits with three walks and a pair of strikeouts in three innings to clinch a win that turned a seven-game losing skid into a two-game winning streak in conference play.

"It's a big deal," Carpenter said. "This is tradition. The rivalry, the Holy War that people call it. It's a big deal. We're just really happy to come out with two wins this week."

Cameron Gurney smacked a base hit through the left side to score Jackson from third and give the Utes a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the sixth, and Carpenter went yard two batters later for a three-run homer that gave Utah a 9-5 advantage it would never give up.

It was the first home run of the day for Utah and second of the year for Carpenter, a junior from American Fork who last sent one over the fence March 16 against Kansas State.

"There's a tendency if I chase a ball in the dirty, sometimes they sneak a good fastball. But I got it," Carpenter told the ESPN+ broadcast of his home run.

Utah called on Cameron Nielsen to close out the win for a second-straight game, and the Cottonwood High alum induced a pop fly to deep center field against Bryer Hurdsman with two outs and the bases loaded to exit the eighth inning with a four-run lead.

Ezra McNaughton pulled one back in the top of the ninth for BYU in the final margin.

Hurdsman went 2-for-3 with a pair of walks for BYU (17-16, 5-10 Big 12), Parker Goff was 2-for-2 with a double and a pair of RBI, and Luke Anderson spotted a solo shot in the first inning for the Cougars, who went 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position Saturday before Utah freshman Dillon Fine induced a double play in the ninth to help clinch his first career save.

"This was tough," BYU head coach Trent Pratt said. "We just couldn't get the big hit; it was frustrating. We had our chances and it just didn't come today. Credit Utah, they put balls in play."

With more than 2,200 fans Saturday to bring the series attendance to 6,460 through the turnstiles, the Utes and Cougars combined for the highest-attended in-conference rivalry series since 2002 in Provo.

Of course, it's the first in-conference series between the two in-state rivals separated by just 42 miles since 2011, when the Utes joined the Pac-12 and the Cougars similarly left the the Mountain West for the West Coast Conference.

Saturday's game was a bit different than the past decade-plus, the culmination of a three-game conference series that started with BYU's Hayden Coon and Ashton Johnson combining for four-and-a-third scoreless innings in a 9-8 win Thursday before pinch-hitter Drake Digorono smacked an RBI double to the left-field warning track in the bottom of the eighth that helped the Utes pull one back, 6-4.

The two rivals will play one more this year — a midweek, nonconference game Tuesday, May 13 at Miller Park in Provo (6 p.m. MDT, ESPN+). But the series, and Big 12 bragging rights, belong to Utah.

"Last year down in Provo, they walked us off and it didn't sit well with us," Carpenter said. "Getting the series win is a big deal for us."

BYU wraps up an eight-game road trip and returns home Tuesday to host in-state rival Utah Valley (6 p.m. MDT, ESPN+) before resuming Big 12 play with a three-game home set against Arizona.

The Utes hit the road to face Baylor in a Big 12 series beginning Thursday.

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