With the game tied at five in the eighth inning, Morgan McCullough crossed home plate on a bases loaded walk in to give the Ducks a lead they would not relinquish.
The run was just a small part of a big night for the freshman, who paced the Ducks (18-8) to a 9-6 win over BYU (14-12).
The Ducks jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in Provo. In the top half of the second inning, two doubles from McCullough and Braden Stuzman — paired with two BYU errors — put the Ducks up 2-0. In the fourth, it would be McCullough again with an RBI single, followed by another RBI single from Kyle Kasser to tack on two more runs.
Isaiah Carranza threw five shutout innings in the Ducks 1-0 win over Portland on Tuesday. The sophomore got the ball again in the final game of the Ducks five game road swing, and delivered another solid outing to help pave the way for the win. Carranza threw five innings and allowed two earned runs before exiting.
The bullpen couldn’t protect the lead for Carranza. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Parker Kelly walked the first two batters before Cooper Stiles allowed a three-run home run off the bat of Nate Favaro to make it a 5-5 tie.
That is as close as BYU got to taking the lead, however. Following the bases loaded walk to score McCullough in the bottom of the eighth, two more Ducks scored after a failed pickoff at first base.
McCullough provided some insurance with his third RBI in the top of the ninth to give the Ducks a 9-5 lead. The Seattle native has had a difficult start to the season, coming into Sunday’s game hitting at .200. Time will tell if Monday’s game will be a turning point for McCullough, who went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
Kenyon Yovan sealed the deal for the Ducks, recording the final six outs to give the Ducks the win. After going 3-2 on the road trip, the Ducks will welcome in UC Irvine for a three-game series starting on April 7.
Follow Cole Kundich on Twitter @ckundich