PROVO, Utah — Robert Emery homered Thursday to stretch his hitting streak to six games and keep the University of San Francisco baseball team's power train rolling, but host BYU scored multiple runs in four different innings to secure big leads and cruise to a 20-3 West Coast Conference series-opening win at Miller Park.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• BYU (32-13, 16-6 WCC) had already scored four runs in the first inning when Emery strode to the plate in the top of the second. But he wasted no time in putting the Dons on the board for the first time in the game, swinging at the first pitch of the inning and sending it over the right-center field wall for his fourth home run of the year and a 4-1 score. He would single in the fourth as well for his third straight multi-hit game and his sixth game in a row with a hit. He's batting .450 with two doubles, a home run, four RBIs and four runs scored during his current streak.
   
• The Cougars got the run back in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by Danny Gelalich to put their lead back at four runs at 5-1. BYU had tallied five consecutive hits in that four-run, bottom-of-the-first rally, which included back-to-back RBI doubles from Jackson Cluff and Ryan Sepede. BYU chased USF starter Riley Ornido (6-6) with six more runs in the fifth inning while pushing its lead to 11-1. The final blow came in the form of a grand slam by Brock Hale, who cleared the bases with a home run over the center field wall after two runs had already scored in the inning.
   
• The Dons (27-23, 14-11 WCC) whittled down their deficit a bit with two runs in the seventh, including an RBI single from Jack Winkler to make it 11-3, but the BYU offense would not let up. The Cougars grabbed both of those runs right back in the bottom half of the inning with an RBI single from Brian Hsu and another RBI from Sepede.
   
• BYU left no doubt as to the victor of game one with another big rally in the bottom of the eighth. The Cougars batted around in the inning and scored seven runs thanks in part to nine free passes (five walks, four hit-by-pitches), including four consecutive free passes with the bases loaded that brought in runs. Only two of the Cougars' seven runs in the eighth scored on a base hit, with Carson Matthews' two-out, two-run single tacking on BYU's 19th and 20th runs of the game to make it 20-3.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 9: Emery's home run gave San Francisco 37 for the year – the team's most since hitting 52 in 2010 – and marked the Dons' ninth home run in the last nine games. USF has hit home runs in 11 of its last 16 games, including three multi-home run games.
• 20: Thursday marked the second time this season the Dons allowed 20 runs, after Portland did the same on March 16. It was the most runs the Cougars had scored since scoring 23 against the Pilots in Provo almost two years to the day, on May 11, 2017.

COMING UP

• Game two of the series is scheduled for 6 p.m. MDT on Friday. San Francisco left-hander Scott Parker (6-3, 4.34 ERA) will face BYU righty Easton Walker (6-0, 1.30 ERA). Fans can find all live coverage links on USFDons.com.