PROVO, Utah (Interstat) — In a wild, back-and-forth affair that saw 20 runs and 26 hits, the Arizona State Sun Devils outlasted the BYU Cougars 12-8 on Saturday afternoon at Larry H. Miller Field to clinch the Big 12 conference series.

The game, which began in the afternoon and concluded in the evening, was a stark contrast to the first two games of the series, where the teams split a pair of lopsided, seven-inning contests. This time, the offenses traded blows early before Arizona State’s bullpen slammed the door over the final five innings.

BYU struck first, capitalizing on a shaky start from Arizona State pitcher Kole Klecker. Luke Anderson led off the bottom of the first with a solo home run to left field. Two batters later, Ryder Robinson also homered, and a walk, a stolen base and an RBI single from Bryker Hurdsman gave the Cougars a 3-0 lead.

The Sun Devils responded immediately in the top of the second, but the Cougars delivered a bigger counterpunch in their half of the inning. After a leadoff double from Parker Goff and a single from Anderson, Ezra McNaughton launched a three-run homer to right field, extending BYU’s lead to 6-0 and chasing Klecker from the game.

The most important part of the game, however, was Arizona State’s explosive answer in the top of the fourth inning. Trailing 7-0, the Sun Devils sent 11 men to the plate and scored seven runs to tie the game. The rally was highlighted by a two-run double from PJ Moutzouridis, a two-run single from Landon Hairston and a bases-clearing, three-run double from Nu’u Contrades that knotted the score at 7-7.

Arizona State took the lead for good in the fifth on an RBI double from Beckett Zavorek, scoring Matthew Polk, who had singled and stolen second. They added two more in the seventh on an RBI double from Moutzouridis and an unearned run scored on a BYU error, and tacked on two final runs in the ninth on a two-run single from Austen Roellig.

While the offense produced 15 hits, the victory was sealed by a dominant performance from the Sun Devils’ relief corps. After Alex Overbay allowed one unearned run in the third, the combination of Colin Linder, Sean Fitzpatrick and Derek Schaefer threw 5 1/3 innings of perfect, hitless baseball. Linder struck out three in 1 2/3 innings, Fitzpatrick recorded four outs, and Schaefer closed the game with two perfect innings, striking out four of the six batters he faced.

McNaughton led BYU’s 11-hit attack, going 2-for-6 with a home run, a double and three RBIs. Anderson also homered as part of a 2-for-4 day. For Arizona State, Zavorek went 3-for-4 with an RBI and three runs scored, Moutzouridis drove in two runs on two doubles, and Roellig had three hits and two RBIs.

With the win, Arizona State improved to 28-13 overall and evened its Big 12 record after taking two of three in the series. BYU fell to 20-18. The result defied the pregame projection from Interstat’s game simulator, which had forecast a 7-5 BYU victory, though it aligned with the same service’s ELO rating, which gave Arizona State a 62.9% chance to win.

Arizona State returns home to face New Mexico State on Wednesday. BYU stays in-state to host Utah Tech on Monday before a nonconference road series at Arizona.