PROVO, Utah — After eight straight road games, BYU baseball returns home to host Utah Valley in the annual crosstown clash on Tuesday, April 15 at 6 p.m. MDT at Miller Park. The Cougars and Wolverines will meet for the 48th time and first this season.
| Utah Valley (24-12) at BYU (17-16) | Miller Park | Provo, UT | |||
| Date & Time (MDT) | Watch | Listen | Live Stats |
| Tuesday, April 15 at 6 p.m. | ESPN+ | BYU Radio 107.9/BYU Radio App | Follow Here |
BAT CATS. Four Cougars enter Tuesday’s matchup with UVU hitting over .300 on the year. Outfielder Bryker Hurdsman leads BYU in batting average (.363) and doubles (12) and has scored 37 runs with 19 RBI. Second baseman Brock Watkins is hitting .351 with 32 RBI and 24 runs. Luke Anderson, who has played three positions for BYU in 2025, is the Cougars’ RBI leader with 41 on the season while hitting .338, with 28 runs. Outfielder Keoni Painter is hitting .327 with 14 runs and seven RBI while first baseman Cooper Vest is hitting .290 and leads BYU in runs (39), home runs (12), slugging (.664) and is second in RBI with 39.
MOUND STARTERS. Brett Hansen will make his third start of the season for the Cougars on Tuesday. The junior lefty from Pleasanton, California has 11 strikeouts in 8.1 innings pitched as he's returned from injury and made starts in each of the last two midweek games - at Oral Roberts on April 1 and at Utah Tech on April 8. Hansen earned the win over the Trailblazers a week ago in St. George with two strikeouts in two innings on the mound.
Utah Valley will start Aaron Rice versus the Cougars. Rice is 1-0 with a 2.78 ERA in six starts this season and has struckout 16 batters in 22.2 innings pitched.
CROSSTOWN CLASH. BYU (17-16, 5-10 Big 12) is coming off a week that opened with a seven-inning, 19-1, win over Utah Tech on Tuesday night in St. George, before dropping a weekend series versus Utah, 1-2 (9-8, 4-6, 6-9), at Smith’s Ballpark in Salt Lake City.
UVU (24-12, 9-3 WAC) went 3-2 last week, splitting two games at UNLV (11-15, 13-1) before winning a three-game series with Grand Canyon in Phoenix, 2-1 (11-1, 18-2, 4-10).
SERIES HISTORY. Tuesday marks the 48th all-time meeting between BYU and Utah Valley. The crosstown foes have met at least once each season since 2005 with the Cougars leading the series 36-11, including 19-4 in games at Miller Park. BYU has won 15 of its last 17 matchups with the Wolverines and split the series a season ago.
Utah Valley took the game in Provo on March 25, 2024, 15-11, while the Cougars returned the favor with a 4-2 win in Orem on May 7. Despite the loss in game one last season, Luke Anderson led BYU with a 3-for-4 showing with two RBIs and a pair of doubles. Easton Jones helped the Cougars avenge the game-one loss as he accounted for all four BYU RBI on a triple and home run.
Game two of the 2025 midweek series is scheduled for April 21 at UCCU Ballpark in Orem.
KNOW THE FOE. The Wolverines (24-12, 9-3) and are atop the WAC baseball standings after winning their weekend series April 11-13 at Grand Canyon (11-1, 18-2, 4-10). Thirty-six games into head coach Nate Rasmussen’s first season, Utah Valley also has series wins over Utah Tech, Abilene Christian, Seattle U and UC Riverside.
After a fourth-place finish (29-29, 18-12) in the WAC in 2024, the Wolverines were picked to finish sixth in 2025. Outfielder Jayden Smith, catcher Mason Strong and infielder Landon Frei are powering Utah Valley to the top of the WAC.
Smith enters the week batting .403 with 50 hits, including 12 doubles and four triples for 27 RBI. Strong bats .391 with a team-leading 52 hits while Frei’s .318 has brought in a team-high 48 runs. Frei and outfielder Luke Iverson each have 10 homers on the season.
UP NEXT. Following this week’s game with UVU, BYU returns to Big 12 play, April 17-19, by welcoming No. 22 ranked Arizona to Provo for the first time since April 4, 2016. The Cougars are 9-22 all-time versus the Wildcats and are 3-6 in games played in Provo.
BYU enters the Arizona series having won or tied six of the 10 baseball series on the year, including Fresno State (2-2), CSUN (2-1), Gonzaga (3-0), Stetson (3-1), Cincinnati (2-1) and Utah Tech (1-1).
All four baseball game this week will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and BYU Radio.