WEEKLY RECAP. BYU enters the series at ASU having split its last four games, including a 12-5 upset of now No. 16 Arizona on April 17 and a season-series clinching 15-7 defeat of crosstown foe UVU on April 21.
After registering their second win over a ranked opponent in game one with the Wildcats, the Cougars dropped games two and three by a combined three runs. BYU’s 12 runs against Arizona on April 17 are the third-most allowed by the Wildcats this season, with only No. 2 Clemson and No. 19 Louisville scoring more.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE. D1Baseball.com’s April 22 Field of 64 NCAA Tournament projections placed 11 BYU opponents in the 2025 regionals. The projection pins four BYU opponents as 1-seeds in West Virginia, Arizona, TCU and UCLA, a 2-seed in Kansas as well as threes Arizona State, Kansas State and Stetson.
COUGAR BATS. First baseman Cooper Vest leads BYU in RBI (45), runs scored (44) and home runs (13) while also posting the team’s second-best slugging percentage (.642). Vest’s offensive numbers also put him second in the Big 12 in RBI and homers, tied for fifth in runs scored and ninth in slugging. Vest earned Big 12 Co-Player of the Week on Feb. 24.
Whether appearing at second base or in the outfield, Luke Anderson’s offense includes batting .325 with 42 RBI and a team-leading 51 hits. Anderson’s RBI and total bases (97) are both tied for sixth in the Big 12.
Shortstop Ryder Robinson earned Big 12 Co-Player of the Week honors after collecting five doubles and two homers on 10-of-19 at the plate over four games versus UVU and Arizona. Robinson’s season total now includes batting .258 with 37 runs scored on 40 hits, 10 doubles, two triples seven homers, 27 RBI and a team-leading 28 walks.
Outfielders Bryker Hurdsman and Crew McChesney lead the Cougars with 13 and 12 doubles, respectively, while Hurdsman is the team’s second leader in average (.341), runs scored (41) and hits (46).
Despite missing the last six games with injury, infielder Brock Watkins continues to rank eighth in the Big 12 in slugging percentage at .649 while leading BYU with a batting average of .351. Designated hitter Keoni Painter leads the Cougars in on-base percentage (.500) while batting .333 with 16 runs on 20 hits and 12 RBI.
Senior outfielder Tate Gambill had started 17 career games at BYU prior to emerging as a reliable bat in the lineup with starts in each of the last 11 games. Gambill currently holds team-long streaks in reaching base (14 games) and hitting (10 games) with a .323 average, five doubles and 18 RBI.
ON THE HILL. Lefty Justis Reiser will make his second start in as many weeks in Thursday’s game at ASU. Reiser is 3-0 in relief this season with 18 strikeouts in 19 1/3 innings pitched. Friday starter Jaden Harris enters the week with 44 1/3 innings pitched through 10 appearances.
OUT OF THE PEN. Payton Gubler came out of the bullpen to pitch five innings with five strikeouts in BYU’s 12-5 win over Arizona. Gubler ranks 10th in the league with 55 1/3 innings pitched in 2025 and leads the Cougars with 37 strikeouts. Hayden Coon returned from injury and earned his second win of the season with 2 2/3 innings, a strikeout and no runs allowed in the April 17 defeat of the Wildcats.
Lefty Ashton Johnson has emerged as a go-to arm in late relief with 19 strikeouts to three walks in 20 1/3 innings for a 1-0 record and two saves. While making just 10 appearances on the season, Jake Porter earned his first win of the season a week ago and holds a 2.20 ERA through 16 1/3 innings.
DOUBLE PLAY DEFENSE. BYU enters week 11 atop the Big 12 and ranked 30th nationally with 34 double plays turned at a rate of 0.89 per game (20th nationally). This weekend, the Cougars face the Big 12 leader in grounding into double plays as ASU has recorded 34 on the season. Vest leads the conference in fielding double plays (32), putouts (325) and total chances (349) while Robinson powers the BYU defense with the Big 12’s second-highest assists total at 116.
The Sun Devil and Cougar defenses both rank top-3 in the league with fielding percentages of .981 and .979, respectively. While ASU ranks third in the Big 12 with 80 stolen bases, BYU catchers Parker Goff and Ridge Erickson rank third in conference with 13 runners caught stealing.
SERIES HISTORY. BYU and Arizona State meet for the 60th time on Thursday and 49th in the Valley of the Sun. While the Sun Devils lead the all-time series 46-13, the Cougars have won six straight, including a three-game series sweep (4-2, 6-5, 19-3) in the two teams’ last meetings February 25-26, 2022 in Phoenix.
FLASHBACK TO THE WAC. The Cougars and Sun Devils met 27 times as members of the Western Athletic Conference from the 1967 to 1978 baseball seasons. With BYU in the WAC North Division and ASU the South, the two teams met 21 times in the WAC Tournament. Thirty-two meetings have come since the Cougars and Sun Devils were last conference foes, including a postseason matchup in the 1983 NCAA Tournament.
BYU-ASU TIES. BYU head coach Trent Pratt played his freshman and sophomore seasons at Arizona State (1999-2000). As a freshman, Pratt started 30 games, hitting .307 with 28 runs scored and 24 RBI. Pratt finished his collegiate career at Auburn (2001-02) prior to playing four seasons in the Philadelphia Phillies organization.
Pratt was teammates at ASU in 1999 with Mitch Jones, father of current BYU third baseman Easton Jones. The senior Jones played one season with the Sun Devils after transferring from Utah Valley Community College. Jones started 39 games in 1999, hitting .333 with 46 runs scored and 39 RBI prior to being selected by the New York Yankees in the seventh round of the 2000 MLB Draft.
Pratt, Jones and the Sun Devils dealt BYU three defeats during a three-game series February 18-20, 1999.
KNOW THE FOE. After a 7-6 loss to Grand Canyon on Tuesday, ASU enters the weekend at 25-16 and alone in fifth in the Big 12 standings with an 11-7 record. The Sun Devils have conference series wins over Texas Tech, Utah, Kansas and TCU along with losses to Arizona and Cincinnati. When last in Big 12 action, April 17-19, Arizona State won Thursday and Friday games over the Red Raiders (10-4, 9-8) before falling 12-8 in game three.
The Cougars and Sun Devils have four common nonconference opponents in CSUN, Gonzaga, UCLA and Oral Roberts. BYU and ASU went a combined 6-2 and 7-2, respectively, against the Matadors, Zags, Bruins and Golden Eagles.
Infielders Matt King and Kyle Walker lead the Sun Devil bats with averages of .401 and .358, respectively. King’s Big 12-leading .401 comes with 34 runs scored, 14 doubles, four homers and 35 RBI. Walker ranks second in the Big 12 with 47 runs scored on 48 hits. Outfielders Brandon Compton (40) and Isaiah Jackson (39) lead the Sun Devil in RBI.
ASU’s pitching staff is headlined by starters Jack Martinez and Ben Jacobs. Martinez has an ERA of 4.82 with a Big 12-leading 82 strikeouts in 56 innings pitched. Jacobs also ranks top-5 in the Big 12 with 70 strikeouts in 52.2 innings on the mound.
Willie Bloomquist is in his fourth season as Sun Devil head coach. ASU went 32-26 (17-13) and finished sixth in the Pac-12 in 2024 before being picked to finish sixth in the 2025 Big 12 Preseason Poll.
