SEASON REVIEW. BYU is currently 21-21 on the year, 6-15 in Big 12 play and 7-8 at Miller Park. The Cougars are coming off a wild win over GCU that included 10 runs on 12 hits, including a grand slam by outfielder Bryker Hurdsman. Eight of the nine BYU batters recorded a hit and the defense turned a double play with one out and bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to preserve the win. The Cougars are currently tied for second in the the Big 12 and 24th in the nationally in double plays.
BYU is 4-5 over its last nine games, which includes a weekend series with Arizona, the No. 24 ranked team in the country, and Arizona State who is currently tied for third in the Big 12 conference standings. The Cougars have already faced five of the current top seven teams in the Big 12 (West Virginia-1, TCU-3, ASU-4, Arizona-5 and Cincinnati-7, and will face No. 6 K-State this week and No. 2 Kansas next week.
CONFERNECE LEADERS. As a team, BYU is top five in the Big 12 in hit by pitch (1st, 70), doubles (3rd, 98), RBI (4th, 314), runs scored (4th, 331) and home runs (5th, 55). Defensively the Cougars are second in double plays (38) and throwing out runners (18), third in fielding percentage (.977) and fifth in assists (415).
OFFENSIVE LEADERS. BYU first baseman Cooper Vest continues to lead BYU in several offensive categories and is among the top 10 in the Big 12 in home runs (T2nd, 14), RBI (T3rd, 49), runs scored, total bases (T5th, 106), (T6th, 42), slugging (9th, .631) and hit by pitch (2nd,15). The week two Big 12 Player of the Week is also top five in the conference defensively in fielding double plays (1st, 35), putouts (1st, 352) and chances (2nd 378).
Vest is hitting .289 and leads BYU in seven offensive categories including runs (46), triples (2), home runs (14), RBI (49), total bases (106), slugging (.631) and hit by pitch (15). He is also second in hits (50).
BYU outfielder Bryker Hurdsman is tied for eighth in the Big 12 in doubles (14), while second baseman Luke Anderson is tied for third with Vest in RBI (49). Game three righty starter Jaden Harris is tied for the Big 12 lead in games started with 12.
Anderson leads the Cougars in hits (55) and RBI (49) and is second in home runs (9) and total bases (90). He has also played three different positions for the Cougars in 2025, manning left field, right field and second base, while posting a .954 fielding percentage with 69 putouts, 37 assists and nine double plays. Infielder Brock Watkins leads BYU in average (.339) and is second in home runs (9) and slugging (.614).
Hurdsman is hitting .336 on the year and leads the Cougars in doubles (14) and triples (2) and is second in runs (43), hits (50) and hit by pitch (11). He is also third in slugging (.537) and on base percentage (.423).
ON THE HILL. BYU will start right-handed pitchers Payton Gubler and Garrison Sumner in games one and two, respectively, versus K-State. Gubler and Sumner have a combined 6-5 record in 19 starts and 99.2 innings pitched. Gubler also leads the Cougars with 41 strikeouts.
Lefty relievers Ashton Johnson and Justis Reiser have a combined 4-0 record with 46 innings pitched in 34 appearances. Johnson and Reiser have also recorded two saves a-piece with Reiser earning his second in the 10-9 win at Grand Canyon on Monday.
Redshirt freshman Rockwell Lybbert made three appearances on the mound in recent weeks and earned his first collegiate win in the midweek defeat of the Lopes. Lybbert also doubles as an infielder for the Cougars in his first season back on the diamond after two years of full-time missionary service for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salta, Argentina.
SERIES HISTORY. Thursday marks the 13th all-time meeting between the Cougars and K-State. The Wildcats lead the all-time series 7-5 though BYU holds a 4-0 advantage in games played at Miller Park. When the two teams last met in Provo, the Cougars upset No. 20 K-State in two games (13-10, 15-9) on April 13-14, 2010. The Wildcats won the first ever meeting, 7-1, on March 25, 1971 at the Riverside Baseball Invitational in Riverside, California.
MAYHEM IN MANHATTAN. BYU and K-State capped off the 2024 regular season with a three-game series of thrilling finishes at Tointon Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kansas. The Wildcats took the first of two extra-innings games in the series with a 7-6 win in 12. K-State led 6-0 through four innings of game one and walked the game off in the bottom of the 12th after BYU stormed back to force extras.
Game two of the series became a defensive slugfest with K-State edging BYU 2-1 as neither team scored a run over the final six innings.
Game three featured another shootout into extras. The Wildcats looked to secure the series sweep with a 7-5 lead in the top of the ninth but BYU took advantage of a K-State error to score the go-ahead three runs. After a bottom of the ninth Wildcat solo shot forced extras, the Cougars completed their comeback with a bases-loaded, game-winning Goff grand slam in the top of the 10th.
Goff, McChesney and Vest each made their presence felt in Manhattan. Goff led BYU for the series with a 6-of-13 showing with a double, two homers and six RBI. McChesney hit 5-of-13 with four runs, a double, triple and two RBI. Vest hit 5-of-16 with a homer and five RBI.
KNOW THE FOE. The Wildcats arrive at Miller Park sixth in the Big 12 standings with a 12-9 conference record and 26-19 mark overall. After a 7-6 loss at Nebraska on Tuesday, K-State is now 4-15 on the road this season with a nine-game road losing streak.
The Wildcats have won Big 12 series over Houston, UCF, Texas Tech, Baylor and Utah while suffering sweeps at Kansas and Oklahoma State. K-State’s nonconference slate features a season-opening 3-2 win over then-No. 5 Arkansas at the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series in Arlington, Texas. The Wildcats also took No. 2 LSU to extra innings in an 8-5 loss at the Frisco Classic on Feb. 28.
Seventh-year head coach Pete Hughes’ team was picked to finish eighth in the Big 12 in 2025 after a sixth-place league finish and No. 14 spot in the final D1Baseball Top 25 (35-26, 15-15) in 2024. The Wildcats capped last season with a run to the NCAA Charlottesville Super Regional after knocking off Arkansas to win the Fayetteville Regional.
Both BYU and K-State rank top five in the Big 12 in home runs and runs scored. The Cougars narrowly lead the Wildcats 331-330 in scoring offense. K-State’s offense is powered by infielders Maximus Martin, Seth Dardar and Dee Kennedy as well as catcher Keegan O’Connor. Martin and O’Connor co-lead the Wildcats in homers with 12 a-piece while Kennedy’s added 11 more. Martin leads K-State in batting (.319), runs (43), hits (51) and RBI (46) while co-leading in doubles with Dardar (13).
The Wildcats will start lefties Jacob Frost, Michael Quevedo and Lincoln Sheffield in Provo. Quevedo and Sheffield have a combined 10-5 record with Sheffield one of five Big 12 pitchers to throw a complete game in 2025. James Guyette and Adam Arther headline the K-State bullpen with Guyette notching three saves and a 4-3 record in 19 appearances. Arther boasts a 1.77 ERA and 2-0 record in 16 appearances.
