PATH TO THE POSTSEASON. The Big 12 Baseball Tournament, played May 21-24 at the Texas Rangers’ Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, features the top 12 of 14 teams in the league. BYU moves into the final weekend of the regular season at 8-19 in Big 12 play and 13th in the conference standings. While also 8-19 in league play, UCF enters the weekend holding the 12th and final spot in the tournament over BYU due to winning two of three games over the Cougars when the two met March 13-15 in Provo.
BYU must finish ahead of or tied with both the Knights and Utah (7-20, 14th) to reach the postseason. While UCF holds a two-way tiebreaker over the Cougars, in the event of a three-way tie between BYU, Utah and UCF, the Cougars advance to Arlington as they are the only of the three teams to have defeated first-place West Virginia this season. UCF hosts 11th-place Baylor May 15-17 while the Utes host third-place TCU.
SENIOR DAY. Ten BYU seniors will be honored prior to Saturday’s game. Pitchers Hayden Coon, Stone Cushing, Carter Foss, Brett Hansen, Jaden Harris, Porter and Ryan Reynolds, along with outfielder Tate Gambill and infielders Cooper Vest and Brock Watkins, will each be recognized. The 10 seniors have combined for over 650 games played and 420 career starts at BYU.
Saturday’s game will mark Watkins’ 199th game played, tying him with Doug Jackson (2000-03) and Brennon Anderson (2013, 16-18) for 12th all-time at BYU in career games played. A 192nd career start on Saturday would tie Watkins with Stephen Wells (2007, 10-12) for seventh-most games started in Cougar baseball history.
Vest stands to surpass former American League All-Star Wally Joyner (1981-83) for 27th all-time in BYU games played at 180 and tie Ben Saylor (2004-06) for 16th in starts with 169.
SEASON REVIEW. BYU’s 8-19 Big 12 record results from a 2-1 series win at Cincinnati, sweeps dealt by TCU and Arizona State, along with a string of 1-2 series losses to UCF, West Virginia, Utah, Arizona, Kansas State and Kansas. The Cougars have won the series-opener six of nine Big 12 weekends, including a 14-5 upset of now No. 16 West Virginia and 12-5 defeat of then-No. 22 Arizona.
Following Tuesday’s thrilling 9-8 nonconference win over the rival Utes, BYU has won seven consecutive midweek games dating back to a 12-10 win at Oral Roberts on April 1.
BYU BATS. Six BYU batters enter the weekend hitting .290 or better. Right fielder Bryker Hurdsman leads the way at .343 while co-leading with Cooper Vest and Ryder Robinson in runs scored (49) and doubles (16) along with a second-leading 59 hits. Hurdsman joins Vest, Robinson and Gambill to total four Cougars with two triples on the season.
Vest’s BYU-leading 15 home runs and 55 RBI are good for fourth and fifth, respectively, in the Big 12. The senior first baseman also leads the Cougars in total bases with 119 and is second in hits (57). Following a handful of homers at Kansas, Watkins and Robinson have joined Vest in BYU’s double-digit dinger club this season with 11 and 10, respectively.
Second baseman Luke Anderson is batting .302 with a team-leading 61 hits. Anderson’s 51 RBI ranks 10th in the Big 12 and second on the team. Gambill continues to make the most of his 22 starts of the second half of the season with an average of .333 for 21 runs on 34 hits, six doubles, a homer and 23 RBI.
EMERGING PITCHERS. Ashton Johnson, Porter, Justis Reiser and Rockwell Lybbert have each made an impact on the mound for BYU in recent weeks. Johnson earned his second save of the season in the Cougars’ 7-5 win at Kansas on May 8. The lefty newcomer from College of Southern Idaho is 3-1 on the season and ranks seventh in the Big 12 with 22 appearances. Johnson holds a team-leading 3.89 ERA with 26 strikeouts to nine walks in 34-and-two-thirds innings.
Reiser has taken the hill as both a starter and reliever with three starts, a 3-0 record, two saves and 22 strikeouts in 25-and-a-third innings. Porter started in Tuesday’s win over the Utes and has trimmed his ERA to 3.91 through 16 appearances.
Lybbert began the season slated to provide depth in the infield but the redshirt freshman righty has answered the call out of the bullpen with six appearances over the last month of the season. Just a year removed from full-time missionary service for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Argentina, and not having pitched since high school, Lybbert has made the most of his 6.1 innings with a win and his first career save in the midweek win over Utah.
DOUBLE PLAY DEPENDABLE. The Cougar defense continues to run a tight ship with the Big 12’s second-best and nation’s 21st-ranked fielding percentage (.978). BYU’s infield co-leads the conference and ranks 13th nationally with 45 double plays turned on the season. Vest and Robinson combine for a formidable duo at first base and shortstop, respectively. Vest leads the Big 12 in putouts (406) and double plays fielded (42) while ranking second in total chances (437). Robinson’s 148 assists are tied for second in the Big 12.
SERIES HISTORY. Thursday marks the 12th all-time meeting between BYU and Texas Tech and the first in Provo. The Red Raiders hold an 8-3 series lead after taking two of three games against the Cougars in Lubbock a season ago. BYU defeated Texas Tech 8-5 in game one of the 2024 series then fell in games two and three, 3-4 and 1-10. Anderson led the Cougar bats in Lubbock with a 4-of-9 performance at the plate on the series. Stone Cushing earned a save in the game-one victory while Hayden Coon delivered a season-high four strikeouts in game two.
BYU and Texas Tech first met in a 4-1 Cougar win on February 19, 1998 at the Rawlings Phoenix Invitational.
KNOW THE FOE. Despite a 19-30 overall record, the Red Raiders’ 12 Big 12 wins have them at ninth in the league standings. Texas Tech began the season 1-5 with a six-game gauntlet versus now-No. 4 North Carolina and No. 12 UC Irvine. The Red Raiders have since won Big 12 series over Houston, Baylor and Arizona while dropping series to TCU, K-State, Cincinnati, Arizona State, West Virginia and, most recently, UCF (3-7, 3-2, 6-15).
Thirteenth-year head coach Tim Tadlock’s team is led by outfielder Logan Hughes’ Big-12 leading 135 total bases and .703 slugging percentage. Hughes also co-leads the conference in homers (18) while batting .326 with 48 runs on 63 hits and 55 RBI. Infielders Robin Villeneuve and Tracer Lopez bat .354 and .327, respectively, with Villeneuve leading the team in doubles (15). Outfielder Damian Bravo is batting .327 and leads the team in hits (68).
The Red Raider pitching staff features the Big 12’s fifth-best ERA in reliever Jack Cebert’s 3.12. Cebert is 7-2 in 17 appearances with 47 strikeouts to 18 walks in 52 innings of action.
