BYU to face ASU at Big 12 Baseball Championship

PROVO, Utah — BYU baseball heads to Alington, Texas to take on Arizona State in game one of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship at Globe Life Field on May 21. The single-elimination tournament runs May 21-24, with the championship game on Saturday on ESPNU.

The first pitch of the BYU-ASU game on Wednesday is set for 9 a.m. CDT and will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and the BYU Radio Network. Former MLB standouts Keith Moreland and Greg Swindell will have the call for ESPN. The long-time Voice of the Cougars, Greg Wrubell, will handle play-by-play for BYU Radio. 

Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship
Globe Life Field | Arlington, TX
12 BYU (27-26, 10-20) vs. 5 Arizona State (35-21, 18-12)
Watch	Listen	Live Stats
ESPN+	BYU Radio 107.9/BYU Radio App	Follow Here

GLOBE LIFE FIELD AND THE BIG 12 TOURNEY. The home of the Texas Rangers since 2020, Globe Life Field is a 1.8 million square foot facility with a 5.5 acre retractable roof and seating capacity of 40,300. Globe Life Field features a synthetic grass playing surface with field dimensions stretching 329 feet to leftfield, 407 to center and 326 to right.

This week marks the 28^th edition of the Big 12 Baseball Championship and fourth played at Globe Life Field. Oklahoma State enters the week as the defending tournament champion. Beginning in 2026, the Big 12 Championship will be played at Surprise Stadium, home of the Rangers' and Kansas City Royals' spring training, in Surprise, Arizona.

SEASON RECAP. BYU clinched the final spot in the 12-team tournament with a 6-5 come-from-behind victory over Texas Tech on Friday night at Miller Park. The Cougars wrapped up the 2025 regular season with a record of 27-26 and 10-20 in Big 12 play. BYU won or tied six regular-season weekend series, including a 2-1 win over Texas Tech to advance to post-season play. 

BYU enters the Big 12 Baseball Tournament with a 5-3 record over the last two weeks of the season, with wins over Wichita State, Kansas, Utah and Texas Tech. The Cougars were picked to finish 14th in the Big 12 preseason poll but finished 12th ahead of UCF (7th) and Utah (12th). 

BATTLE-HARDENED. The latest D1Baseball.com NCAA Tournament projection forecasts 10 of BYU’s 2025 opponents to make a regional with No. 14 UCLA and No. 16 West Virginia hosting as 1-seeds.

The 2025 Big 12 schedule pitted BYU against eight of the top nine teams in the final regular season standings. The other two Big 12 opponents BYU faced in the regular season—UCF and Utah—finished behind the Cougars. Due to the conference 10-team rotation format, Oklahoma State, Baylor and Houston were not on BYU’s regular schedule in 2025.

BIG 12 SEASON AWARDS. Two Cougars—Cooper Vest (Feb. 24) and Ryder Robinson (April 25)—won Big 12 Player of the Week Awards during the season. 

BAT CATS. As a team, BYU ranks in the top five in the Big 12 in RBIs (3rd, 384), triples (3rd, 15), walks (5th, 260) and hit by pitch (2nd, 84). 

Individually, Vest wrapped the regular season ranked in the top five in the Big 12 in home runs (T4, 16) and RBIs (T4, 58) and hit by pitch (T1, 19). Vest is the all-time leader in BYU history in being hit by pitch with 42 in his career. In addition, Vest leads the conference in three defensive categories, including chances (471), fielding double plays (44) and putouts (438). The senior leads BYU in runs (52), home runs (16), RBI (58), total bases (125) and slugging (.592).

Robinson enters Wednesday’s game leading the Cougars in runs (52), is second in home runs (11), total bases (112) and walks (33), and is third in hits (61) and doubles (14). 

Offensively, the Cougar outfield has rolled up big numbers throughout the season. Left fielder Tate Gambill, who emerged midway through the season as a critical leader in the BYU offense, is T5th in the Big 12 in triples (4) and leads BYU with a batting average of .351. He is also third on the team in on-base percentage (.449) and stolen bases (4). 

Right fielder Bryker Hurdsman leads BYU in hits (63) and doubles (17) and is second in batting average (.346), triples (3) and stolen bases (8); while center fielder Crew McChesney leads BYU in stolen bases (11) and walks (35) and is second in doubles (16). 

Anderson, who spent the early part of the season in left field before moving to second base, enters the conference tournament hitting .290 and second on the team in hits (62) and RBIs (52). 

FLASHING THE LEATHER. BYU ranks third in the Big 12 and 20th nationally with a team fielding percentage of .977. The Cougars are among the top infields in the country at turning double plays with 47 on the year, good for second in the conference. BYU is also fourth in the Big 12 in assists (512) and runners caught stealing (18). 

First baseman Vest and shortstop Robinson combine to engineer the opportunistic BYU defense. Vest leads the conference in double plays fielded (44) and putouts (438) while his double-play partner Robinson ranks third in assists (158). Catcher Parker Goff is tied for third in the Big 12 in throwing out runners (10).  

LONGEVITY. Third baseman Brock Watkins and first baseman Vest continue their climb up the program’s all-time rankings in career games played and started. Wednesday marks Watkins’ 200th career game at BYU, ranking him 12th all-time. Watkins joins the likes of All-Americans Gary Cooper (1983-86) and Gary Schoonover (1985-88) among the most veteran players in program history.

With his 193rd career start on Wednesday, Watkins stands along in sixth all-time at BYU in games started, surpassing Stephen Wells (2007, 2010-12). With a start against ASU, Vest will tie Brad Eagar (1986-89) for 26th in games played with 181 and surpasses Ben Saylor (2004-06) for 16th in starts at 170.

TOURNEY HISTORY. The 2025 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship marks BYU’s 50th all-time conference tournament appearance. Wednesday’s matchup with ASU is the Cougars’ 154th all-time conference tournament game. BYU holds a 65-88 record in conference postseason play with its last appearance coming in a 5-1 loss to Loyola Marymount on May 25, 2022 at the West Coast Conference Tournament at Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton, California.

The Big 12 Baseball Championship marks BYU's 30th time playing in a conference tournament format with four or more teams. The Cougars are an even 50-50 all-time, with the ASU match up being BYU's 101st conference tournament game. 

SERIES HISTORY. BYU and Arizona State meet for the 63rd time on Wednesday and the 22nd in a conference tournament. Following a regular season sweep (3-8, 4-12, 6-16) to the Sun Devils April 24-26 in Phoenix, the Cougars now trail 13-49 in the all-time series.

BYU and ASU met 27 times in baseball as members of the Western Athletic Conference from 1967 to 1978. With BYU in the WAC North Division and ASU the South, the two teams met 21 times in the WAC Tournament. The Sun Devils led the WAC tourney series 17-4. The Cougars last toppled ASU in a conference tournament on May 26, 1972 in a 6-5 10th-inning decision at old Cougar Field in Provo.

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.

KNOW THE FOE. While finishing fifth in the Big 12 with an 18-12 and 35-21 overall record, ASU arrives in Arlington having lost four of its last eight games. The Sun Devils finished the regular season suffering a sweep (2-6, 6-9, 4-7) at Oklahoma State. Since defeating BYU in three games April 24-26 in Phoenix, ASU won two of three at Baylor and versus Houston along with three nonconference wins over Long Beach State and Grand Canyon.

The Cougars and Sun Devils have four common nonconference opponents in CSUN, Gonzaga, UCLA, GCU and Oral Roberts. BYU and ASU went a combined 7-2 and 8-3, respectively, against the Matadors, Zags, Bruins, Lopes and Golden Eagles.

Infielders Matt King, Kyle Walker and Jacob Tobias along with outfielder Isaiah Jackson power a Sun Devil offense that leads the Big 12 in batting (.320), slugging (.533), runs scored (477), hits (619) and doubles (141). King enters the postseason batting a team-leading .401 with 81 hits. Walker and Tobias lead ASU in runs scored (69) and doubles (20), respectively while Jackson leads in home runs (16) and RBI (65).

The Sun Devil pitching staff is led by a pair of lefties in starter Ben Jacobs and reliever Cole Carlon. Jacobs is 3-3 on the season with a 5.09 ERA and 108 strikeouts to 38 walks in 14 starts. Carlon is 3-1 with three saves, a 2.92 ERA and 78 strikeouts to 20 walks in 49-and-a-third innings of action.

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 with losses to Stanford and Oregon State in its final Pac-12 Tournament.