PROVO, Utah — BYU baseball opens its final road trip of the 2025 season with a nonconference midweek matchup at Wichita State on Tuesday at Eck Stadium in Wichita, Kansas.
Overall, the Cougars are 22-23 on the year, 7-17 in Big 12 play and 14-13 on the road. The Shockers enter Tuesday’s game at 15-31 overall and are 11-12 at home.
| BYU (22-23) at Wichita State (15-31) | Eck Stadium | Wichita, KS | |||
| Date & Time (CDT) | Watch | Listen | Live Stats |
| Tuesday, May 6 at 3 p.m. | ESPN+ | BYU Radio 107.9/BYU Radio App | Follow Here |
WEEKLY RECAP. The Cougars enter the week having split their last four games, including a 10-9 win over Grand Canyon and an 11-6 win over Kansas State, followed by two tough losses to K-State by scores of 18-4, 13-4.
MIDWEEK SUCCESS. BYU has won each of its last five midweek games, including the win over GCU, home and away wins over Utah Valley (15-7, 9-3), a defeat of Utah Tech (19-1) in St. George and a win over Oral Roberts (12-10) in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
OFFENSIVE LEADERS. Cougar first baseman Cooper Vest is hitting .292 and continues to lead BYU in several offensive categories and is among the top 10 in the Big 12 in home runs (T3nd, 14), RBI (T6th, 49), runs scored (8th, 48), total bases (10th, 109) and hit by pitch (T1st,17).
The week two Big 12 Player of the Week is also top five in the conference defensively in fielding double plays (1st, 38), putouts (2nd, 369) and chances (2nd 397).
Five Cougars are currently hitting north of .300, including Tate Gambill (.354), Brock Watkins (.331), Bryker Hurdsman (.327), Luke Anderson (.315) and Keoni Painter (.312). Gambill leads BYU in batting average, while Hurdsman is tied for the Cougar lead in doubles with Crew McChesney (15). Anderson leads the team in at bats (181), hits (57) and RBI (50).
STARTERS. Brett Hansen will make his fourth start of the season for the Cougars on Tuesday. The junior lefty from Pleasanton, California is 1-0 with 16 strikeouts through 17.2 innings pitched in 12 appearances.
Wichita State will start Colton Vercoe on the mound. Vercoe has a season ERA of 4.24 with one start and 17 innings pitched in 13 appearances. The right-hander has 18 strikeouts to four walks with 23 hits and eight earned runs allowed in 2025.
SERIES HISTORY. Tuesday marks the 11th all-time meeting between the Cougars and Shockers. BYU leads the series 6-4 though it is knotted 3-3 in games played in Wichita. The Cougars last faced Wichita State in two games on March 2-3, 2009, at Eck Stadium. The Shockers took game one 6-5 while BYU won the second 3-1. The first ever meetings between the two teams came in a 7-5 Shocker win and 6-1 Cougar victory, respectively, on March 25 and 29, 1985 at the Easter Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii.
KNOW THE FOE. Wichita State enters the new week 10th in the American Athletic Conference standings at 7-14. The Shockers were picked to finish second in the American preseason poll after a fourth-place finish in 2024 (32-29, 15-12). Over the weekend, Wichita State won two of three in a home series versus East Carolina (5-4, 1-6, 8-7). Second-year head coach Brian Green’s Shockers have lost 11 of their last 14 and are 0-4 in midweek games against Big 12 opponents this season.
Preseason All-AAC selections Camden Johnson, Josh Livingston and Jordan Rogers lead Wichita State’s offense, batting .332, .292 and .274, respectively. Johnson, a shortstop, leads the Shockers in runs scored (39) and hits (63), co-leads in doubles (14) and ranks third in RBI (29). First baseman Livingston leads Wichita State in homers (12) and RBI (38) while second leader in runs (37) and hits (50). The Shocker second baseman, Rogers, leads the team in triples (3) while ranking top three in runs (30), doubles (13), homers (6) and RBI (34).
Wichita State’s long-standing baseball tradition includes 27 NCAA Regional appearances, seven College World Series trips and the 1989 CWS Championship.