SEASON RECAP. Following a 9-2 win at Wichita State on Tuesday, BYU is 23-23 on the season and 15-13 in road games with wins in each of its last six midweek contests. The Cougars have won three of their last five with the win over the Shockers, a 10-9 win at Grand Canyon and 11-6 game-one victory over Kansas State in the series opener on May 1.
PLAY-IN BASEBALL. At 7-17 in Big 12 play with two weeks remaining in the regular season, BYU is battling with UCF and Utah for the 12th and final spot in the conference tournament held May 21-24 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Despite dropping two of three games to K-State a week ago, the Cougars’ Thursday win over the Wildcats was enough for a one-game lead over the Knights and Utes, both of which were swept over the weekend. While BYU faces Kansas May 8-10, UCF and Utah go at Texas Tech and No. 22 Arizona, respectively.
BATTLE-HARDENED. The 2025 schedule has pitted BYU against each of the top seven teams in the Big 12 with five of those seven coming in April and May. Oklahoma State, Houston and Baylor were absent from the Cougars’ 2025 slate and are ranked eighth, 10th and 11th, respectively in the league.
The latest D1Baseball.com NCAA Tournament projection forecasts 10 BYU opponents to make a regional with No. 12 West Virginia, No. 22 Arizona and No. 18 UCLA each hosting as 1-seeds.
BYU BATS. BYU ranks in the top five in the Big 12 in doubles (106), hit by pitch (74), total bases (773), RBI (340), slugging percentage (.472) and runs (359) with 14 games of 10 or more runs scored on the season. The Cougars’ 106 doubles are also ranked 24th nationally.
Cooper Vest continues power the Cougar offense with the team lead in runs (48), home runs (14), RBI (51) and slugging (.617) along with a second-leading 55 hits. Vest ranks top five in the Big 12 in homers and RBI and is tied for the league lead in hit by pitch (17).
Tate Gambill and Chipper Beck have emerged in recent weeks as valuable additions to the BYU batting order. With starts in 17 of the last 21 games, Gambill is now leading the Cougars in batting average (.352) and holds team-long hitting and reached base streaks at 15 and 19 games, respectively. While making just five starts in eight games played over the last month, Beck has made the most of it with five runs scored, 12 RBI and three homers in just 11 hits.
Luke Anderson, Keoni Painter, Bryker Hurdsman, Crew McChesney, Parker Goff and Ryder Robinson remain reliable bats for BYU as well. Anderson enters the weekend leading BYU in hits (57) and is just one behind Vest with 50 RBI. Watkins, Anderson and Robinson have nine homers a-piece for second on the team while Watkins is also second in slugging (.563). Painter and Goff lead BYU in on-base percentage at .481 and .457, respectively. Hurdsman and Crew McChesney co-lead the Cougars in doubles with 15 each.
TAKING THE HILL. Hayden Coon and Ashton Johnson have delivered a pair of recent strong performances for the Cougar pitching staff. Coon tallied a career-high nine strikeouts in four innings of work as BYU defeated K-State 11-6 on May 1 in his first career start. The senior from Yucaipa, California is now 2-1 on the year with 25 strikeouts to seven walks in 20 1/3 innings.
Johnson earned his second win of the season as he closed the door on K-State. The College of Southern Idaho transfer is 2-0 in 19 appearances with two saves, 24 strikeouts to seven walks and a 3.49 ERA.
BYU’s pitching staff also features three wins a-piece from Justis Reiser, Payton Gubler and Garrison Sumner.
DEFENSIVELY SOUND. BYU ranks third in the Big 12 and 20th nationally with a team fielding percentage of .978. The Cougars are among the top infields in the country at turning double plays with their 43 total and rate of 0.93 per game both tied for eighth nationally and the Big 12 lead.
First baseman Vest and shortstop Robinson combine to engineer the opportunistic BYU defense. Vest leads the conference in double plays fielded (40) and putouts (376) while Robinson ranks third in assists (140).
Centerfielder McChesney anchors the Cougar outfield with a perfect and league-leading fielding percentage of 1.000. Battle-tested catcher Goff is tied for second in the Big 12 with 10 runners caught stealing. Goff and Ridge Erickson have combined to rank the Cougars third in the league in the category as well.
SERIES HISTORY. Thursday marks the 16th all-time meeting between BYU and Kansas. The Jayhawks lead the series 9-6 after sweeping the Cougars in 2024 (11-1, 4-3, 8-5) in Provo. The first and only previous games played in Lawrence resulted in BYU sweeping KU (11-0, 8-2, 7-6) on March 3-5, 2016.
The Jayhawks have won five of six games in the series played at neutral sites. KU won four games over BYU to open the 2014 season in Peoria, Arizona and took the first all-time meeting on March 22, 1968 at the Riverside Baseball Invitational. The Cougars and Jayhawks have also met in the postseason with BYU winning 8-3 at the 1994 Tallahassee Regional.
KNOW THE FOE. At 37-13 (15-9) and 18-6 at home, Kansas is in third in the Big 12 standings after being picked to finish ninth in the preseason poll. The Jayhawks finished 2024 seventh in the conference with a 31-23 (15-15) record. Third-year head coach Dan Fitzgerald’s KU club is coming off a 6-5 win at Missouri on Tuesday but fell out of Monday’s D1Baseball Top 25 following a weekend sweep at the hands of Cincinnati (2-7, 14-18, 4-13).
The Jayhawks have also dropped Big 12 series at TCU and Arizona State while winning at Utah, and at home versus K-State, UCF, Oklahoma State and Baylor.
KU leads the Big 12 in several offensive categories, including runs (426), RBI (401), home runs (90), and on-base percentage (.415). Infielders Brady Ballinger, Jackson Hauge and Brady Counsell give the Jayhawks a three-pronged attack with Ballinger leading in average (.364), runs (63), hits (67) and doubles (16) while Hauge and Counsell hold the Big 12’s top two RBI totals at 66 and 54, respectively.
Big 12 Preseason Pitcher of the Year Dominic Voegele has a 5.23 ERA and 6-4 record in 12 starts with 68 strikeouts to 26 walks in 74 innings pitched. Starter Cooper Moore is 5-1 with a 3.79 ERA and 66 strikeouts in 10 starts. KU reliever Alex Breckheimer leads the Big 12 with 27 appearances while hurling 37 strikeouts to nine walks in 35 innings.
