PROVO, Utah — After splitting a two-game series at the Tony Gwynn Legacy tournament in San Diego over the weekend, BYU baseball travels north to take on UC Riverside on Monday, Feb. 23 at the Riverside Sports Complex.
BROADCAST PLANS. Gametime is scheduled for 1 p.m. PT (2 p.m. MT) and will be broadcast on ESPN+. The game will also be broadcast live on BYUradio.org, the BYU Radio app and in Utah County on 107.9 FM. Matt Baiamonte will have the radio play-by-play call live from Riverside.
UP NEXT. Following Monday’s contest at UC Riverside, the Cougars will play four games, Feb. 25-28, at Bohl Diamond at Blair Field, home of Long Beach State baseball. The Cougars will face the Dirtbags on Wednesday, Feb. 25 (6:05 p.m. PT) and Saturday, Feb. 28 (1:05 p.m. PT). In addition, BYU will play two neutral-site games with Washington State on Thursday and Friday. First pitch for both WSU games is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. PT.
SERIES BROADCAST PLANS. All four game at Long Beach will be broadcast live on BYUradio.org and the BYU Radio app with the two games versus WSU being simulcast on 107.9 FM in Utah County. Matt Baiamonte will have the radio play-by-play call live from Bohl Diamond.
Wednesday’s game at Long Beach will also be broadcast on ESPN+.
SCOUTING THE COUGARS. BYU returned 22 players from its 2025 roster, including seven of its eight starting position players and nine pitchers with game experience. In addition, the Cougars added five pitchers in the offseason with collegiate innings.
BYU returns an offensive lineup that accounted for 71-percent of the team’s plate appearance in 2025. The Cougars averaged 7.4 runs per game last season and finished top six in the Big 12 in runs (408), triples (16) and doubles (119). Defensively, the Cougars feature a core group that recorded a school-record fielding percentage of .978 and finished the season top 25 nationally and top three in the Big 12 in double plays (49) and fielding percentage.
RECAPING WEEK TWO. BYU is coming off a split of its two games at the Tony Gwynn Legacy, dropping the Friday evening contest to host San Diego State, 3-0, before rebounding the next night with a 9-7 win over UC San Diego at Triton Ballpark.
First baseman Ezra McNaughton had hits in both games, going 3 for 9 (.333) with two RBI and two runs scored. Centerfielder Crew McChesney also collected two RBI and a triple, while shortstop Ryder Robinson had two hits, including a home run, while slugging .714 over two games.
In game two at UCSD, BYU lefty starter Wayland Crane went four innings, surrendering just one hit and two runs while striking out four before giving way to right-hand reliever Nate Gray who tossed four innings of shutout ball with four strike outs for the win. Luke Sterner came on in the ninth to record the final two outs for his first save of the year.
KNOW THE FOE. BYU is scheduled to play five games in six days, with true road games at UC Riverside and Long Beach State (2) as well as neutral-site games with Washington State (2). The information below is about each team as they enter week three of the college baseball season.
UC Riverside (2-5)
• UC Riverside got swept by Utah Tech in a four-game series to open the season but took two-of-three games from Wagner last weekend.
• UCR leads the all-time series with BYU, 16-11.
• The series is tied 1-1 in neutral-site games, while the Highlanders are 15-10 versus the Cougars at home. Riverside has never played BYU in Provo.
• BYU won the first meeting between the two schools on March 25, 1967 (1-0), and also the last meeting on Feb. 18, 2012 (8-4).
Long Beach State (2-5)
• Long Beach went 1-2 in its season-opening series with San Jose State, then dropped a game to San Diego. This past weekend the Dirtbags went 1-2 in the Kleberg Bank College Classic, losing to Pitt and Cal State Bakersfield, while beating Texas A&M–Corpus Christi.
• LB leads the all-time series with BYU, 8-6.
• The Cougars won the first meeting on March 30, 1956 (5-2), while the Dirtbags won the last contest on March 6, 2004.
• Long Beach is 2-1 in neutral-site games and 6-5 versus the Cougars at home. LB has never played BYU in Provo either.
Washington State (2-4)
• WSU opened the 2026 season with a three-game series at Alabama, winning the first game and dropping the next two. Over the weekend they were 1-2 versus Cal Poly with the final of four games set for Monday night.
• WSU leads the all-time series with BYU, 22-16.
• WSU won the first and last games of the series on April 5, 1971, and April 3, 2023.
ON DECK. Following five games in California this week, BYU returns to Provo to open the 2026 home season in a three-game series with Cal Baptist at Miller Park, March 5-7. The Cougars will then host Utah Tech in a midweek game on March 10, before opening Big 12 play with Cincinnati in Provo, March 12-14.