PROVO, Utah — BYU baseball heads south to St. George to take on Utah Tech at Bruce Hurst Field on Tuesday, March 17 at 6:05 p.m. MT.
BROADCAST PLANS. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and will also be available on BYUradio.org and the BYU Radio app.
| BYU (9-9) vs. Utah Tech (13-7) | Bruce Hurst Field | St. George, Utah | |||
| Date & Time (MDT) | Watch | Listen | Live Stats |
| Tuesday, March 17 at 6:05 p.m. | ESPN+ | BYU Radio 107.9/BYU Radio App | Follow Here |
WEEK IN REVIEW. The Cougars are coming off a successful 3-1 week that included a Big 12 Conference series win over Cincinnati, 2-1, in the opening week of conference play. BYU began the week on Tuesday with a 19-2 home victory over Utah Tech that included 22 hits with six home runs.
Over four home games, BYU rolled up 41 runs on 51 hits, including 13 home runs, seven doubles and a triple. Five Cougars hit over .300 for the week, including three players—Ryker Schow, Ezra McNaughton and Ryder Robinson—who eclipsed .500.
Three Cougars enter Tuesday’s rematch at Utah Tech hitting over .300 on the year, including sophomore McNaughton who has started all 18 games and is hitting .400 with seven home runs, 23 RBI and 17 runs scored. Junior shortstop Robinson has also started all 18 games and is hitting .321 with five homers, 11 RBI and 16 runs scored. Starting center fielder Crew McChesney is hitting .311 with four home runs, five doubles and two triples, while driving in 12 runs and scoring 10 times.
ON THE HILL. While the BYU offense hit .352 as a team last week, the pitching staff held the Trailblazers and the Bearcats to a combined .285 batting average. On Tuesday’s bullpen day, BYU used five pitchers who limited Utah Tech to just two runs on five hits, with starter Austin Park (1-0) getting the win.
The Bearcats entered the weekend series in Provo having won seven straight and 11 of their last twelve while hitting .320 as a team and averaging 8.4 runs per game. The Cougar pitching staff held the Bearcat offense to just over six runs per game in the three-game series, two runs under their average. Game one winner Garrison Sumner led BYU to a 5-2 victory over Cincinnati on Thursday, scattering four hits over 5.1 innings, while striking out six and surrendering just one run.
Righty reliever Nate Gray picked up the win in game three of the series on Saturday, coming out of the pen to throw 5.0 innings with seven strikeouts. Ashton Johnson came on in the ninth and struck out the last two batters to preserve the win and pick up the save.
SERIES HISTORY. BYU and Utah Tech will meet for the 22nd time on Tuesday. The in-state foes have met twice each season since the Trailblazers joined the NCAA Division I ranks in 2021. The Cougars own a 7-4 record in the NCAA era, including a 19-2 victory in Provo on March 10. Overall BYU has an all-time series advantage of 17-4.
SOUTHERN UTAH ROOTS. BYU’s roster includes five St. George or Santa Clara natives. The five southern Utah natives hail from three different high school programs.
Hurdsman began his collegiate career at Utah Tech in 2023 before transferring to BYU. The Desert Hills High School alum started 22 games for the Trailblazers, hitting .299 and recording 16 RBI as a freshman. Hurdsman and Cougar right-handed pitcher Payton Gubler were teammates on Desert Hills' 2019 state championship team.
BYU catcher Ridge Erickson and right-handed pitcher Cayson Bell were teammates at Dixie High School where they led the Flyers to the 2022 Region Title. Cougar second baseman Luke Anderson earned the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year and Deseret News Mr. Baseball honors while helping Snow Canyon High School to a state title in 2022.
KNOW THE FOE. Utah Tech completed its fifth NCAA Division I season in 2025 with a 24-31 overall record and finished eighth in the Western Athletic Conference at 9-15. The Trailblazers are currently in second place in the 2026 WAC baseball standings behind Cal Baptist.
Chris Pfatenhauer is in his 14th season as the head baseball coach at Utah Tech. The Trailblazers are off to a solid start at 13-7 and are currently 6-2 at home and 7-5 on the road. They opened the 2026 campaign by sweeping UC Riverside (4-0) then made it five straight with a win at CSU Bakersfield. A series win at Pacific (2-1), followed by a sweep of Northern Colorado (4-0) at home and a weekend split with Austin Peay (2-2) put Utah Tech a 13-3 before dropping its last four games on the road at BYU (0-1) and Santa Clara (0-3).