PROVO, Utah — After opening the 2026 baseball seasons with 11 road games over 16 days in California and Kentucky, BYU (6-5) welcomes Cal Baptist (11-3) to Provo for the Cougars’ home opener series at Miller Park, March 5-7.
Games one and two of the three-game series are slated for Thursday and Friday at 3 p.m. MT, with game three at 1 p.m. MT on Saturday.
BROADCAST PLANS. All three games of the BYU-Cal Baptist series will be broadcast live on ESPN+ with Dave McCann and Greg Sheide on the call. The games will also be available on BYUradio.org and on the BYU Radio app. Matt Baiamonte or Greg Wrubell will have the radio call.
SERIES HISTORY. Cal Baptist and BYU will meet for the first time ever in baseball this week. The schools have previously met a combined 28 times in men’s volleyball (23-3), softball (0-1) and women’s basketball (1-0).
KNOW THE FOE. The Lancers are led by head coach Gary Adcock in his 23rd season and were picked to finish third in the WAC behind Abilene Christian and UVU. Junior left-handed pitcher Cody New was named WAC Preseason Pitcher of the Year, while shortstop Chris Ramirez joined New on the Preseason All-WAC Team.
The Lancers are off to a hot start in 2026 posting a 11-3 record during the first three weeks of the season. CBU opened the year with a 3-1 series win over Cal State Fullerton before sweeping the next series with Seattle University, 4-0. A loss to CSUN, followed by another 3-1 series win over San Francisco and a midweek win at UC Riverside gives the Lancers 11 wins heading into the BYU series.
CBU has five guys hitting over .300 on the season led by Riley Hunsaker at .375. Bryce McFeely is hitting .339 and leads the Lancers in hits (21), RBI (14) and doubles (7). On the mound, Michael Malki enters the weekend series with a 3-0 record and a .640 ERA with 25 strikeouts in 14 innings. Bryan Peck is 2-0 on the year with a 1.00 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 18 innings.
SCOUTING THE COUGS. 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 returned 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 CALI. The Cougars are coming off a 10-day, seven game road trip in southern California from Feb. 19-28. After dropping a game at San Diego State, BYU defeated UC San Diego and UC Riverside, then split a four-game, round-robin series with Long Beach State and Washington State, 2-2.
HOT BAT CATS. Over five games last week, BYU shortstop Ryder Robinson went 11-for-22 (.500) with three RBI, four runs and two doubles. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning versus Washington State on Friday, Robinson doubled down the left field line scoring Ezra McNaughton from first for a 5-4 walk-off victory and a series sweep of WSU. McNaughton was also swinging a hot bat last week, going 10-for-23 (.435) with two homers, a double and six RBI, while scoring six runs.
ON THE HILL. Senior left-hander Ashton Johnson appeared in two of BYU's five games last week. He held Washington State scoreless over the final five innings while striking out three for the win on Thursday. Johnson (2-0) came out of the bullpen two nights later versus Long Beach State with BYU down a run and got the final two outs in the eighth to get the Cougars out of a jam and give them a chance to win in the ninth. The senior lefty is now 2-0 on the year with a .057 ERA in 15.2 innings while striking out 11.
Reliver Dan Brousseau also picked up a win in three appearances last week. The senior righty closed out the final two innings of Friday’s game, holding WSU scoreless and setting up Robinson’s walk-off heroics.
ON DECK. Following the three-game series with California this weekend, BYU will then host Utah Tech in a midweek game on March 10, before opening Big 12 play by hosting Cincinnati in Provo, March 12-14.