PROVO, Utah — BYU opens its week of baseball with a Monday night matchup versus Utah Tech at Miller Park on April 20, at 5 p.m. MT.
BROADCAST PLANS. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and on the BYU Radio app, BYUradio.org, SiriusXM 143 and 107.9 FM in Utah County.
WEEK IN REVIEW. The Cougars are coming off a 2-2 week that included a Big 12 win over No. 23-ranked Arizona State on Thursday. BYU began the week on Monday with a 4-0 road victory at Lamar University that pushed the Cougars' winning streak to five-straight games.
BYU then returned home to host ASU in a three-game Big 12 series, April 16-18. The Cougars took game one 19-9 in seven innings to up the win streak to six straight. ASU turned the tables on BYU over the weekend, winning games two and three of the series 13-0 and 12-8.
KNOW THE FOE. Utah Tech enters Monday's game with a 25-14 record and is 4-1 in WAC play, good for first place. The Trailblazers are on a three-game winning streak and are 12-8 on the road in 2026.
SERIES HISTORY. BYU and Utah Tech will meet for the 22nd time on Monday. The in-state foes have met at least twice each season since the Trailblazers joined the NCAA Division I ranks in 2021. The Cougars are 18-4 all-time versus Utah Tech, including two wins earlier this season in Provo (12-2) on March 10 and in St. George (18-5) on March 17.
SOUTHERN UTAH ROOTS. BYU has five St. George or Santa Clara natives on its 2026 roster. The five southern Utah natives hail from three different high school programs.
Bryker 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.
BAT CATS. As a team, BYU enters the Utah Tech game hitting .282 as a team with 59 home runs, a slugging percentage of .490 and on on base percentage of .366. Sophomore first baseman Ezra McNaughton, who has started all 38 games, is hitting .355 and leads the Cougar offense in just about every category, including hits (59), doubles (13), home runs (11), RBI (40), slugging (.633), OBP (.422) and extra base hits (24).
ON THE HILL. Right-handed reliever Nate Gray (6-5) currently leads the Big 12 in relief appearances (15) and is tied for the league lead in wins (6). In 42.1 innings, he has 39 strikeouts and is holding opposing batters to a .258 average. Three other Cougars have two wins on the season included Garrison Sumner (2-2), Dan Brousseau (2-0) and Ashton Johnson (2-4), who also has three saves.
UP NEXT. The Cougars will head to Tucson for a three-game Big 12 series with Arizona, April 23-25 at Hi Corbett Field.