PROVO, Utah — After defeating Utah Valley 10-5 in a midweek non-conference game at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Tuesday, BYU now heads to Texas for a BIG 12 three-game series against the Houston Cougars April 9-11 at Schroeder Park.
BROADCAST PLANS. All three contests will be broadcast live on ESPN+. The games will also be available on the BYU Radio app, BYUradio.org, SiriusXM 143 and 107.9 FM in Utah County with Greg Wrubell providing play-by-play.
PREVIEWING THE MATCHUP. BYU is 15-16 on the year and 5-7 in Big 12 play. Meanwhile Houston enters the Big 12 matchup at 16-15 and 3-9 in the conference. BYU comes into the UH series hitting .279 as a team, good for ninth in the Big 12, while Houston is .277 in 10th.
BYU is seventh in hits (300) and 11th in runs scored (203), while Houston is 12th in hits (275) and 12th in runs scored (202). On the hill, the Houston Cougars are 11th in earned run average at 5.25, while the Provo Cougars are 12th at 6.72.
SERIES HISTORY. Thursday marks just the fourth baseball meeting between BYU and Houston. The universities first met in a three-game Big 12 series, March 14-16, in year one of the newly expanded conference. Houston won the first game of the series in Provo 9-2, but BYU took games two (4-2) and three (10-8) to win the series 2-1.
BAT CATS. BYU is led offensively by Ezra McNaughton, Ryder Robinson and Easton Jones. The trio have started all 30 games for the Cougars and are in the top three in nearly every offensive category. McNaughton is the team leader in average (.379), hits (50), runs (25), RBI (34), slugging (.659) and OBP (.442), and is second in HRs (9) and doubles (10). Robinson is hitting .278 and leads BYU in runs (25), stolen bases (7) and walks (14) and is top three in average (.278), hits (35) and OBP (.366).
Jones is hitting .277 and leads BYU in home runs (10) and is top three in RBI (24), runs (23), slugging (.563), walks (12) and stolen bases (4). Crew McChesney, who is hitting .309 and is also top three for the Cougars in several offensive categories, was injured in the Oklahoma State series and will miss the series.
ON THE HILL. Nate Gray (5-5) leads BYU, and is tied for the Big 12 Conference lead, with five wins on the year in 10 appearances. In 37.2 innings he has 35 strikeouts and is holding opposing batters to a .252 average. Ashton Johnson (2-3) is second on the team with two wins in 29 innings, with 29 strikeouts and two saves. Seven other Cougars enter the UVU series with one win including Garrison Sumner, Cayson Bell, Austin Park, Jaxon Clayton, Dan Brousseau, Ethan Zufall and Nate Wochner.