Big 12 Notebook: The 2026 Season Begins

Opening Weekend Matchups

Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and TCU will be in Arlington to take part in the Shriners Showdown with Arkansas, Vanderbilt, and Oklahoma.

Houston will be in Puerto Rico and will face Wake Forest, Boston College, Manhattan, and Washington in the Puerto Rico Challenge. Houston and Wake Forest will play the first Division I game of 2026 with a first pitch set for 8am CT on Friday morning.

Kansas travels to South Texas to take on UTRGV.

Kansas State opens its 2026 campaign this weekend with four games at the MLB Desert Invitational in Scottsdale, facing Iowa, UConn, Penn State, and Air Force.

Arizona is set to kick off the 2026 season with a three-game slate in Surprise, Arizona at the College Baseball Series. The Wildcats will commence the 2026 campaign against Stanford, Oregon State, and Michigan.

West Virginia opens the 2026 season with three games at Georgia Southern.

Utah opens the season at Fresno State with four games.

BYU opens the 2026 season on Friday against Western Kentucky, in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

UCF will begin its 2026 campaign on Friday when it welcomes Siena to Orlando for a three-game weekend series.

Cincinnati begins its 2026 season with a three-game series at Jacksonville State.

Baylor begins the 2026 campaign with a four-game homestand that opens with New Mexico State for a three-game series.

Arizona State begins the 2026 season by hosting Omaha for a three-game series.

League Notes

(with weekend rotations)

Arizona

RHP Owen Kramkowski

RHP Smith Bailey

RHP Colin McKinney

Arizona is coming off of a 2025 which included a trip to the College World Series. The Wildcats return just three position players that appeared in 75 percent or more of their games last season, as the Wildcats will have a number of new faces in the lineup this year. The returning players include Easton Breyfogle, Andrew Cain, Maddox Mihalakis.

Arizona State

LHP Cole Carlon

RHP Colin Linder

LHP Easton Barrett

Arizona State is coming off a 36-24 season, which led to the schools first NCAA Regional appearance since the 2021 season. In the regular season last year, the Sun Devils won 23 games against Power Four teams, the fifth-highest tally in the country.

Baylor

RHP Lucas Davenport

LHP Ethan Calder

RHP Cade Hansen

Baylor returns 20 players from its 2025 roster, including three position player starters along with 17 newcomers. The Bears have 19 underclassmen on its 2026 squad. 30 players on the 37-man roster are in their first or second years with Baylor. Shortstop Travis Sanders, who hit .335 with eight home runs and 25 RBI in 2025, is set to anchor the offense.

BYU

No Starting Rotation Announced

Offensively, BYU returns the majority of a lineup that averaged 7.4 runs per game in 2025 and finished top six in the Big 12 in runs (408), triples (16), and doubles (119). Defensively, the Cougars return the core of a group that recorded a school-record fielding percentage of .978 in 2025 and finished the season top 25 in the nation and top three in the Big 12 in double plays (49) and fielding percentage.

Cincinnati

RHP Nathan Taylor

RHP Logan Knight

RHP Adam Brouwer

Among returning players, preseason All-American catcher Jack Natili and two-time All-Big 12 pitcher Nathan Taylor lead the Bearcats into the new season. Outfielder Conlan Daniel (Wright State) and pitchers Logan Knight (North Dakota State) and Adam Brouwer (Northern Illinois) will be making their Cincinnati debuts with high expectations.

Houston

No Starting Rotation Announced

Houston returns five position starters from the 2025 season, including Tyler Cox, the only Cougar to start every game. Houston returns a majority of its at-bats, hits, home runs, and RBI from last season. Having lost the 2025 Big 12 Pitcher of the Year in Antoine Jean to the professional ranks, the Cougars pitching staff also sees significant returns as nearly 60 percent of Houston’s innings and 52 percent of strikeouts return this season.

Kansas

RHP Dominic Voegele

RHP Mathis Nayral

RHP Madden Seidl

The 36-man Jayhawks roster features 26 newcomers and 10 returners. Kansas returns two of the primary components of its 2025 success in slugger Brady Ballinger and ace right-hander Dominic Voegel.

Kansas State

RHP James Guyette

RHP Donte Lewis

LHP Lincoln Sheffield

RHP Tanner Duke

Coming off their third straight 30-win season and seventh season under head coach Pete Hughes, Kansas State returns 21 players from the 2025 roster that finished 32-26 overall and set a school record with 17 conference wins. The Wildcats return everyday starters AJ Evasco, Dee Kennedy, Bear Madliak, and Shintaro Inoue along with starting pitcher Lincoln Sheffield.

Oklahoma State

LHP Hudson Barrett

RHP Mario Pesca

LHP Ethan Lund

The 2026 Cowboys roster includes 26 newcomers: three Division I transfers, seven JuCo transfers, and sixteen freshmen.

Colin Brueggemann is back for his fourth season in a Cowboys uniform. Brueggemann has played in 156 career games, 142 of those have been starts. Brueggemann has hit .285 with 35 homers, 35 doubles, and 140 RBI. Brueggemann led Oklahoma State last season with 18 multiple hit and 14 multiple RBI games and ranked second on the club in homers, doubles, and RBI.

TCU

RHP Tommy LaPour

LHP Mason Brassfield

RHP Lance Davis

The Horned Frogs are the clear favorite in the Big 12 as the season gets underway. Three Horned Frogs are favorites to carry home the Big 12 awards: Sawyer Strosnider was voted the Preseason Player of the Year, Tommy LaPour the Preseason Pitcher of the Year, and Lucas Franco the Preseason Freshman of the Year.

TCU returns 69 percent of its offensive production from last year and 50 percent of its innings pitched.

Texas Tech

RHP Jackson Burns

RHP Lukas Pirko

RHP Connor Mohan

The Texas Tech lineup features top Division I transfers in Connor Shouse and Hollis Porter, as well as key JuCo additions in Luke Orfi, Matt Quintanar, Caden Ferraro, and Donovan Becera. The Red Raiders also boast a roster that features Top-100 Freshman Linkin Garcia as well as two-way player Jesse Rusinek. Texas Tech will feature a new look this season that features eight pitchers that were in different places in 2025. The Red Raiders lost 313 1/3 of its 462 innings pitched in 2025 including its top-four in innings pitched.

UCF

RHP Braden Smith

RHP Joey Trombley

RHP Camden Wicker

UCF recorded a 29-26 overall record a season ago and finished 9-21 in Big 12 play. The Knights led the Big 12 in batting average, on-base percentage, ERA, and WHIP a season ago. UCF’s impressive .319 batting average not only led the Big 12 but also ranked sixth in the nation. UCF’s notable offensive stats did not stop there, as its .409 on-base percentage again topped the league and ranked 46th nationally. The UCF pitching staff also led the conference with a 4.29 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP in 2025 while the Knights ranked 19th in the nation in ERA and 16th in WHIP.

Utah

RHP Colter McAnelly

RHP Payton Riske

RHP Anson McGorman

Right-handed ace Colter McAnelly returns to the Utes after a respectable 2025 season. He is joined by fellow right-hander Dillon Fine, who was mostly used out of the bullpen last season. Outfielder Luke Jacobs is a terrific newcomer for Utah after being named the SWAC Player of the Year, Region Player of the Year and a second-team All-American in 2025.

West Virginia

RHP Chansen Cole

LHP Maxx Yehl

RHP Dawson Montesa

West Virginia is coming off a historic 2025 season where they set a new program record with 44 wins, won the Big 12 regular season title for the second time in three years, and advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals for the second consecutive season. West Virginia returns 19 players from last year’s team including Gavin Kelly and Armani Guzman. Returning pitchers include Chase Meyer as well as Reese Bassinger, Carson Estridge, and Ben McDougal.

Quoted

“The Big 12 is a challenging baseball conference,” BYU head coach Trent Pratt said. “Every team is very competitive, and you must come ready to compete every night. Early games at NCAA-regional-qualifier Western Kentucky, as well as the two-week stretch through California, will help us prepare for conference play.”

"It feels like yesterday that we were wrapping up our season," Kansas head coach Dan Fitzgerald said. "This offseason went really fast. We put together what we think is a really nice roster. We really like the new pieces and we really like the guys that have returned."

“The guys have put together a really focused fall and early spring, and I feel like we’re trending in the right direction,” said UCF head coach Rich Wallace. “This group can play our style of baseball at a high level. The real question is whether we can do it consistently, in every circumstance. If we keep progressing the way we have since August, we’ll give ourselves a real shot.”

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