Big 12 Notebook: March 13, 2026

Weekly Awards

Big 12 Players of the Week

Player: Quinton Coats, Cincinnati

Pitcher: Owen Kramkowski, Arizona

Co-Newcomer: Caden Ferraro, Texas Tech

Weekend Schedule

(with scheduled rotations)

Cincinnati at BYU

RHP Nathan Taylor vs. RHP Garrison Sumner

RHP Logan Knight vs. LHP Wayland Crane

RHP Adam Brouwer vs. TBD

Kansas State at Houston

RHP James Guyette vs. RHP Paul Schmitz

RHP Tanner Duke vs. RHP Kendall Hoffman

LHP Lincoln Sheffield vs, TBD

TCU at Arizona State

Mason Brassfield vs. Cole Carlon

Lance Davis vs. Alex Overbay

Trever Baumler vs. Kole Klecker

WVU at Baylor

RHP Dawson Montesa vs. RHP Lucas Davenport

RHP Chansen Cole vs. TBD

LHP Maxx Yehl vs. LHP Ethan Calder

Kansas at Texas Tech

RHP Mason Cook vs. RHP Lukas Pirko

RHP Dominic Voegele vs. RHP Connor Mohan

RHP Mathis Nayral vs. RHP Jackson Burns

Oklahoma State at UCF

LHP Ethan Lund vs. RHP Braden Smith

RHP Mario Pesca vs. RHP Matt Sauser

TBA  vs. TBA

Arizona at Utah

RHP Garrett Ahern vs. RHP Colter McAnelly

RHP JT Guerrero vs. RHP Payton Riske

LHP Luc Fladda vs. TBA

League Notes

Arizona State

Arizona State is on a four-game winning streak as the Sun Devils host TCU this weekend.

Arizona State ranks 13th nationally with a .338 batting average, while their .986 fielding percentage is eighth in the nation. Landon Hairston leads the Sun Devils in average (.424), home runs (6), and RBI (24).

The Arizona State pitching staff has a 4.01 ERA and have struck out 165 while issuing only 71 walks. Sean Fitzpatrick leads Arizona State pitchers with eight appearances out of the bullpen.

Baylor

Baylor has won each of its first nine games at home to start the season, and 10 games in a row at Baylor Ballpark dating back to the 2025 regular-season home finale.

Travis Sanders leads the Bears with a .413 batting average while Tyce Armstrong has a team-high six home runs. Ethan Calder is 1-1 on the mound with a 2.16 ERA and leads the team with 15 strikeouts in 16 2/3 innings.

BYU

The Cougars are 7-8 through the first month of the season. As a team, BYU’s .291 team batting average ranks in the middle of the pack in the Big 12 and its 5.88 team ERA ranks 12th.

Ezra McNaughton has been the best hitter for BYU to this point, leading qualified hitters on the team in batting average (.382), on-base percentage (.440), slugging percentage (.706), home runs (six), and RBI (18).

Cincinnati

The Bearcats enter the weekend having won seven in a row and 11 of their last 12. Their 14-4 record is their best through 18 games of a season since going 15-3 in 2000. During the 12-game stretch, Cincinnati is hitting .320 and averaging 8.4 runs per game while recording a 2.91 team ERA.

The Bearcats are hitting .308 this season and boasts a 3.57 team ERA, both of which rank in the top four in the Big 12. Cincinnati and West Virginia are the only teams to rank in the top four in both categories.

Quinton Coats was named Big 12 Player of the Week and NCBWA Dick Howser Trophy National Co-Hitter of the Week following his incredible offensive output last week. Coats hit seven home runs in five games and drove in 17 runs, helping the Bearcats go 5-0 in games against Western Kentucky and UC San Diego.

Houston

Kendall Hoffman leads the Big 12 among eligible pitchers with a .156 batting average on balls in play against. Left-hander Chris Scinta ranks sixth in pitching appearances (74) among NCAA Baseball players across all divisions.  Hoffman and Scinta both rank within the top 10 in opponent OPS as well. A trio of Houston right-handers, Richie Roman, Paul Schmitz, and Alex Solis were named to the 2026 Pitcher of the Year watchlist on Wednesday.

The Cougars have hit 35 doubles, three triples. and 19 home runs, led by Carsten Sabathia III who has hit five home runs, all in the last seven game. The Houston pitching staff boasts the league’s third-best ERA at 3.79.

Kansas

Kansas has won their opening conference series in back-to-back seasons. Doing so in 2024 and 2025 marked the first time it has happened in consecutive years since 2013 and 2014. Kansas has also won its conference opener in both 2024 and 2025.

Jordan Bach has led the way on offense for Kansas. Bach leads the team in batting average (.373), on-base percentage (.531), slugging percentage (.661), home runs (4), runs scored (21), hits (22), walks (19), stolen bases (5), total bases (39), multi-run games (8), and multi-hit games (7).

Kansas State

Kansas State is 13-4 and enters Big 12 play ranked third in the league standings, with the best 17-game start under Pete Hughes.

Bear Madliak and Dee Kennedy each enter the weekend series at Houston with hitting streaks of five games, while Robby Bolin enters the weekend with an on-base streak of 16 games. Grant Gallagher recorded his fourth multi-hit game and Madliak earned his third of the season in the Wildcats' midweek win this week.

Oklahoma State

The Cowboys are 12-4 so far this season and are coming off a nine-game homestand in which they went 8-1.

Kollin Ritchie leads the Cowboys with a .362 batting average, 16 extra-base hits, 11 home runs, and 31 runs batted in. Ritchie's 11 home runs rank third in the nation and his 31 RBI rank fourth.

The Cowboys are hitting .286 as a team and ranks seventh nationally with 34 home runs. The Oklahoma State pitching staff has a 5.16 ERA and has 162 strikeouts to rank 27th in the NCAA.

TCU

The Horned Frogs are averaging 10.7 runs per game over the last nine games.

Sawyer Strosnider has reached safely in 32 straight games dating back to last season. Nolan Traeger has driven in a run in eight of the last nine games and leads the team with 18 RBI over that stretch. Preston Gamster hit his first career home run last Sunday and is the seventh TCU hitter to homer this year.

Texas Tech

Texas Tech is 11-5 so far this season and will be finishing a program record 15-game homestand with the series against Kansas this weekend. The Red Raiders have gone 10-2 through the first 12 games of the homestand which includes a midweek series split against ranked UTSA. Texas Tech is hitting well with a .379 batting average as a team and a .679 slugging percentage through its first 16 games.

UCF

The Knights are 9-6 and coming off a loss at home to Miami on Wednesday. UCF is 8-3 on their home field this season. The Knights own a .275 team batting average, while their pitching staff holds a 3.91 ERA.

UCF right-hander Braden Smith has been named to the National Pitcher of the Year Award Watch List as announced by the College Sports Foundation. Smith was named to the watch list after recording a 2-1 record, 4.15 ERA, and 16 strikeouts while walking just one batter of a team-best 21 2/3 innings. Smith is one of 13 pitchers from the Big 12 to make the cut and one of 141 pitchers in all.

Utah

Cameron Gurney has been key to Utah's offense this season. The first baseman leads the team in RBI (16), batting average (.360), and on-base percentage (.508). Jake Long heads into the Arizona series swinging a hot bat, with a team-best nine-game hitting streak.

West Virginia

Gavin Kelly leads West Virginia with a .431 batting average and leads the Big 12 with nine doubles. Matthew Graveline has a team-high three home runs while Paul Schoenfeld leads the team with 18 RBI.

Dawson Montesa, Chansen Cole, and Maxx Yehl have started all four weekends and will return to the mound against Baylor in Waco. Yehl and Cole are both top 10 in the Big 12 in ERA while Montesa is second in strikeouts.

Quoted

"We've got a great chance to restart our season here with the start of conference play," said Kansas head coach Dan Fitzgerald. "This weekend is a series against a really good Texas Tech team. From top to bottom, every weekend in the Big 12 is going to be awesome and really good baseball."

“Everybody’s starting 0-0 this week and we’ve been looking at it like we’re playing a Super Regional every weekend,” said UCF head coach Rich Wallace. “It feels like 10 weekends of Super Regional baseball. You have to separate each week and play each week like it is its own competition and find a way to get better.”

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