Big 12 Notebook: March 20, 2026

Weekly Awards

Big 12 Players of the Week

Player: Shintaro Inoue, Kansas State

Pitcher: Maxx Yehl, West Virginia

Newcomer: Dean Toigo, Arizona State

Weekend Schedule

(with scheduled rotations)

BYU (10-9, 2-1) at West Virginia (13-4, 2-1)

RHP Garrison Sumner vs. RHP Dawson Montesa

RHP Thomas Santana vs. RHP Chansen Cole

TBA vs. LHP Maxx Yehl

Utah (12-6, 1-2) at Cincinnati (17-6, 1-2)

RHP Colter McAnelly vs. RHP Nathan Taylor

RHP Payton Riske vs. RHP Logan Knight

TBD vs. RHP Adam Brouwer

Baylor (11-9, 1-2 Big 12) at Oklahoma State (14-7, 0-3)

RHP Lucas Davenport vs. LHP Ethan Lund

TBA vs. RHP Mario Pesca

LHP Ethan Calder vs. TBA

Houston (12-8, 1-2) vs. Kansas (12-8, 1-2)

LHP Chris Scinta vs. RHP Mason Cook

RHP Kendall Hoffman vs. RHP Mathis Nayral

TBD vs. RHP Dominic Voegele

Arizona State (15-5, 2-1) at Kansas State (16-5, 2-1)

LHP Cole Carlon vs. RHP James Guyette

RHP Alex Overbay vs. RHP Tanner Duke

RHP Kole Klecker vs. LHP Lincoln Sheffield

UCF (13-6, 3-0) at TCU (12-8, 1-2)

RHP Braden Smith vs. LHP Mason Brassfield

RHP Matt Sauser vs. RHP Lance Davis

RHP Camden Wicker vs. RHP Trever Baumler

Texas Tech (13-7, 2-1) at Arizona (7-13, 1-2)

RHP Lukas Pirko vs. RHP Owen Kramkowski

RHP Connor Mohan vs. Smith Bailey

RHP Jackson Burns vs. Luc Fladda

League Notes

Arizona

After starting 1-8 this season, the Wildcats have gone 6-5 over their last 11 games and have made significant improvements offensively over that stretch. Arizona has scored 6.7 runs per game while recording 9.9 hits per contest over their last 11 games, after averaging 3.1 runs and 7.5 hits over their first nine games.

Nate Novitske and Tony Lira continue to lead the way offensively for the Wildcats, with Novitske batting .370 and Lira hitting .345. Caleb Danzeisen leads the team in on-base percentage (.448). Maddox Mihalakis has rebounded at the plate recently, and he enters the weekend on an eight-game hit streak, while batting .400 over that stretch.

Arizona's pitching staff ranks third in the Big 12 in strikeouts with 210, and Owen Kramkowski is sixth in the league in strikeouts (32), while Smith Bailey is ninth (29).

Arizona State

Arizona State opened Big 12 play with a 2-1 series win over TCU, highlighted by seven scoreless innings from Kole Klecker (3-0, 3.00 ERA) to take the rubber match of the series.

As a team, the Sun Devils are hitting .336 with 41 doubles, four triples, and 41 home runs, which leads the Big 12. Seven starters are hitting over .300, led by Landon Hairston’s .429 average, which stands as the second-best batting average in the Big 12.

Kole Klecker allowed just two hits, striking out seven and walking three against his former school in seven innings on the mound. Klecker and the rest of the Sun Devils staff held TCU to 0-for-11 batting with runners on base, 0-for-8 with two outs, and 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

Baylor

Last week against West Virginia, left-hander Ethan Calder turned in Baylor's first quality start of the season, tossing a team-high 6 1/3 innings and allowing just three runs on five hits and one walk and striking out one.

Travis Sanders carries a 24-game on-base streak into the weekend series at Oklahoma State, dating back to the 2025 season. Sanders leads the Bears in hitting with 30 hits and a .405 average. Tyce Armstrong has hit seven home runs and driven in 27 runs, both lead the team.

BYU

BYU is coming off a series win over Cincinnati this past weekend and a midweek win against Utah Tech.

The Cougars have scored 59 runs on 69 hits, including 15 home runs, 12 doubles, and 56 RBI in the last five games. During that stretch, BYU hit .365 with a slugging percentage of .677 and an on base percentage of .440.

BYU pitching has also been solid with 15 different hurlers over 45 innings combining to hold opposing hitters to a .276 average while striking out 44 opposing batters.

Ezra McNaughton leads BYU hitters with a .407 batting average and seven home runs while Ashton Johnston has been the top pitcher with a 3.10 ERA in eight relief appearances.

Cincinnati

Quinton Coats leads the nation in home runs (15) and total bases (88). With 15 home runs, Coats has more than 124 DI team totals this season.

Houston

Tre Broussard, a top MLB Draft prospect, leads the way offensively for the Houston with a .485 batting average and a 1.316 OPS.

Kansas

The Jayhawks are coming off back-to-back run-rule victories against Texas Tech and Missouri. It is the first time earning run-rule victories in consecutive games since 2011. Kansas defeated Texas Tech 18-7 in eight innings on Sunday and Missouri by a score of 10-0 in seven innings.

The Jayhawks double-digit scoring output in the last two games marked the first time with at least 10 runs in back-to-back games this season. The shutout against Missouri was also the first of the year and the first against the Tigers since 2012.

Kansas State

The Wildcats opened Big 12 play by taking a road series at Houston, winning the first two games via run-rule 20-8 and 16-1 before dropping the finale 16-6 also via the run-rule.

Shintaro Inoue was named the Big 12 Player of the Week for his efforts in the Wildcats' series victory over Houston on the road. Inoue was 8-for-11 in the first two games of the series, both Kansas State run-rule victories. Inoue led the Kansas State offense with a .524 average and 10 RBI while recording a 1.314 OPS.

The .320 team batting average of Kansas State ranks third in the Big 12 and 21st in the country, while being 17th in the nation in scoring (9.7 runs per game).

TCU

Despite dropping their series at Arizona State last weekend, TCU has won four of its last six contests. The Horned Frogs, who hold wins on the year over ranked Arkansas and Vanderbilt, had been nationally ranked for the first few weeks of the season before falling out the polls this week.

TCU scored in every inning in their midweek game with New Mexico State on Tuesday, marking the second time this season they have done that. Sawyer Strosnider homered twice and drove in eight runs Tuesday. The eight RBI are tied for the sixth-most in a game this season.

Texas Tech

The Red Raiders currently boast one of the best offenses in the country. Through 20 games, Texas Tech has scored 226 total runs this season, just 108 fewer runs than the Red Raiders scored in all of 2025.

Texas Tech enters the weekend in the top-five in the country in batting average (.367), double-per-game (2.95), scoring (11.3), on-base percentage (.475), and slugging percentage (.620). Texas Tech is second in the country in batting average, first in doubles per game, second in scoring and third in both slugging percentage and on-base percentage.

UCF

UCF opened Big 12 play with their first three-game series sweep since joining the conference prior to the 2024 season, taking all three games over Oklahoma State, UCF then capped a 12-game homestand with an 8-5 midweek victory over Columbia on Tuesday. The Knights went 9-3 during the homestand, which included winning nine of its last 10 games during the stretch.

Matt Sauser ranks in the top-10 nationally with a 0.36 ERA in 25 innings pitched. The right-hander was masterful in his last outing against Oklahoma State, taking his start into the seventh inning.

UCF is hitting .286 as a team. Six Knights have driven in at least 10 runs, led by 18 from Zak Skinner.

Utah

The Utes opened Big 12 play by hosting Arizona and winning the series.

Utah also took a midweek contest on Tuesday vs. Washington State, winning 8-5. The Utes rank in the top five of the Big 12 in team ERA (4.21) while ace right-hander Colter McAnelly ranks among the league leaders in ERA (2.67), batting average against (.173), and innings pitched (27).

West Virginia

The Mountaineers took two of three against Baylor in Waco last weekend.

Maxx Yehl was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week after throwing eight scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts against Baylor.

Gavin Kelly leads the Mountaineers with a .423 batting average and leads the Big 12 with 10 doubles. Paul Schoenfeld has a team-high 23 RBI while Matthew Graveline has four home runs.

Quoted

"I always look at the college baseball season in segments…it's a constant state of turns," said Kansas head coach Dan Fitzgerald. "Get to a crossroads and you have to make a choice as a team who you're going to be and move through it. I think this is hopefully one of many times that we turn in the right direction."

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