Big 12 Notebook: March 27, 2026

Weekly Awards

Big 12 Players of the Week

Player: Quinton Coats, Cincinnati

Pitcher: Lance Davis, TCU

Co-Newcomer: Lance Davis, TCU and Connor Shouse, Texas Tech

Weekend Schedule

(with scheduled rotations)

Kansas (16-9, 4-2) at Cincinnati (19-8, 3-3)

RHP Boede Rahe vs. RHP Nathan Taylor

RHP Mathis Nayral vs. RHP Adam Brouwer

RHP Dominic Voegele vs. TBD

Kansas State (17-8, 3-3) at Utah (13-9, 3-3)

RHP James Guyette vs. RHP Colter McAnelly

LHP Lincoln Sheffield vs. RHP Payton Piske

RHP Tanner Duke vs. TBA

West Virginia (17-4, 5-1) at Arizona State (18-6, 4-2)

RHP Dawson Montesa vs. LHP Cole Carlon

LHP Maxx Yehl vs. RHP Alex Overbay

RHP Chansen Cole vs. RHP Kole Klecker

Texas Tech (15-8, 4-2) vs. TCU (14-10, 2-4)

RHP Lukas Pikro vs. LHP Mason Brassfield

RHP Connor Mohan vs. RHP Lance Davis

RHP Jackson Burns vs. TBA

Arizona (9-15, 2-4) at UCF (15-8, 5-1)

RHP Owen Kramkowski vs. RHP Braden Smith

RHP Smith Bailey vs. RHP Matt Sauser

LHP Luc Fladda vs. RHP Camden Wicker

Oklahoma State (16-9, 2-4) at BYU (11-12, 2-4)

LHP Ethan Lund vs. LHP Justis Reiser

RHP Mario Pesca vs. LHP Wayland Crane

LHP Hudson Barrett vs. RHP Cayson Bell

Baylor (13-11, 2-4) at Houston (13-11, 1-5)

RHP Lucas Davenport vs. RHP Connor Udland

RHP Zack Wallace vs. RHP Kendall Hoffman

LHP Ethan Calder vs. RHP Paul Schmitz

League Notes

Arizona

Nate Novitske and Tony Lira continue to lead the Arizona offense,  with Novitske batting a team-high .376 while Lira is batting .374. Andrew Cain is batting .348 with six walks in Big 12 contests and he has reached base 14 times in the last six games.

Arizona's pitching staff is fourth in the Big 12 in strikeouts (231) and fifth in ERA (5.13), with starting pitchers Luc Fladda and Smith Bailey ranking seventh and ninth in ERA respectively.

Arizona State

Arizona State is led by Landon Hairston, who is hitting .452 with 10 home runs and 33 RBI on the season, all are team-highs.

All-American Cole Carlon leads the way on the mound with a 3.19 ERA in 31 innings pitched, while recording 48 strikeouts.

Baylor

Travis Sanders carries a 27-game on-base streak into the weekend series; the streak dates back to last season. Brady Janusek has 10 hits in his last five games, hitting .455 in that span.

Right-hander Caleb Bunch has allowed just one run over his last 10 2/3 innings pitched in seven appearances, recording two wins and three saves over that time.

BYU

Cougars' shortstop Ryder Robinson was recognized last week as the Brooks Wallace Award National Player of the Week by the College Baseball Foundation. Robinson was 8-for-16 with three home runs, a triple, four RBI, four walks, and six runs scored the week of March 9-15. This season, Robinson is hitting .323 with six home runs, 16 RBI, and 21 runs scored in 23 starts and leads the Cougars in stolen bases with seven.

Cincinnati

A high-powered offense and a deep, talented pitching staff have propelled the Bearcats to one of the best starts in program history. Cincinnati has pounded out 294 hits to this point in the season, ranking fourth nationally, and their 44 home runs are 17th in the country.

The Bearcats also rank among the Top 20 teams in runs scored (224, 20th), and stolen bases (63, 18th). Cincinnati’s pitchers rank second in the Big 12 in strikeouts (255), second in K/BB ratio (2.66), and third in ERA (4.52).

Houston

Houston defeated No. 2 ranked Texas on Tuesday. The Cougars trailed 7-0 in the fifth inning, but rallied to win 9-7.

Kansas

Kansas swept Houston in Lawrence last weekend. Tyson Owens went 4-for-5 with eight RBI in Saturday’s 9-8 walk-off victory, which included bringing in the game-winning run.

The Jayhawks have won six of their last seven games and have averaged 10.3 runs per game during that span. Kansas recorded a 5-1 record on their recent season-long six-game homestand. The Jayhawks came from behind to win in four of those five games. This season, 11 of the 16 victories for Kansas been in comeback fashion. The Jayhawks have four walk-offs in 10 opportunities.

Jordan Bach leads a trio of Kansas hitters that are hitting above .300, while Tyson LeBlanc’s seven home runs are the most of any Kansas hitter.

Kansas State

The weekend rotation for the Wildcats is as formidable as they come in the Big 12.

Friday starter James Guyette leads the pitching staff with a season-high 37 strikeouts, ranking sixth in the Big 12. Guyette has punched out a career-high eight batters in three starts this season. Lincoln Sheffield leads the conference and is fifth in the nation in wins (5), while averaging 1.85 walks allowed per nine innings, the third-best mark in the Big 12. Tanner Duke registered a career-high nine strikeouts in the Wildcats’ run-rule victory at Houston, the most by a Kansas State pitcher this season.

Oklahoma State

The Oklahoma State offense is led by Aidan Meola and Kollin Ritchie who lead the team, or are second, in almost every offensive category. Ritchie leads the Cowboys in at-bats (91), hits (28), home runs (14), RBI (37), total bases (78), and slugging (.835). Meola is second in home runs (8), RBI (26), batting average (.318), and slugging (.708).

Ethan Lund leads the Cowboys pitching staff with three wins and 55 strikeouts and is second in innings pitched with 30 1/3. Three other Cowboys have recorded two wins on the year including Noah Wech (2-1), Hudson Barrett (2-1), and Mario Pesca (2-2). Pesca leads the team in innings pitched (32 1.3) and is second in strikeouts (34).

TCU

Sawyer Strosnider has homered five times in the last five games and has 14 RBI in during that span. Strosnider's 24 walks on the season are third in the Big 12 and 33rd nationally.

Noah Franco returned to the mound on Sunday for the Horned Frogs after missing a month.

Texas Tech

The Red Raiders travelled to Tucson last weekend and took a series from Arizona.

Texas Tech ranks second nationally with a .364 season batting average. Two Red Raiders are hitting over .400; Jesse Rusinek (.441) and Caden Ferraro (.403).

On the mound, Texas Tech pitching has a 7.36 ERA and is allowing opponents to hit .295.

UCF

The Knights took a series from TCU last weekend in Fort Worth.

Shortstop Jordan Lodise, hit .545 against TCU last weekend with three doubles, three RBI, and four runs scored. Catcher Zak Skinner was close behind hitting .538 with a double, two RBI. and five runs scored. As a team, the Knights hit .352 against TCU.

Camden Wicker led the rotation by tossing 6 2/3 scoreless innings allowing just one hit.

Utah

Utah is off to a 7-2 start in its new home, Charlie Monfort Field at America First Ballpark.

The Utes are coming off a midweek non-conference game against rival BYU, where they fell 6-5 despite a late push. Jake Long hit a 450-foot, two-run home run in the ninth inning, but it was not enough to outlast the Cougars.

Long comes into the Kansas State series riding a team-best 17-game hitting streak, Cameron Gurney (15) and Daniel Arambula (14) are also taking hit-streaks into the weekend. The 17-game hitting streak is the longest hitting streak for a Utah player since 2019. Gurney leads the Utes in RBI, with 27 early in conference play.

West Virginia

The Mountaineers swept BYU in Morgantown last weekend.

Paul Schoenfeld leads West Virginia with a .418 batting average, Gavin Kelly is right on his heels at .416 and lead the team in hits with 37.

Maxx Yehl leads the pitching staff with a .60 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 15 innings. Yehl has allowed just one earned run all season.

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