Big 12 Notebook: May 2, 2025

West Virginia is still alone at the top of the Big 12 standings with a 16-3 record.

Kansas is alone in second place with a record of 15-6. TCU and Arizona State follow with 14-7 records.

Weekly Awards

Big 12 Players of the Week

Player: Matt King, Arizona State

Pitcher: Dominic Voegele, Kansas

Newcomer: Matt King, Arizona State

Weekend Matchups

Texas Tech (15-26, 10-11) at West Virginia (37-6, 16-3)

Cincinnati (24-20, 10-11) at Kansas (36-10, 15-6)

UCF (24-20, 6-15) at Oklahoma State (19-21, 7-11)

Utah (17-22, 5-16) at Houston (24-20, 7-13)

Arizona State (30-16, 14-7) at Baylor (28-16, 9-12)

Kansas State (26-19, 12-9) at BYU (21-21, 6-15)

TCU (32-13, 14-7) at Arizona (31-13, 13-8)

League Notes

Arizona

Arizona has won five of seven Big 12 series this season, their first in the Big 12. On the mound, right-hander Collin McKinney's 3.02 ERA ranks 7th in the Big 12. Relief pitcher Tony Pluta has 10 saves in 24 appearances. The Wildcats offense leads the country with 28 triples this season. Aaron Walton is Arizona’s leading hitter at .352, while Mason White leads the Wildcats with nine home runs and 44 RBI.

Arizona State

Matt King was named both the Big 12 Player and Newcomer of the Week after the week her put together for the Sun Devils. King finished the week with 12 RBI in four games, three of those games were in a series sweep over BYU. King hit for a .625 batting average as he recorded multiple hits and RBI in each of the four games. King tallied four RBI in the series finale against BYU. In Saturday's win over the Cougars, King hit two home runs in the first two innings to aid in the Sun Devils' 16-6 run-rule victory. King is the third player this season to be honored with two Conference awards in the same week.

Baylor

Baylor is 11-5 this season in games following a loss. The Bears have 10 come-from-behind victories this season, including one walk-off win. Baylor is 17-4 when racking up 10+ hits offensively. Baylor is 20-2 when striking out nine or more batters this season. The Bears are 19-3 when allowing two walks or less.

BYU

In 15 Big 12 losses, BYU has had seven games determined by margins of two runs or less. The Cougars have a 7-8 record when playing at home, including a 2-3 record in their last five home contests. In Big 12 games, the Cougars are hitting .271 with 19 home runs and an 8.74 ERA, striking out 123 against 107 walks.

Cooper Vest leads the BYU offense and ranks within the top 10 in the Big 12 in multiple offensive categories. Vest has hit 14 homers this season, second-most in the league. As a team, BYU has a slash line of .283/.391/.472 with 98 doubles, 10 triples, and 55 home runs.

Cincinnati

Cincinnati is embarking on an 11-day road trip as they head to Kansas this weekend and will stay on the road through their series with TCU next weekend.

Last weekend the Bearcats won a series at home over Oklahoma State, recording a 4-0 shutout in game one, which was played over two days due to rain. Nathan Taylor started the game for the Bearcats and had seven strikeouts through three innings before play was halted for the day. When the game resumed the next day, Kellen O’Connor took over on the bump and picked up right where Taylor left off, striking out eight over the final six innings to blank the Cowboys.

Kansas

Kansas has won nine straight games and is 18-3 at home this season. Dominic Voegele was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season after his start last Friday at Utah. Voegele was dominant in a 2-0 road victory as he tossed a career-high 8 2/3 innings in which he struck out five batters and did not allow a walk. Voegele retired 12 consecutive batters at one point. The start  was Voegele's fifth quality start of the year.

The Jayhawks rank among the national leaders in home runs (85), hits (476), and slugging percentage (.529) and are also fourth in the country in walks (301). Jackson Hauge leads the Big 12 with 17 home runs and Brady Ballinger is among the league leaders with 13.

Kansas State

Kansas State won a home series over Houston last weekend. Kansas State is hitting .261 in conference play, averaging 6.4 runs on 8.5 hits. Keegan O’Connor leads the way offensively, slashing .355/.405/.711 with a team-leading nine doubles and six home runs in Big 12 games.

The Wildcats rank second in the Big 12 and 12th in the country with 77 home runs this season, with 28 of those coming in the month of April. The Wildcats have hit multiple home runs in 23 games this season.

Oklahoma State

Colin Brueggemann continues to lead the Cowboys offensively with a .318 batting average to go with 19 extra-base hits and 41 RBI. Nolan Schubart follows with a .308 average and team-leading tallies of 12 home runs and 42 RBI. Harrison Bodendorf leads Oklahoma State’s weekend rotation with a 7-1 record, 2.98 ERA, and 74 strikeouts in 60 1/3 innings. Sean Youngerman follows with a 2-1 record, 2.01 ERA, and four saves.

TCU

The Horned Frogs won a series at home against Baylor last weekend. Tommy LaPour turned in his sixth straight quality start of the season and lowered his ERA to 2.14, a mark that leads the Big 12 and ranks 13th in the nation. Last weekend against Baylor, LaPour (7-2) pitched 8 2/3 innings and allowed just two runs on five hits and struck out eight batters in the victory.

Texas Tech

Logan Hughes continues to hit well for the Red Raiders, as the Stetson transfer extended his on-base streak to 27 straight games on Wednesday. Hughes leads the Red Raiders in home runs and in RBI. Hughes is one of two Texas Tech hitters (Tracer Lopez, 16 games) that currently have an on-base streak of at least 15 games. Hughes’ 14 home runs are the second-most in the Big 12 this season; he has homered in three of the last five games and four of the last seven.

UCF

The Knights are hitting .319 as a team and averaging just over seven runs per game. Ross DeAmez is leading the UCF offense with a .376 batting average, while Andrew Williamson leads the Knights with eight home runs and 44 RBI.

Utah

Utah right-hander Colter McAnelly delivered another quality start in the series opener last weekend at home against Kansas, despite a tough-luck 2-0 loss in a pitchers' duel. The Utah offense did not strike out in the middle game against Kansas, making it just the third Big 12 offense this season to accomplish that feat.

West Virginia

West Virginia has won 14 consecutive Big 12 games, that includes four weekend sweeps, the most recent one last weekend at UCF.

Skylar King leads the Mountaineers with a .362 batting average while Jace Rinehart and Logan Sauve each have seven home runs. Rinehart also leads the team with 43 RBI. On the mound, Griffin Kirn is 4-0 with a 3.38 ERA and leads the team with 62 strikeouts. Chase Meyer leads all West Virginia relievers with 49 strikeouts in 33 innings.

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