Oklahoma is in first place in the Big 12 standings at 7-2, followed closely by Texas and Kansas State at 6-3. Kansas has matched Oklahoma's win total with seven, but is 1 1/2 games behind due to playing three more Big 12 games to this point. Recapping the Midweek Texas Tech won both games of a Monday-Tuesday midweek against Stanford, 10-9 in 11 innings and 15-12. Oklahoma travelled to Wichita State and defeated the Shockers 11-2. Texas stopped Abilene Christian 11-1. Oklahoma State beat Oral Roberts 9-0. Baylor defeated Houston Christian 13-5. TCU fell at UT Arlington 6-4. No. 25 UCF stomped Bethune-Cookman 14-1 in Daytona Beach. A Wednesday match up with  North Florida was postponed because of weather. Houston outlasted Rice 4-3 to sweep all three games of the Silver Glove Series. Kansas was walked-off at Wichita State on Wednesday 7-6. Kansas State vs. Missouri State on Wednesday 8-4. Cincinnati had a Tuesday match up with Xavier cancelled. West Virginia did not play a midweek game. BYU did not play a midweek game and actually has not played a game since their doubleheader with Kansas on Friday. Weekend Schedule BYU (11-14, 4-8) at Texas (18-11, 6-3) (Thursday-Saturday) Kansas State (19-8, 6-3) at No. 25 UCF (19-7, 6-6) Houston (16-12, 4-8) at Texas Tech (21-9, 5-7) TCU (20-8, 5-7) at Cincinnati (16-13, 3-3) Oklahoma (16-12, 7-2) at Oklahoma State (19-10, 5-4) West Virginia (16-12, 5-4) at Kansas (15-11, 7-5) Baylor will not be playing a Big 12 opponent this weekend. League Notes Jared Thomas and Peyton Powell have been atop the Texas batting order this season, starting almost every game in the top two spots for the Longhorns. Thomas has a hit in 26 of the 29 games and has also scored at least one run in 23 of the 29 games, while leading the team with 35 runs scored. Thomas's on-base percentage of .517 from the leadoff spot is the best on the team. Powell also has a hit in 25 of the 29 games and is second on the team with 30 RBI. Oklahoma State starter Brian Holiday has opponents hitting just .160 against him, which leads the Big 12. Holiday is second in the league and 13th nationally in ERA at 1.75, having allowed only 10 earned runs in a conference-high 51 1/3 innings pitched. TCU lost its first non-conference game of the season on Tuesday night at UT Arlington. Horned Frogs shortstop Anthony Silva has reached safely in 19-straight games. Texas Tech 15-3 at home this season and have lost just one home series (to Texas) this season. In those 18 home games the Red Raiders have outscored their opponents 229-117 overall. Texas Tech is hitting .362 at home where they have also hit 42 of their 51 home runs this season. Cincinnati's Josh Kross leads the Big 12 and ranks fourth nationally in RBI (44) and is tied for the Big 12 lead with 11 home runs. Kross has reached base in 23-straight games entering this weekend and has six home runs in his last seven games. UCF starter Dom Stagliano leads the starting rotation with a 3.14 ERA and a 1-1 record. Fellow starter Ben Vespi leads the staff in strikeouts (27) and innings pitched with 32 innings. Chase Centala enters this weekend ranked fourth nationally and tops in the Big 12 Conference in saves with six. Jake English leads Kansas with a .345 batting average and eight home runs. Dominic Voegele leads the pitching staff with a 1.89 ERA while Reese Dutton is 6-1 with a team-high 43 strikeouts on the season. Houston pitching has not allowed a home run in the last 10 games, the first time the Cougars have not given up a home run in 10-straight games since 2017. Kaelen Culpepper and Chuck Ingram have each hit seven home runs this season for Kansas State. Ingram and Brady Day each have 44 hits this season. Kyson Witherspoon leads Oklahoma with a 1.41 ERA in 32 innings pitched to go with 37 strikeouts. Brendan Girton has 31 strikeouts in 22 1/3 innings pitched. Grant Stevens leads the Sooners with five wins (5-0 record), which is second in the Big 12 and 10th in the country. Reed Chumley leads West Virginia with a .316 batting average and is tied with Grant Hussey for the team lead with six home runs. Chumley and Kyle West lead the Mountaineers with 18 RBI. BYU pitchers Stone Cushing, Mason Olson and Ben Hansen maintain top 10 marks in the Big 12. Cushing leads the league in games finished (12) and is tied with Kansas State’s Jackson Wentworth for second with five saves. Olson’s 12 appearances are good for fourth in the Big 12 while Hansen ranks ninth with 35 2/3 innings pitched. Baylor has won each of its last three home weekend series (3-0 vs. Oral Roberts, 2-1 vs. Texas Tech, 2-1 vs. Cincinnati). Golden Spikes On Thursday, USA Baseball announced its Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List. Two of the 45 players on the list call the Big 12 home: Brady Day; INF/OF; Kansas State Brian Holiday; RHP; Oklahoma State Quoted "Like with anything in life, baseball, sports in general, there's ups and downs, and it's how do you manage those things," TCU head coach Kirk Saarloos said on his radio show Wednesday. "So how do we handle the good times and how do we handle the bad times? And I think the big thing is when you look at the totality at the end of the year, I think that's what it comes down to. Were you able to weather storms when it was bad? Were you able to ride the highs when it was good?" "My thing is, how do we handle the hard times?," Saarloos added. - Kirk Saarloos Radio Show, April 3, 2024 Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on X and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

We’re halfway through the college baseball season and there is a clear number in the SEC – and perhaps in all of college baseball. The Arkansas Razorbacks are 8-1 in conference play after sweeping LSU this past weekend, and they’ve lost just three games the entire season. In an era of college baseball where offense is on the rise again, Arkansas sets itself apart with a dominating pitching staff. They lead all of Division 1 with a 2.67 team ERA, and they’ve struck out 334 in 229.1 innings. Hagan Smith leads that staff with his 72 strikeouts in 35 innings with a 1.54 ERA. This past weekend against LSU he racked up 10 of those over 6 innings allowing just 2 runs on 5 hits in a 7-4 Arkansas win. Mason Molina had a strong start in game two, but then the bullpen tossed 5 scoreless innings allowing the Razorbacks to walk it off in the 10th inning. In the finale, Peyton Stovall delivered with 3 RBI including a 3-run homer that led to a 7-5 win. We may not be able to ignore Kentucky much longer as they are also off to an 8-1 start in conference play and have only lost four games on the year. Their pitching has also been sneaky good and ranks in the top 10 in Division 1. But in SEC play, the offense has been putting up some big numbers. They’ve scored 9 or more runs in six-of-eight SEC games. This past weekend in a sweep of Ole Miss they won 5-3, 17-9, and 15-1 (7). In game one, Trey Pooser allowed just 2 earned runs over 5.2 innings to pick up the win. On Friday, Nolan McCarthy hit a pair of home runs and drove in six. James McCoy had a double, homer, and 3 RBI in the finale. It was the first time in the program’s history they swept Ole Miss on the road. Florida can’t figure out those midweek games, but on the weekend they continue to come away with series wins. A big part of that is Jac Caglianone on Sundays. They’ve won every Sunday game this year, and in the last five series they’ve split the first two games and then won the series on Sunday behind the arm and bat of Cags. This past weekend against Mississippi State was quite the battle. Trailing 6-2 going into the 8th inning on Friday they scored 2 runs, and then in the ninth they scored 3 more runs to walk it off. Cade Kurland had an RBI double in the 8th and then the walk-off hit in the ninth. Mississippi State starter Khal Stephen was good in this game allowing just 2 earned runs on 3 hits and 2 walks over 6 innings with 8 strikeouts. The Gators tried Brandon Neely as a starter in this game but he gave up 5 runs in 3.1 innings. In the second game, Mississippi State made sure to put away the Gators this time scoring 12 runs. Dakota Jordan and Connor Hujsak each went deep twice in the 12-2 win. Jurrangelo Cijntje was good on the mound for Mississippi State giving up 2 runs on 5 hits over 7 innings with 8 strikeouts. In the finale, the Bulldogs got to Cags in the sixth as he ultimately gave up 3 earned runs over 5.2 innings. But Luke McNeillie came in to shut things down the rest of the way on the mound for Florida. That kept the offense within reach, and as the tweet says, “Jac Caglianone is inevitable” as he gets the 2-run walk-off homer. Alabama was able to bounce back at home against South Carolina this past weekend with a series win. Eli Jones was really good for South Carolina in the game one loss as Alabama came back scoring 2 runs in the seventh and 1 run in the eighth on a wild pitch to take the lead and win 4-3. In game two, Alabama broke open a 6-6 tie with a 7-run eighth inning. Kade Snell got the scoring started with a 2-RBI double. Ian Patrutz had a 3-run homer in the inning and drove in a total of 5 runs. The Gamecocks escaped the road series with a 9-8 win in game three, holding off a comeback attempt in the ninth where the Crimson Tide scored 4 runs and made the final out at third base on a weird play. The weekend got off to a rough start for Tennessee as Georgia pounded them in a 16-2 win in 7 innings. What makes the win even more impressive for Georgia is that Charlie Condon was just 1-4 without a home run as others stepped up. Leadoff man, Corey Collins, went deep twice and drove in 6. Condon did unleash in game two going 5-6 with 2 home runs, but the Volunteers were able to outslug the Bulldogs in a 16-11 win. Tennessee left fielder, Dylan Dreiling, also hit a pair of home runs and he drove in 7 of the 16 runs the Volunteers scored. After scoring 27 runs in the first two games of the series, the Georgia offense was shutout in a 7-0 for Tennessee in the finale. Zander Sechrist and Nate Snead combined for the shutout allowing just 6 hits and 1 walk with 8 strikeouts. Dreiling had 3 more hits as did Kavares Tears for the Tennessee offense. It’s tough to win on the road in the SEC, and especially at Blue Bell Park as Auburn found out this past weekend after getting swept by Texas A&M in three close games. The Aggies took advantage of Auburn’s pitching mistakes in game one with 3 runs in the 6th inning thanks to a walk, walk, hit batter, hit batter, and another walk. They went on to win that one 9-7. Braden Montgomery, who had 4 home runs on the weekend, hit two of them in the second game – a 12-8 win for Texas A&M. Auburn’s Ike Irish hit a grand slam in the ninth to make the final score look a little closer. The Tigers tried to claw their way to a win in the third game scoring 3 runs in the eighth to tie it, and then after giving the lead back in the bottom half, Gavin Miller hit a game-tying home run in the 9th. Then the offenses went silent for a while before Ted Burton sent the home crowd away happy with this walk-off hit to cap off the sweep. Vanderbilt had the quietest sweep of the weekend taking down Missouri 3-1, 4-0, and 3-1. Starters Greysen Carter (8.1 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 0 ER, 11 Ks), Bryce Cunningham (7 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 0 ER, 12 Ks), and Carter Holton (7 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 1 ER, 8 Ks) combined to allow just 1 earned run on the week over 22.1 innings with 31 strikeouts. Davis Diaz had a good weekend at the plate for Vanderbilt driving in 5 of the 10 runs scored by Vanderbilt. SEC Power Rankings Tier 1 Arkansas Tier 2 Texas A&M Florida Tennessee Tier 3 Vanderbilt Alabama Kentucky LSU Mississippi State South Carolina Tier 4 Georgia Ole Miss Auburn Tier 5 Missouri Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on X and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

A Look Back at Week 4 in Big 12 Baseball Kansas at BYU Kansas right-hander Reese Dutton recorded a career-high 12 strikeouts as Kansas defeated BYU 11-1 in Provo on Thursday. Dutton shut down the Cougars over eight innings allowing just one run and improved to 6-1 this season with the win. Jake English and Michael Brooks each had three hits and three RBI to lead the Kansas offense. The Jayhawks now have six-straight wins in the opening game of the weekend, which includes four-straight in Big 12 action. A Friday double header started with a Jayhawks 4-3 victory to claim the series. English broke open a scoreless game with a solo shot to lead off the top of the fourth inning, the first of his three hits and two RBI in the game. Brooks added two hits and two RBI for the totality of the Jayhawks offense. Kansas starter Dominic Voegele (3-1) tossed six innings of one-run baseball where he allowed five hits and earned the win. In game two of the afternoon, Kansas took a 7-0 lead after a four-run sixth inning keyed by a Kodey Shojinaga two-run home run. BYU battled back with four runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth inning to make it a ballgame. Shojinaga drove in another run for insurance and the Jayhawks won 8-5 to complete the road sweep. Houston at TCU TCU got the weekend started by punishing Houston 14-1 in Ft. Worth. Right-hander Louis Rodriguez (3-0) pitched eight scoreless innings for TCU and struck out 10 Houston batters. The Horned Frogs offense pounded out 21 base hits led by 3-for-5 performances by Chase Brunson, Logan Maxwell, and Luke Boyers. Houston had as many hits in the defeat as they did errors, four. Payton Tolle (3-1), after pitching a complete game in his last outing against Oklahoma State, was one out shy of another complete game as he tossed 8 2/3 innings in a 6-2 series-clinching victory. Center fielder Chase Brunson was 2-for-4 with three RBI in the leadoff spot for the Horned Frogs. TCU completed the sweep on Saturday with a 6-4 victory in the most unorthodox of ways. The Horned Frogs scored six runs on only two hits, four of the runs were unearned as TCU capitalized on three Houston errors. A four-run bottom of the seventh inning gave TCU the lead they would hold onto. Texas at Kansas State Kansas State earned their only win of the weekend in a wild 14-6 victory over Texas on Thursday night. The Wildcats plated eight runs in the second inning and they sent 13 batters to the plate in the frame. A three-run ninth inning for the Longhorns made the final score appear closer than this game actually was in the end. Offense was at a premium on Friday night when Texas bounced back to even the series with a 21-11 win. Max Belyeu and Rylan Galvan each drove in five runs and had nine hits combined. The game was tied at 11 after seven innings before Texas plated three runs in the eighth inning and seven more runs in the ninth inning to secure victory. The Longhorns then took the series win on Saturday with a 6-3 victory behind six innings from Max Grubbs who allowed just one unearned run. Kansas State scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to get within a run, but Texas responded with a two-spot of their own in the top of ninth inning and Andre Duplantier II did the rest, closing out the Wildcats and the series victory. Texas Tech at No. 25 UCF Texas Tech led 4-1 at the halfway point in the series opener on Thursday night in Orlando. UCF battled back until the very end. Jack Zyska doubled home the tying run in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Knights walked-off game one 5-4 winners when Andrew Williamson was hit by a pitch to force in the winning run, the second such occurrence in Big 12 play for the Knights already this season. Damian Bravo was a perfect 5-for-5 for Texas Tech in defeat. UCF won 2-1 on Friday night and claimed the series. Kyle Robinson was a tough luck loser for Texas Tech as he allowed just two runs over six innings on the mound. But Dom Stagliano was just a little better over 6 1/3 innings allowing the sole Red Raiders run in the game and only three hits. Chase Centala relieved Stagliano and pitched the final 2 2/3 innings to close out the Red Raiders. Texas Tech rallied to avoid the sweep with a 3-2 victory on Saturday afternoon. Right-hander Mac Heuer pitched one-run baseball over 5 2/3 innings while Drew Woodcox and Gavin Kash each hit a solo home run to power the Red Raiders offense. Dominic Castellano pitched five solid innings of relief for the Knights to keep the game close, he allowed just one run and struck out six. Cincinnati at Baylor Cincinnati's Tommy O'Connor homered twice and drove in four runs and Seth Logue pitched 6 1/3 innings in relief for the Bearcats in an opening night defeat of Baylor in Waco. Logue struck out eight batters and allowed just two runs. The Bearcats took game one 8-3, with Baylor scoring their three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Baylor evened the series Friday night with an 8-6 win. Josh Kross hit a grand slam for Cincinnati, his 11th home run of the season. Hunter Teplanszky hit a three-run home run for Baylor and Enzo Apodaca and Zach Mazoch each drove in two runs. The Bears claimed the series on Saturday with a 9-2 victory. Teplanszky helped lead the Bears offense with three RBI, while David Altman matched him with three RBI and hit a home run. Baylor Freshman right-hander Collin McKinney was the pitching story of the game as he struck out 10 Cincinnati batters and allowed just one hit over 6 1/3 innings. Oklahoma State at West Virginia Oklahoma State edged West Virginia Friday night 2-1 to open the series in Morgantown on a traditional weekend schedule. Sam Garcia was brilliant over seven innings striking out 11 batters while allowing just the one West Virginia run. Aidan Major was equally dominant over eight innings with 13 strikeouts, but he took the tough-luck loss as he allowed the two Cowboys runs. Colin Brueggemann homered for the Cowboys and Zach Ehrhard drove home the other run with a two-out RBI double in the sixth inning. The story Saturday was about the old school pitcher's duel between Derek Clark and Brian Holiday. Each starter allowed just one run in the contest, Holiday over eight innings and Clark over nine complete innings, his second straight outing of nine innings. After a scoreless 10th inning for both teams, the game was still tied 1-1, before a nine-run 11th inning for Oklahoma State propelled them to the series win as they won 10-1. Sunday looked nothing like the previous two games in Morgantown. A six-run second inning and a three-run third inning gave West Virginia a 9-1 lead with six innings left to play. Ehrhard was 5-for-6 with a home run for the Cowboys while Spencer Barnett was 4-for-5 with five RBI and Kyle West added four RBI for the Mountaineers. West Virginia used six pitchers and Oklahoma State used seven in the 15-10 Mountaineers sweep-avoiding win. Oklahoma did not play a Big 12 Conference opponent this weekend. New Rankings After the weekend, there is still just one team in the new College Baseball Nation Top 25, and it is yet another new team. Kansas State, previously ranked No. 23, dropped their series at home against Texas this weekend to fall out of the Top 25. The UCF Knights have now moved in to claim the No. 25 spot. The Knights are in the Top 25 for the first time this season after winning their series at home this weekend against Texas Tech. Weekly Awards Big 12 Players of the Week Player: Jake English, Kansas, C Pitcher: Louis Rodriguez, TCU, RHP Newcomer: Cade Boxrucker, UCF, RHP & Reese Dutton, Kansas, RHP Round Numbers With Thursday's victory over Houston, TCU head coach Kirk Saarloos picked up his 100th win as head coach. Quoted "When you're so emotional, it's hard for me to say anything rational," West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey said during an in-game interview Sunday. "When you have such a devastating loss, you want 'em to have a good night's sleep." Mazey added that he told his team after Saturday's 11th inning implosion, "You never panic, and you only have a few opportunities in life to show people how tough you are." "I think that each weekend is its own story and in each weekend you have a chance to grow. Sometimes you lose a series but you get better.” - Kansas Head Coach Dan Fitzgerald “Winning three straight series in a row is a really big deal. I don’t care what conference you are playing in, winning three consecutive conference series takes a lot, and takes a whole team effort.” - UCF catcher/DH Danny Neri after the Knights defeated Texas Tech Friday night. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on X and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

See the full college baseball rankings below! Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content, including college baseball rankings!

Recapping the Midweek BYU lost to Utah Valley at home 15-11 in a game played on Monday. Texas Tech run-ruled Stephen F. Austin in 8 innings 16-4 in Lubbock. UCF shoutout Jacksonville 6-0 on the road. Cincinnati traveled to Louisville and lost 11-5. West Virginia defeated Akron in Morgantown 6-2. UTSA defeated Baylor 9-7 in Waco. Oklahoma State shutout Wichita State 3-0 in Wichita. Oklahoma shutout in-state foe Oral Roberts 10-0 in Norman. Texas fell at home to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 4-1. Houston hosted Lamar and ended the Cardinals 13-game win streak, then the longest active streak in the nation, 6-4. Nebraska at No. 23 Kansas State was cancelled due to weather. Saint Louis at Kansas was cancelled due to weather. TCU did not have a midweek game scheduled. Weekend Schedule Texas (15-10, 4-3) at No. 23 Kansas State (17-6, 5-1) Kansas (12-10, 4-5) at BYU (11-11, 4-5) Oklahoma State (16-9, 3-3) at West Virginia (15-10, 4-2) Houston (15-9, 4-5) at TCU (17-7, 2-7) Texas Tech (18-7, 4-5) at UCF (16-6, 4-5) Cincinnati (15-11, 3-3) at Baylor (8-16, 3-6) Oklahoma will not play a Big 12 opponent this weekend. League Notes No. 23 Kansas State enters the weekend on a nine-game win streak. Kansas pitcher Reese Dutton has won five-straight starts, the last four have been quality starts. Dutton is 5-1 with a 2.57 ERA this season. Logan Maxwell has reached safely in 24-straight games for TCU, which dates back to last season. Maxwell’s .372 batting average leads the Horned Frogs and ranks 10th in the Big 12. Teammate Anthony Silva has reached safely in 15-straight games. Oklahoma State ranks second in the Big 12 and ninth nationally with a 3.58 team ERA; Brian Holiday ranks fourth in the conference with a 1.87 ERA. Ten Cowboys pitchers own an ERA of 3.38 or lower. Damian Bravo leads the Texas Tech offense with a .437 batting average, 16 doubles, 31 RBI, and 32 runs scored. The Sooners are batting .310 as a team. Easton Carmichael leads the team with a .402 batting average and seven doubles. Michael Snyder leads the team with 33 RBI, five home runs and a .646 slugging percentage. Bryce Madron has been walked 20 times, which leads the team. Jared Thomas is the leading hitter for the Texas Longhorns with a .416 batting average and he leads the Big 12 with 42 hits. Max Belyeu leads the team and Big 12 Conference with 10 home runs. Houston first baseman Justin Murray has a season-long seven-game hit streak. Teammate Jake Rainess also has a five-game hit streak on the line entering the weekend. Matt Prevesk is leading the UCF Knights with a .378 batting average. Prevesk also has six doubles, nine extra-base hits, 17 runs scored, and 17 RBI. Jack Zyska has the next best batting average at .321, to go with eight extra-base hits, and 20 runs scored. Andrew Sundean is batting .301 and leads the team with 10 extra-base hits and 25 RBI. Cincinnati's Josh Kross ranks at the top of the Big 12 and second in the nation with 40 RBI and is tied for the Big 12 lead with 10 home runs. After being no-hit on Friday night in Norman, the Mountaineers responded by scoring 17 runs on 21 hits the next day in a two-game sweep of the Sooners to win the series. Baylor ace Mason Marriott is second in the Big 12 in innings pitched with 36 and tied for eighth with 39 strikeouts. BYU left fielder Luke Anderson leads the team with a .349 batting average, 29 hits, 17 runs, and 5 doubles, which is tied for the team lead with teammate Crew Robinson. Quoted “I think the hardest part about injuries is to see your players get hurt and then see them have to adjust their lifestyle. When kids prepare for a season and put so much into it, when they get hurt it's a blow because emotionally everybody feels it. You want your players to succeed and be happy and chase the season they envision." - Oklahoma State Head Coach Josh Holliday on dealing with injuries as a coach and the effect they have on the team, on the Orange Power Coaches Show, Episode 25, March 26, 2024. "You have every reason to go into this game with supreme confidence, because I have supreme confidence that we've got a better guy on the mound than they do today. 12 hours ago, we were down by 13, now we're at-bat in the first inning, we're in a tie game, so we got all the momentum going into this one." - West Virginia Head Coach Randy Mazey in a pre-game talk to his team before Saturday's first game, after being no-hit on Friday night. "Yup. That was awesome." - Kansas Head Coach Dan Fitzgerald during an in-game interview on ESPN+ last weekend when right fielder Lenny Ashby made a great catch near the foul line. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on X and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

After weekend three of Big 12 Baseball action, we have more questions than answers as more teams are bundled together in the middle of the Conference standings. Kansas State at 5-1 is percentage points of Oklahoma at 7-2. There are five teams who have played nine Conference games at this point that are 4-5. Baylor at 3-6 and TCU at 2-7 round at the bottom of the standings right now. Five teams in the Big 12 have only played six conference games to this point. A Look Back at Week 3 in Big 12 Baseball BYU at Texas Tech BYU took the opener in Lubbock on Thursday night, keyed by a Kuhio Aloy grand slam in the third inning. BYU right-hander Ben Hansen (3-2) earned the win with a quality start over six strong innings where he allowed just two runs on five hits. Texas Tech came back to even the series on Friday night with a walk-off in the bottom of the 9th to win 4-3. BYU scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning to tie the game and set up the final frame theatrics where Texas Tech freshman Landon Stripling singled home the winning run. The Red Raiders then claimed the series with a 10-1 victory on Saturday afternoon. Texas Tech pitching allowed BYU just two hits in the series finale. Jacob Rogers and Parker Hutyra combined to pitch five perfect innings to close out the game and the series victory while the offense was provided by Kevin Bazzell who went 2-for-4, hit his first home run of the season, and had 4 RBI. TCU at Oklahoma State Friday night the Horned Frogs got the Payton Tolle they had hoped for when they got him out of the transfer portal. TCU won 1-0 as Tolle racked up 15 strikeouts in a complete game shutout of Oklahoma State. Tolle only allowed two base runners over the final three innings of the game. The Cowboys jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on Saturday, thanks mostly to a Kollin Ritchie three-run home run. Brian Holiday pitched a complete game for Oklahoma State striking out 14 Horned Frog batters on 113 total pitches. The 6-2 Cowboys victory evened the series headed into Sunday. TCU opened Sunday’s rubber game scoring one run in the first inning and one run in the second inning for an early two-run advantage. Right-hander Tommy Molsky took the mound for the Cowboys over the next four innings and pitched scoreless, hitless baseball at the Horned Frogs. Molsky struck out seven TCU batters of the 12 outs he recorded and picked up the win for his effort. The win clinched the first Big 12 series win this season for the Cowboys. UCF at Kansas Kansas behind Reese Dutton (5-1) took the opener 13-3. Dutton earned the win having allowed just two runs over seven innings and left the game having retired the final 11 batters he faced. Jayhawks shortstop Collier Cranford (4-for-5) was a one-man offensive machine on Friday night, hitting for the cycle and driving in seven runs. And Cranford did not just hit for the cycle, he hit a natural cycle; single, double, triple, and home run, in order. Cranford was asked after the game about hitting for the cycle. “Yeah, I was walking up to my at-bat and I think some kid yelled and asked me if I was going to hit for the cycle and I ignored him," Cranford said. "At that point, I was thinking about it. I really don’t have any words." Prior to the beginning of the weekend series, weather forced a change to the schedule and a doubleheader was played on Saturday. UCF took game one 6-2 to even the series. The Knights then took game two of the doubleheader 4-1 to take the road series. Kansas State at Houston Kansas State opened their series in Houston with a 5-3 win. After falling behind Houston 3-0, a four-run sixth inning for the Wildcats was the difference in the ballgame. All-American Tyson Neighbors made his first appearance since he was sidelined by an injury in February, and he threw 18 pitches in a scoreless inning of relief work. The win was the 800th in the career of head coach Pete Hughes. The Wildcats clawed back late to top the Cougars and take the series in Houston 6-5. Owen Woodward was solid in relief for Houston, with three scoreless innings to give the Cougars a chance. A balanced offensive effort by Kansas State while taking advantage of two Houston errors was the difference in the one-run victory to take the road series. Brady Day was 5-for-6 on Sunday as Kansas State completed the road sweep with a 9-3 victory. The Wildcats pounded out 15 base hits in the win, their ninth straight. Neighbors (1-0), after returning from injury Friday night, worked two scoreless innings for the win on Sunday and threw 24 pitches while striking out two Houston batters. Neighbors spoke with College Baseball Nation about his comeback weekend after the game on Sunday. Talking about pitching for the first time in over a month when he made his Friday night appearance, Neighbors recalled his freshman season when he had difficulty at times finding the strike zone. Neighbors said that at the time, "I'd go 3-0 and come back and punch them out." Friday, facing his first opposing batter in over a month, Neighbors threw three balls to go 3-0. From the dugout he heard Coach Hughes yell out, “You got him right where you want him, kid.” It was true. Neighbors got the strikeout, he said, "I punched him out after going 3-0, it just felt like old times, kind of like freshman year." Neighbors spoke about his role right now and his mentality, "Just going out there trying to compete and win ballgames. If it's coming out in the sixth in tight situations or coming out of the pen in the ninth when we need it, whatever. I'm just being a team guy and doing my best to help the team win." Asked if he was at full strength after his injury, Neighbors nodded in the affirmative and said, “I’m good.” Baylor at Texas Baylor stole the series opener in Austin 4-3 in 11 innings. Mason Marriott out-dueled Lebarron Johnson Jr. Marriott allowed just one earned run over six innings while Johnson Jr.. allowed three earned runs over seven innings, but neither pitcher was around when the game was settled. Baylor got a lights-out performance from Ethan Calder who pitched the final four innings of the game and was nearly perfect, yielding just one walk. A Daniel Altman RBI double in the top of the 11th inning proved to be the winning run as Calder slammed the door on Texas with the Bears third straight Big 12 victory. Texas re-set the series to even with a 10-2 drubbing of the Bears on Saturday afternoon. Longhorns' left-hander Ace Whitehead tossed a complete game making his first ever weekend start. Whitehead struck out five batters and allowed just two Baylor runs. Jared Thomas led the Longhorns offense going 4-for-5 with two home runs and four RBI. Texas then run-ruled Baylor on Sunday 11-1 in eight innings to claim the series on their home turf. Texas right-fielder Max Belyeu had himself a day. Belyeu went 3-for-4, those three hits were all home runs and he drove in six runs to lead the offense. Meanwhile, Max Grubbs pitched seven innings for the Longhorns allowing just one run on five hits. West Virginia at Oklahoma Braden Davis and Reid Hensley combined for a no-hitter and the Oklahoma offense had no problem getting to Mountaineers pitchers as the Sooners won 13-0. Davis struck out 12 batters over seven innings and Hensley struck out three batters over the final two innings to complete the no-no. The Mountaineers responded in Saturday's first game to win 9-5 dealing Oklahoma their first loss of the season in Conference play. The Sooners, trailing 9-2 going into the bottom of the ninth inning, started to make things interesting, plating three runs and perhaps taking advantage of a tiring Derek Clark. The left-hander pitched a complete game for the Mountaineers to help his team even the series. Clark struck out seven and threw 127 pitches. The final out was recorded at third base on a bases loaded two RBI single into right field as the runner on first base attempted to stretch one base into two but a great throw from right field beat the runner in plenty of time to end the game. West Virginia then took the second game of the day 8-3 to rebound and claim the road series. The Mountaineers jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first inning and never looked back. Kyson Withersoon was outstanding out of the Oklahoma bullpen as he cruised through 7 2/3 innings and allowed just one run while striking out 11 West Virginia Batters. Likewise, David Hagaman was equally great out of the Mountaineers bullpen as he pitched the final 6 2/3 innings and allowed just one run to go with 10 strikeouts. Five West Virginia home runs and a balanced offensive attack made the difference in the Mountaineers series-clinching victory. Cincinnati was the only Big 12 team not to play a conference series this weekend. New Rankings After the weekend, there is still just one team in the new College Baseball Nation Top 25, but it is a new team now. The Oklahoma Sooners, previously ranked No. 20, dropped their series at home this weekend to fall out of the Top 25. Kansas State has now moved in to claim the No. 23 spot. The Wildcats are in the Top 25 for the first time this season. Weekly Awards Big 12 Players of the Week Player: Max Belyeu, UT, OF Pitcher: Payton Tolle, TCU, LHP Newcomer: Payton Tolle, TCU, LHP Quoted "I’m extremely grateful for this milestone win, but I’m only interested in 801.” - Kansas State head coach Pete Hughes after his 800th career win on Friday night. "It was awesome. The guys were way into that and I think everyone that was watching the game kind of saw it building where it was single, double, triple. He comes up there and gets to two strikes and we thought if he could pound one to right here and then sure enough he did. Happy for Collier. He’s a heck of a player and a heck of a teammate. It’s fun when those guys have those awesome accomplishments.” - Kansas head coach Dan Fitzgerald on his team responding to Cranford's hitting for the cycle on Friday night. “I thought it was a fantastic game from our club. I think that was exactly what we needed to do. I thought every guy on the team was competing to their utmost potential. It was a fun win. Mason Marriott was outstanding to start the game, Patrick Hail had some big outs and then Ethan Calder, how big was that. That was huge. Danny Altman had the big hit, but we had guys up and down the lineup getting things done so it was a lot of fun.” - Baylor head coach Mitch Thompson on his team's complete effort to win at Texas on Friday night. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on X and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

Things can change quickly in the SEC as the conference remains as deep as ever. That was on full display this past weekend, particularly with Vanderbilt and Alabama who both had big series wins to begin SEC play only to get swept this past weekend. While South Carolina lost its first SEC series of the year, they handed it to the Commodores this past weekend winning 8-4, 8-3, and and 10-2. Eli Jones was great on the mound for the Gamecocks in game one allowing just 1 hit over 6.1 innings. On the other side, Carter Holton struck out 10 in 6 innings. But this misplay in center led to a huge 7th inning for South Carolina. Ethan Petry hit a pair of homers in the second game of the series, and then in the finale, Tyler Pitzer tossed 6.1 innings without allowing an earned run while striking out nine. Georgia’s Charlie Condon should be the talk of college baseball. He’s already hitting .517 with 17 home runs this year, and he led the Bulldogs to a home sweep over Alabama this past weekend with 6 hits and 3 home runs, including this go-ahead nuke on Saturday. In the first two games particularly, the Georgia pitching staff did a much better job of limiting the walks, which plagued them the previous weekend. Still, the Crimson Tide had plenty of chances but just couldn’t get that big hit. The series of the weekend between Florida and LSU lived up to the hype – aided by record-setting crowds at Alex Box Stadium to see a rematch of last year’s College World Series finale. After a rough outing to begin SEC play this year, LSU ace Luke Holman bounced back to strike out a career-high 13 Florida batters in 6 innings while only allowing 1 run in a 6-1 LSU win on Friday night. The two teams went to extra innings on Saturday after Florida scored single runs in the eighth and ninth to tie it up. Then Jac Caglianone hit this rocket in the 11th to give Florida the win. Cags turned around and tossed 7 innings on Sunday allowing just 1 earned run on 3 hits. The Gators bats started to wake up as well, hitting 6 combined home runs in a 12-2 (8) win to take the series. It’s early, but Arkansas’ Hagen Smith, Condon, and Caglianone have started to form the trifecta we saw in the SEC last year with Paul Skenes, Dylan Crews, and Wyatt Langford. After tossing 6 shutout innings against Auburn on Thursday night with 12 strikeouts, Smith is now 4-0 on the year with a 1.24 ERA in 29 innings allowing 11 hits and 10 walks with 62 strikeouts. The dominant pitching was needed as the Razorbacks' only run came on a home run from Wehiwa Aloy in a 1-0 win. It was another close one in game two as Arkansas came back late to win 6-5. Pinch-hitter Ryder Helfrick came on the ninth to deliver the final blow. In the finale, it was a 6-run sixth inning that helped Auburn escape with a win at home. Cooper McMurray’s 3-run shot gave the Tigers the lead for good. One of the biggest surprises early on is Kentucky’s 5-1 start to conference play. After sweeping Georgia at home last weekend, they went to Missouri this past weekend and won a close series. Trey Pooser allowed just 1 earned run on 3 hits and 2 walks over 6 innings with 7 strikeouts for Kentucky on Friday in a 9-4 win. Missouri’s Javyn Pimental and Bryce Mayer combined to allow just 1 earned run on 5 hits and 1 walk with 9 strikeouts in game two as they evened the series with a 2-1 victory. These two teams played another close one on Sunday that almost saw Missouri come back in the bottom of the ninth, but the Cats held on for the 7-6 win. Tennessee picked up a pair of run-rule wins over Ole Miss at home this past weekend 15-3 and 15-4. In the first of those games, Christian Moore hit a pair of home runs, Kavares Tears had 3 hits and 4 runs, and Robin Villeneuve drove in four. Moore added another homer in Sunday’s big win, while Billy Amick drove in five – four of them coming on a grand slam. In between those two games, Ole Miss did pick up an 8-5 win. Liam Doyle struck out 10 Tennessee hitters in 6 innings, while Andrew Fischer led the Ole Miss charge on offense with 3 runs scored, 2 home runs, and 2 walks. It was a 4-run ninth inning that lifted them to victory. This hit by Ethan Groff gave them the lead. Gavin Grahovac got the weekend party started early for Texas A&M on Thursday night with this grand slam to give the Aggies the lead over Mississippi State and ultimately a 6-3 win. That was after hitting a solo shot in the first. Ryan Prager was good on the mound for Texas A&M in that one tossing 6.1 innings without allowing an earned run and striking out 8. The Bulldogs would bounce back on Friday with a 5-1 win thanks to a 3-run homer by Hunter Hines and a great performance on the mound by Khal Stephen (6.2 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 1 ER, 5 Ks). It was the Braden Montgomery show in the finale as he blasted a pair of home runs and drove in 3. That was plenty for Texas A&M starter, Justin Lamkin, who allowed just 1 earned run on 2 hits and 1 walk over 7.1 innings with 12 strikeouts in the 6-1 win. SEC Power Rankings Tier 1 Arkansas Florida Texas A&M Tier 2 LSU Vanderbilt South Carolina Tennessee Tier 3 Mississippi State Alabama Georgia Kentucky Ole Miss Auburn Tier 4 Missouri Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on X and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

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Recapping the Midweek No. 20 Oklahoma was shut out by Dallas Baptist 6-0. TCU defeated UT Arlington 7-3 on Tuesday in Ft. Worth. Kansas defeated Missouri 4-3 in Kansas City at Kauffman Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Royals. Kansas State won 8-6 at Wichita State. Oklahoma State won 13-4 over Missouri State Tuesday night at O’Brate Stadium. Texas Tech beat Abilene Christian 9-4 in Lubbock on Tuesday. Baylor was rocked by Sam Houston in Huntsville, Texas 18-3. The Bears gave up 12 runs in an inning and that was the ballgame. UCF defeated Florida Atlantic 3-2. BYU traveled to St. George, Utah to face Utah Tech and won the game 11-6. West Virginia shutout Marshall 15-0 in Morgantown. Houston swept Rice on back-to-back days, 4-1 and 4-2, to claim the Silver Glove Series. Cincinnati topped Miami (Ohio) on the road in Oxford, 11-3. Texas hosted Air Force for a pair of midweek games. The Longhorns walked-off the Falcons on Tuesday, 6-5 in 10 innings and then had an easier time of things on Wednesday taking a 12-3 victory for the midweek sweep. Weekend Schedule BYU (10-8, 3-3) at Texas Tech (15-6, 2-4) (Thur - Sat) West Virginia (12-9, 2-1) at No. 20 Oklahoma (13-7, 6-0) TCU (16-5, 1-5) at Oklahoma State (13-8, 1-2) UCF (13-5, 2-4) at Kansas (11-8, 3-3) Kansas State (14-6, 2-1) at Houston (14-6, 4-2) Baylor (7-13, 2-4) at Texas (13-8, 2-1) Cincinnati does not play a Big 12 opponent this weekend. League Notes Texas Tech announced an alteration to their starting rotation this weekend when they host BYU, a series which begins on Thursday. Freshman Mac Heuer will start Thursday's first game so that ace Kyle Robinson can make his usual Friday start. The Red Raiders have not yet announced a Saturday starter for the series finale. Oklahoma State ranks second in the Big 12 with a team ERA of 4.09. Six Cowboys pitchers have an ERA under 3.00. Right-hander Brian Holiday ranks fourth in the conference with a 1.83ERA. Logan Maxwell has reached safely in 21 straight games for TCU dating back to last season. Maxwell's .403 batting average ranks third in the Big 12. Houston right-hander Duncan Howard has not allowed a walk in four starts this season. Hunter is the only pitcher in Division I that has not allowed a walk this season. Third baseman Easton Jones leads BYU this season batting .377 with 23 hits, four doubles, six home runs, and 13 RBI. Jones enters the weekend ranked second in the Big 12 in slugging percentage at .738. John Spikerman leads No. 20 Oklahoma with a .394 batting average and Michael Snyder leads the Sooners with nine home runs. Matt Prevesk leads UCF with a .370 batting average, which includes six extra-base hits, 15 runs scored, and 15 RBI. Texas ace Lebarron Johnson Jr., ranks in the top 10 in the Big 12 with 26 1/3 innings pitched, a 3.08 ERA, 33 strikeouts, and a .207 batting average against. Kansas State second baseman Brady Day, a 12th round draft pick in the 2023 MLB Draft who chose to return to school, leads the Wildcats in eight offensive categories: average (.392), slugging percentage (.734), on-base percentage (.515), OPS (1.250), hits (31), RBI (30), home runs (6), and total bases (58). Baylor is the definition of a youth movement. True or redshirt freshmen have accounted for 46% of innings pitched on the mound for the Bears this season (79 1/3 of 174 innings). In addition, 59% of Baylor's offense (101 of 170 hits) has been produced by underclassmen or players in their first season at Baylor. Kansas is the only team with three pitchers ranked in the top 10 in ERA in the Big 12. Dominic Voegele with a 2.08 ERA is fifth in the league, Patrick Steitz is sixth with a 2.31 ERA, and Reese Dutton is seventh at 2.57. The Jayhawks trio has started all five weekends to this point and have a combined 2.33 ERA, earning eight wins in their 15 starts. Cincinnati leads the Big 12 and ranks 12th nationally in walks with 172. The Bearcats have three players inside the top 10 in the conference in free passes. Kerrington Cross has have been walked 24 times so far this season, which leads the conference and ranks eighth nationally. Quoted “If we play our style of baseball—where we pitch and defend at a high level, and get creative on offense—we can play with anybody in the country, anywhere,” UCF head coach Rich Wallace said. “I want to see us take what we do here and take it up there. I’m looking forward to the weekend.” Round Numbers The Houston program sits at 1,999 wins in its history. The next win for the Cougars will be No, 2,000. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on X and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

It’s challenging to win in the SEC and even more difficult to win on the road as we saw in week one of conference play as every home team won their series. That includes Mississippi State’s big series win over LSU. The Bulldogs offense had a huge weekend scoring 33 total runs, and the weekend ended with a run-rule victory of 15-5. Mississippi State’s Hunter Hines had a big weekend hitting 3 home runs in their two wins. Aaron Downs picked up 7 hits and scored 5 runs, while on the mound Nolan Stevens struck out 8 in 5.2 innings on Friday night. LSU managed a 9-8 win on Saturday thanks to a 3-RBI game from Tommy White who also hit 3 tanks on the weekend. Easily the most entertaining matchup of the weekend was Texas A&M at Florida. All three games were decided by 4 runs or less and had several dramatic moments. The teams exchanged blows on Friday night leading to a 6-6 tie after just 4 innings. Florida used 5 home runs to get the 8-6 win, including two by Jac Caglianone. But a Cade Kurland homer in the sixth gave them the lead. After a round second inning for Florida starter Cade Fisher that saw him give up 5 runs, he settled in and ended the game with 10 strikeouts over 6 innings. Brandon Neely pitched the final 3 innings to secure the victory. On Saturday it was the Aggies who used the long ball getting one each from Braden Montgomery, Gavin Grahovac, and Jace LaViolette. That helped them build an early 8-3 lead and they held on for the 10-6 win as Evan Aschenbeck settled the game down on the mound for Texas A&M tossing 4 shutout innings with 6 strikeouts. Sunday’s game was the best of the weekend with Texas A&M twice taking a 1-run lead only to see Florida immediately tie it up. Caglianone continued his good work on the mound this year by allowing just 1 earned run over 5.1 innings with 7 strikeouts. But then it was Tyler Shelnut’s moment in the 8th as he hit the go-ahead and eventual game-winning homer. Neely pitched two more scoreless innings for the Gators with 4 strikeouts, while Luke McNeillie picked up the save. The weekend got out to a rough start for Alabama as they were beaten 11-3 by Tennessee on Friday night. The Volunteer offense did a great job making Ben Hess work as he walked 5 batters leading to 4 earned runs over just 3.2 innings. But the Crismon Tide picked themselves up and came out ready to play on Saturday jumping out to a 6-0 lead against Tennessee starter Drew Beam. The All-American settled down and ended up pitching a complete game for Tennessee, which allowed them the chance to come back. But Alabama closer Alton Davis II shut the door with 2 scoreless frames to give his team the 6-3 win. The finale saw Tennessee jump out to a 4-1 lead, but Alabama was able to tie it up on a Will Hodo home run in the fourth. Both offenses had plenty of baserunners but couldn’t take advantage. Tennessee did scratch across a run in the 7th to take a 1-run lead. In the eighth inning, after it looked like Kavares Tears made a game-saving catch for Tennesee, Alabama’s Gage Miller hit a 2-out, 3-run homer to give Alabama the lead. A couple of Alabama errors in the 9th allowed a run to score and loaded the bases, but Aidan Moza got the big strikeout to seal the deal and the series for the Crimson Tide. Like their in-state rivals, Ole Miss got a big boost of confidence to start SEC play with a series win over South Carolina. After South Carolina jumped out to an early lead on Friday night, a Luke Hill 2-RBI double in the sixth gave Ole Miss the lead. Three walks loaded the bases in the seventh for Ole Miss. Treyson Hughes hit into a double-play that scored a run, and it ended up being the deciding factor in a 5-4 victory. An 8-run inning on Saturday turned a close game into a route in favor of Ole Miss. Ethan Groff and Andrew Fischer were a big part of the Ole Miss offense with a combined 6 hits, 6 runs, 7 RBI, and 4 home runs (3 of them by Fischer). South Carolina did manage to survive the road series with a 6-2 win on Sunday. They got a good performance out of the bullpen from Matthew Becker who gave up just 2 earned runs over 5.1 innings. Kentucky put a rough weekend against Kennesaw State behind them to get a sweep over Georgia this past weekend. The offense was hot all weekend in 16-10, 9-3, and 12-2 wins. But it was the pitching by Dominic Niman (6.2 IP and 0 ER on Sunday) and Mason Moore (6 IP, 2 ER, and 8 Ks on Sunday) that helped carry them to the sweep. Leadoff hitter Ryan Waldschmidt led the way in the first two games with a combined 6 hits and 6 runs scored. While Ryan Nicholson drove them in with 5 hits, 6 RBI, and 2 home runs on the weekend. Vanderbilt didn’t give Auburn much of a chance this past weekend with 11-1 (8), 13-5, and 9-6 wins. Carter Holton allowed just 1 earned run over 7 innings on Friday with 9 strikeouts, while Bryce Cunningham also allowed just 1 earned run on Saturday in 5 innings. Auburn did hold a slim 5-4 lead going into the sixth on Sunday, but then Davis and Jonathan Vastine each picked up 2-run doubles. Vanderbilt’s offense had a combined 47 hits on the weekend – led by Jayden Davis and Alan Espinal who each had 8 hits. Baseball can be a cruel sport sometimes, and that’s what Missouri has to be thinking as they had to open conference play against the number one team in the country. Arkansas’ pitching staff held Missouri to just 1 run on the weekend in a sweep with 8-0, 6-0, and 9-1 victories. Hagan Smith continues to be a cheat code. Despite the increase in offense around college baseball, he tossed another 6 shutout innings with 10 strikeouts on Friday. In 5 starts this year now, Smith has given up just 4 earned runs (3 of those in week one) on 8 hits and 8 walks with 50 strikeouts in 23 innings. Nolan Souza had a big day at the plate for Arkansas on Friday with 3 hits, including 2 home runs. Brady Tygart and Will McEntire combined for a 1-hitter on Saturday, while Arkansas’ top three hitters in the lineup (Peyton Stovall, Wehiwa Aloy, and Kendall Diggs) all went deep. Mason Molina struck out 10 in 5.1 scoreless innings on Saturday for the Razorbacks to finish off the sweep. SEC Power Rankings Tier 1 1. Arkansas 2. Vanderbilt (up 3) 3. Florida (up 4) 4. Texas A&M (down 2) 5. LSU (down 2) Tier 2 6. Alabama (up 2) 7. Tennessee (down 3) 8. Mississippi State (up 4) 9. Ole Miss (up 4) 10. South Carolina (down 2) Tier 3 11. Auburn (down 1) 12. Kentucky (up 1) 13. Georgia (down 4) Tier 4 14. Missouri Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on X and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

By the time the last out was recorded in the Big 12 on Saturday night, the weekend already had everything: one series was already complete (Houston at BYU); one game had been postponed after 4 innings to be continued Sunday (Texas Tech at Baylor); there was one series that was even (Kansas at Cincinnati); there was a walk-off in the bottom of the 9th on a hit-by-pitch (Oklahoma State at UCF); and two series were at 2-0. In addition to all of that, of the four new teams in the Big 12 this season, only Houston had won a Big 12 series before this weekend. By the close of business on Saturday night, two of the new teams had won their first Big 12 series, with the fourth team having the possibility on Sunday. This does not include the rocket that took off into the night sky on Friday in Florida beyond the right field wall providing quite the scene for those attending the Oklahoma State and UCF game in Orlando. The spectacle, in the top of the eighth inning, was a momentary distraction from the UCF 10-2 lead. And there was still baseball to play on Sunday. Oklahoma State at UCF The starting pitching for both teams was solid the first time through the order on Friday evening. Lex Boedicker broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth inning with a two-run home run off of Cowboys left-hander Sam Garcia. It was the first of five Knights home runs on the night on their way to a 13-2 romp. UCF starter Ben Vespi allowed just two runs over six innings. Oklahoma State right-hander Brian Holiday was dominant on Saturday night. Holiday racked up 11 strikeouts and left after eight innings leading 3-2. The Cowboys looked poised to even the series. Andrew Sundean tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning with a solo home run to right-center field, a real show of power going the opposite way. Still in the bottom of the ninth, the Knights loaded the bases. Matt Prevesk was hit by a pitch with two outs and UCF walked off 4-3 winners and claimed their first Big 12 series win with eyes on a Sunday sweep. “I was just trying to put the ball in play and make something happen,” Prevesk said. “I took a deep breath after the first pitch, and I was fired up to take one for the team.” Sunday afternoon Oklahoma State staved off a sweep by outscoring UCF 16-10. Aidan Meola hit a three-run home run to cap a seven run second inning. A six-run fourth inning for the Cowboys gave them a 13-4 advantage, which proved to be enough for their only win of the weekend. Kansas at Cincinnati Kansas drubbed Cincinnati 14-4 to open the series on Friday. Chase Diggins and Kodey Shojinaga each had four hits and four RBI for the Jayhawks while Reese Dutton had another great outing over six innings to get his fourth win of the season. Little did anyone know that the Jayhawks would only score one run the rest of the weekend. On Saturday, Cincinnati right-hander Tommy Boba took a no-hitter into the 9th inning. A lead off bunt by John Nett ended no-hit bid and Boba’s day. After a double put runners in scoring position for the Jayhawks, the Bearcats closed the door stranding runners on 2nd and 3rd for a 1-0 win. Kansas starter Dominic Voegele, who opposed Boba, was the hard luck loser having pitched six quality innings and allowing just the one run on an Alec Jones RBI single. Cincinnati returned the Friday drubbing with a lopsided win of their own on Sunday, 10-1 to claim the series, their first in the Big 12. Nathan Taylor tossed six scoreless innings while his offense scored a run in every inning except the eighth (the Bearcats did not bat in the ninth). The Cincinnati offense was a model of balance, with just two players with multiple RBI, and they each had two in the game. Oklahoma at TCU Oklahoma opened up the weekend in Ft. Worth with a statement win on Friday, 7-3. A serviceable start by Oklahoma’s Braden Davis over four innings, was followed by an outstanding performance by Kyson Witherspoon out of the Sooners bullpen. Witherspoon did not allow a run over the final five innings to preserve the road win. The victory snapped TCU’s 17 game home win streak and was also the 200th win for head coach Skip Johnson at Oklahoma. Trailing 2-1 in the top of the fifth inning on Saturday, Oklahoma's Bryce Madron, who was 3-for-4 in the Friday opener, destroyed a baseball that landed somewhere beyond the right field wall for a three-run home run off of TCU starter Kole Klecker. TCU tied the game at five in the bottom of the eighth inning. Carter Frederick led off the top of the ninth inning with a pinch-hit home run to center field and the Sooners had the lead right back. Oklahoma manufactured another run to put the game away and secure the series with a 7-5 win. Sunday was all Oklahoma as they rolled to the series sweep on the road. The Sooners built a 6-0 lead in the fifth inning. TCU responded with home runs by Kurtis Byrne and Karson Bowen to get within two runs at 6-4. Oklahoma plated three runs in the top of the ninth inning to essentially put the game away at 9-4. Oklahoma’s statement win on Friday night turned into a statement series sweep on Sunday afternoon. Texas Tech at Baylor Texas Tech got their road trip to Waco started with a 2-0 shutout on Friday night. Red Raiders starter Kyle Robinson and reliever Josh Sanders combined to four-hit the Bears. Baylor was leading 5-0 in the fourth inning on Saturday when the skies opened up and forced the postponement of the game until Sunday. This meant both teams would have to manage 15 innings of baseball on Sunday afternoon. The Bears held on to win the game once it continued on Sunday, 5-1. Then Sunday brought another challenge: a one hour and 26 minute rain delay in the top of the seventh inning with Baylor leading 3-0. An already soggy field, got more water to work with as a light rain continued to fall even after the resumption of play. The 2024 Baylor team is a young team and that was on full display as freshman pitchers combined to throw 14 1/3 innings with 13 strikeouts in Baylor’s two wins over Texas Tech. The Red Raiders offense only scored five runs all weekend. Houston at BYU This series started Thursday and ended Saturday, and with both teams having Cougars as mascots, it is best to stick with calling them by their school name in recaps like this. Houston walked away with a game one victory in Provo 9-2. Houston basically threw a bullpen game on Thursday and kept their Friday and Saturday starters on schedule. The usual Houston Sunday starter ended up throwing two solid innings in relief in Saturday’s finale. BYU bounced back from dropping game one to take the series, their first in the Big 12. Despite a six inning 13 strikeout performance by Houston right-hander Jaxon Jelkin, BYU got to the Houston bullpen and wound up with a 4-2 victory on Friday. Bryce Robison pitched six strong innings for BYU in Friday's series-tying win. BYU then won a 10-8 slugfest on Saturday. BYU third baseman Easton Jones hit a home run in each game of the series. Three Big 12 teams did not play Conference opponents this weekend: Kansas State, Texas, West Virginia. New Rankings After the weekend, there is still just one team in the new College Baseball Nation Top 25. The Oklahoma Sooners check in this week at No. 20, and back in the Top 25 for the first time since they were No. 24 in week one. Weekly Awards Big 12 Players of the Week Player: Bryce Madron, Oklahoma, OF Pitcher: Tommy Boba, Cincinnati, RHP Newcomer: Mason Green, Baylor, LHP Quoted “I knew it was going to take something completely different than it did last night to beat these guys, and we went sac fly, safety squeeze, home run and walk-off hit by pitch with the bases loaded. That, I didn’t have on my Bingo card for how we were going to score our four runs, but I’m sure glad that we did.” - UCF head coach Rich Wallace after Saturday's walk-off win. Baylor head coach Mitch Thompson was asked about the mindset of his team after resuming the suspended game on Sunday against Texas Tech. “The [rain delay] part of it stunk, to be honest with you. We were off to a good start, but there was a lot of ballgame left. To run out there today and go with 14-plus innings of freshman pitching, that was exciting. They handled themselves against a really good club in a really good environment, and we got out of there with two wins, so it was a big deal,” Thompson said. Houston head coach Todd Whitting was doing an in-game interview on ESPN+ on Thursday night during their game at BYU. With runners on the corners, a botched stolen base attempt resulted in an out at second base and with the runner on third base going nowhere. Whitting said, “I didn’t put that play on, by the way,” which brought laughter and affirmation from the broadcast duo. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on X and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

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