The Big 12 sees less of a logjam at the top than it did a week ago as 10 of the 13 teams jockey for a spot in the Phillips 66 Championship in Arlington, Texas in late May. No. 22 Oklahoma is in front in the league right now with a 14-4 record, Three teams occupy the second spot with 11-7 records: Oklahoma State, West Virginia, and Texas. If the Championship started today, TCU, BYU, and Houston would be left out of the field.
Recapping the Midweek
No. 19 Oklahoma State went to Oral Roberts and won 12-4.
No. 22 Oklahoma topped Wichita State 3-1 in Norman.
New Mexico traveled to Texas Tech and got a rare win in Lubbock, 17-3.
Kansas State beat Omaha 6-4.
UCF defeated Florida Gulf Coast 10-3.
No. 1 Texas A&M edged out Houston 13-11 in College Station.
TCU beat Dallas Baptist 5-2 in Ft. Worth.
Kansas defeated Nebraska 9-4 in Lincoln.
Texas shutout UT Arlington 11-0 in Austin.
Baylor hosted Sam Houston and won 9-3.
BYU walked-off Utah 5-4 in Provo.
West Virginia's scheduled midweek was rained out.
Weekend Schedule
BYU (16-21, 6-15) at No. 19 Oklahoma State (27-14, 11-7)
Texas (25-17, 11-7) at No. 22 Oklahoma (25-14, 14-4)
Texas Tech (29-14, 12-9) at Kansas (22-15, 9-9)
Baylor (19-20, 9-9) at West Virginia (23-16, 11-7)
Kansas State (25-15, 9-9) at TCU (24-15, 8-13)
Cincinnati (23-18, 9-9) at UCF (25-13, 8-10)
Houston does not play a Big 12 opponent this weekend.
League Notes
With a 5-1 record in 13 relief appearances, Tommy Molsky leads Oklahoma State and ranks third in the Big 12 in wins. Three of those wins have come in league play as the right-hander picked up a victory in each of the Cowboys first three conference series.
BYU closer Stone Cushing registered a season-long outing with three innings pitched versus Oklahoma on April 20. Cushing leads the Cougars in ERA (2.29) and in games finished (16) and continues to co-lead the Big 12 with seven saves.
With the two wins at Baylor, Kansas has now won two Big 12 series on the road this season. The last time Kansas did that in the same season was 2014, which was the Jayhawks last appearance in a NCAA Regional. Kansas has scored at least eight runs in eight of their last nine games.
Oklahoma is on an eight-game win streak heading into Friday's first game with Texas, good for the longest win streak since the 2017 team won 12 straight.
West Virginia’s JJ Wetherholt leads the team with a .327 batting average while Reed Chumley has a team-high 10 home runs. Kyle West leads the team with 32 RBI and with nine home runs of his own.
Over the past five games, Jack Zyska and AJ Nessler have led UCF at the plate with .529 and .526 averages, respectively. Zyska is 9-for-17 with two doubles, a home run, six runs scored, and eight RBI, while Nessler is 10-for-19 with two doubles, a triple, a home run, 10 runs scored, and eight RBI.
TCU pitching has racked up 433 strikeouts, good for second in the Big 12 and ninth nationally. The Horned Frogs have allowed runs in just four of the last 36 innings pitched (over the last four games). The TCU bullpen has surrendered just four runs in its last 22 innings pitched (1.63 ERA).
Right-hander Seth Logue opened the year in Cincinnati's starting rotation and is projected to start on Friday this weekend, but over the last few weeks he has flourished in a new role out of the bullpen in the second or third inning after an "opener" makes the start. Over Logue's last four outings out of the bullpen, he has compiled a 3.27 ERA over 22 innings while striking out 28 and walking just six batters.
Texas leads the Big 12 with 81 home runs, seven more than the next closest team, Texas Tech with 74. The Longhorns total is more than double that of the bottom two home run hitting teams in the Big, Baylor with 29 and TCU at 28.
Baylor infielder Tyriq Kemp has been hot at the plate recently, hitting .447 (17-for-38) over his last 12 games and a .558 OBP. Kemp has slugged .737 over those last 12 games with five doubles and two home runs, while driving in 11 runs.
Kansas State catcher Raphael Pelletier has hit a team-leading nine home runs this season, after hitting two out on Saturday against Oklahoma State.
Texas Tech leads the Big 12 in most offensive categories: batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, hits, runs, RBIs, doubles, total bases, and walks, and is ranked third in the nation in hits and doubles, fifth in runs scored, and ninth in batting average.
Buster Posey Award Mid-Season Watch List
A list of 63 candidates for the 2024 Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award was released and it contains two Big 12 catchers:
Anthony Tulimero, Houston
Raphael Pelletier, Kansas State
The winner will be announced on June 26.
Honored
The National College Baseball Hall of Fame named Texas Tech right-hander Kyle Robinson the National Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday for his performance last week. Robinson shut down West Virginia over the weekend, tossing seven innings and allowing just one run on four hits and striking out nine.
Quoted
"It's all about a mentality, you've got to understand that when you walk out there," Oklahoma head coach Skip Johnson told his team last week. "Just have a mentality, because then you don't have any regrets, no regrets, just put it out there on the line."
“You put your heart out there. If you get beat out there that day, you get beat. Just attack the game.”
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