Weekly Awards
Big 12 Players of the Week
Player: Brandon Compton, Arizona State
Pitcher: Ethan Calder, Baylor & Colter McAnelly, Utah
Newcomer: Cole Cramer, TCU
League Notes
Arizona
Mason White hit two home runs over opening weekend career home runs] total to 31. The Wildcats have committed just one error in four games, a .992 fielding percentage that leads the Big 12.
Arizona State
The Sun Devils are 4-0 to start the season and have scored 38 runs over that four-game stretch. Brandon Compton led the Sun Devils offensive, hitting .462 to go along with two home runs, nine RBI, and eight runs scored.
Baylor
Baylor scored 38 runs on 46 hits in their three-game series against Youngstown State, including 14 extra-base hits. The Bears were led offensively by Wesley Jordan who was 9-for-13 with a home run and seven RBI. On the mound, left-hander Ethan Calder struck out a career-high 13 batters in just five innings on Opening Day.
BYU
The BYU bats are led by Bryker Hurdsman and Luke Anderson along with newcomer Easton Bryant. Hurdsman leads the Cougars in batting average at .412 and has scored five runs on seven hits. Bryant has a slugging percentage of .471 while batting .294 with two runs and five hits. Bryant is one of just eight batters in the Big 12 with three doubles on the young season.
Cincinnati
Cincinnati was one of the national stories after they won their opening weekend series at Duke. After splitting the first two games, the Bearcats dominated in the finale, winning 19-5. Kerrington Cross hit .438 against Duke with two home runs and six RBI and Donovan Ford batted .455 and drove in four runs for the Bearcats. The Cincinnati pitching staff notched 32 strikeouts in 29 1/3 innings. Eighteen Bearcats made their Cincinnati debuts last weekend.
Houston
After opening the season 2-1 last weekend against visiting Minnesota, the Cougars had both of their midweek games cancelled this week due to frigid weather in Central Texas. Houston newcomers Connor McGinnis and Aaron Lugo each drove in three runs in Houston's two wins against Minnesota.
Kansas
Second year right-hander Dominic Voegele was terrific in his first Friday night outing of the season. Voegele pitched six innings allowing just two runs on five hits to go with seven strikeouts.against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Brady Ballinger, Dariel Osoria, and Tommy Barth each hit safely in all four games over opening weekend to lead the Jayhawks. Osoria leads the team with a .467 batting average and 10 RBI.
Kansas State
The Wildcats will play their first 11 games on the road, including some neutral site games. Kansas State played four games over opening weekend and a midweek game, so they have five games behind them entering this weekend. Kansas State had 20 newcomers make their debuts over opening weekend, including eight on Opening Day, five of them freshmen. The Wildcats have been outscored 45-28 in those first five games.
Oklahoma State
The Cowboys have opened the season 1-3, playing all four of their games at Globe Life Field in Arlington. Oklahoma State defeated Louisville 12-3 in their sole victory over opening weekend. The victory was sandwiched between a one-run loss to top-ranked Clemson to open the season and a loss to former Big 12 foe Texas.
TCU
The Horned Frogs hit 11 home runs over the weekend, which ranks fourth in the NCAA and helped them to their 4-0 record. Cole Cramer was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week after hitting .412 with two home runs and six RBI at San Diego.
Texas Tech
Texas Tech enters this weekend 0-3 after a rough opening weekend at North Carolina, despite the fact they hit more home runs than the Tar Heels, 3 to 0. Texas Tech got great work out of its bullpen with seven relievers combining for a 2.80 ERA over opening weekend. The Red Raiders bullpen struck out 22 of the 30 Tar Heel batters. The Red Raiders have won 30 consecutive home games at Rip Griffin Park in the month of February.
UCF
UCF will play four games over four days, hosting Mizzou on Thursday night before welcoming Bryant for a weekend set. In the three games over opening weekend, UCF out-hit Siena 44-17 on its way to outscoring the Saints 40-5. Braden Calise led the way by hitting .636 with six runs scored and a pair of stolen bases, while Matt Prevesk batted .545 with two home runs and eight runs batted in. In Sunday’s finale, Prevesk recorded the first two-home run game of his career while also driving in a career-best five runs to help lead the Knights to a 16-1 victory in the series finale.
Utah
Utah opened the new season with a four-game road sweep of Pepperdine, outscoring the Waves by a combined score of 30-8. After a 10-inning victory in the season opener, The Utes followed with three more wins, each by at least five runs. The Utes had three of the four starters go at least five innings against Pepperdine as the pitching staff combined for a four-game ERA of 1.95.
West Virginia
The Mountaineers opened the season on the road at Jacksonville and promptly won all four of their games to open a new era for head coach Steve Sabins. Skylar King led the way offensively going 6-for-10 with five RBI, including a triple and a home run. On the mound, Griffin Kirn tossed 5 2/3 innings of one-run baseball on opening day to earn the victory. Reese Bassinger earned two saves out of the bullpen while not allowing a run in 3 1/3 innings and striking out four batters.
Quoted
"If you look at the things we did well, it’s the stuff we preach. The way we executed the short game, put pressure on them on the bases, got after the strike zone. It’s not so much the winning and losing, it’s doing the things we preach." - Cincinnati Head Coach Jordan Bischel
"I feel like these guys in the clubhouse are great kids. We don't recruit turds. We recruit good kids," said Arizona State Head Coach Willie Bloomquist. "We do try to do our homework and bring in kids that are academically oriented and good citizens and good kids that want to work hard and get better."
"Hit the heater. He had a good heater and I figured it out, might as well hit it." - Utah third baseman Tyler Quinn on his game-tying home run at Pepperdine
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