Buckle up folks, there is a lot of content, and things are about to get exciting.
Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship
The Big 12 Championship gets underway in Arlington, Texas on Tuesday and runs through Saturday.
No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 2 Oklahoma State will get a first day bye.
No. 3 Texas
No. 4 West Virginia
No. 5 Cincinnati
No. 6 Kansas State
No. 7 Kansas
No. 8 UCF
No. 9 TCU
No. 10 Texas Tech
Baylor, Houston, and BYU did not make postseason play.
Big 12 Baseball Awards
This afternoon the Big 12 announced its awards with the regular season having concluded.
Player of the Year: Max Belyeu, Texas
Pitcher of the Year: Payton Tolle, TCU
Freshman of the Year: Dominic Voegele, Kansas
Newcomer of the Year: Payton Tolle, TCU
Coach of the Year: Skip Johnson, Oklahoma
More awards are listed in the bottom portion of this post.
A Look Back at Week 10 in Big 12 Baseball
No. 14 Oklahoma at Cincinnati
Entering the weekend, Oklahoma had already claimed the Big 12 regular season championship and set a program record for conference wins, so the weekend series meant less for the Sooners than for the Bearcats.
Oklahoma swept the Thursday doubleheader by scores of 14-6 and 12-8.
Easton Carmichael led the Sooners offense in game one going 4-for-5 with three RBI and Michael Snyder was 3-for-4 with two RBI. The Sooners pounded out 16 base hits while the Bearcats collected six hits as a team. In the second game of the day, John Spikerman led Oklahoma with a 4-for-5 performance and two RBI, while Jaxon Willits plated a trio on his home run and Rocco Garza-Gongora went 3-for-3 with two RBI.
In Friday's final game of the series, the two teams were tied at six in the bottom of the eighth inning when Josh Hegemann hit an 0-1 pitch over the right field wall for a grand slam to give the Bearcats their first lead of the night, and of the series. The blast was Hegemann's first career home run and helped propel Cincinnati to a 10-6 win to avoid the sweep at home.
No. 16 Oklahoma State at Houston
The destructive weather in Houston last week altered the schedule and eventually only two of the three scheduled games were played. After Thursday's game was cancelled and moved to Friday as part of a doubleheader, the first game on Friday was rained out. The first game of the series finally got underway on Friday night, but after just three outs were recorded in the top of the first inning, the game was delayed before ultimately being postponed and continued on Saturday as part of a doubleheader.
The Cowboys were leading game one 7-2 going to the sixth inning when they put together a 10-run inning on their way to a resounding 20-3 victory. All 10 runs scored with two outs in the inning. Avery Ortiz, Zach Ehrhard, Nolan Schubart, and Tyler Wulfert each drove in three runs for Oklahoma State. Sam Garcia (6-3) earned the win with seven innings pitched and seven strikeouts.
Brian Holiday pitched 8 1/3 innings and struck out 14 Houston batters in Saturday's second game, leading the Cowboys to a 9-2 win. Schubart was 3-for-4 with five RBI and a home run while Carson Benge was 2-for-4 with two doubles.
Kansas at No. 22 Texas
Texas led Kansas 3-2 going to the top of the ninth inning on Thursday night. Ben Hartl smashed a two-run home run to left field and the Jayhawks took a one run lead to the bottom of the ninth inning. Casey Borba started the frame with a pinch-hit solo home run. A free pass put a runner on base for the Longhorns and Jalin Flores doubled home the winning run in walk-off fashion for a 5-4 Texas win.
Flores (2-for-4) delivered another walk-off winner on Friday as Texas took the series with a 3-2 win. Starter Charlie Hurley pitched six scoreless innings allowing just four hits. Hurley struck out a career-high nine batters. Jared Thomas was 2-for-3 with two walks, a triple, one RBI, and one run scored. Will Gasparino went 2-for-4 with a triple, two RBI, and one run scored.
Texas completed the sweep on Sunday with a 9-7 victory. Kimble Schuessler was 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBI while Peyton Powell, Max Belyeu, and Casey Borba each drove in two runs. Lebarron Johnson Jr. tossed six one-run innings and allowed just five hits to earn the win. Johnson also struck out seven batters. Gage Boehm pitched the final 2 1/3 innings to earn his eighth save of the season.
West Virginia at TCU
TCU opened the series at home on Thursday with a 6-3 victory. Payton Tolle (7-3) pitched seven innings, allowing three runs on five hits and striking out 11 to earn the win. TCU shortstop Anthony Silva was 2-for-3 with three RBI in the game. Ben Abeldt took the mound in the eighth with the bases loaded and retired all six batters he faced to record his eighth save of the season.
West Virginia bounced back to take the next two games and the series.
Left-hander Derek Clark pitched the Mountaineers to a 7-2 win on Friday, while JJ Wetherholt hit two home runs, each was a two-run blast, to lead the offense. It was Wetherholt's first career multi-home run game. Clark threw eight strong innings allowing just two runs and striking out six.
Reed Chumley provided most of the offense for the Mountaineers on Saturday, finishing the day with two hits and four RBI, including a three-run home run. Sam White and Grant Hussey also drove in runs for West Virginia. Tyler Switalski threw five scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts to pick up his fourth win of the year. TCU rallied in the bottom of the ninth but fell a run short as West Virginia won 6-5.
UCF at Baylor
Ben Vespi tossed six strong innings allowing two runs and Kris Sosnowski recorded the final four outs to earn the save as UCF picked up a 6-4 victory in Friday's first game of a doubleheader. Braden Calise was 2-for-3 and drove in two runs for the Knights.
Baylor scored four unearned runs in game two of the doubleheader on their way to a 4-2 win. Ethan Calder pitched a career high seven innings, allowed just two runs, and earned his fifth win of the season as the Bears evened the series.
UCF plated six runs in the top of the first inning on their way to a 10-8 series-clinching victory. Mikey Kleksa contributed a three-run double in the inning. Andrew Brait and Lex Boedicker each drove in two runs. Enzo Apodaca drove in three runs for Baylor in the loss.
BYU at Kansas State
Kansas State opened their home series by walking-off BYU on Thursday 7-6 in 12 innings. BYU tied the game in the top of the ninth inning to eventually send the game to extra innings. Wildcats pitchers Owen Boerema, Blake Dean, Tyson Neighbors, and JJ Slack combined for 21 strikeouts in the game. Kyan Lodice delivered a walk-off single in the 12th inning. Cooper Vest had three hits and drove in four runs for the Cougars.
Kansas State claimed the series on Friday edging out BYU 2-1. Jackson Wentworth struck out 11 over eight innings in which he allowed just one run. Tyson Neighbors pitched a perfect ninth inning, striking out two BYU batters. Brady Day and Kaelen Culpepper each drove in a run to account for the Wildcats offense. BYU starter Ben Hansen was great over six innings, allowing just two runs.
BYU rallied to take the final game of the weekend 12-8 in 10 innings to close out their season with a road win. Crew McChesney went 4-for-5, but Parker Goff delivered the damaging blow with a grand slam in the top of the 10th inning, part of a five RBI game for Goff.
Texas Tech did not play a Big 12 opponent this weekend.
Big 12 Baseball Awards, Continued . . .
All-Big 12 First Team
C: Jake English, Kansas
IF: Brady Day, Kansas State
IF: Michael Snyder, Oklahoma
IF: Jalin Flores, Texas
IF: Jared Thomas, Texas
IF: JJ Wetherholt, West Virginia
OF: Carson Benge, Oklahoma State
OF: Zach Ehrhard, Oklahoma State
OF: Max Belyeu, Texas
DH: Easton Carmichael, Oklahoma
UT: Josh Kross, Cincinnati
SP: Braden Davis, Oklahoma
SP: Brian Holiday, Oklahoma State
SP: Payton Tolle, TCU*
SP: Derek Clark, West Virginia
RP: Ben Abeldt, TCU
RP: Gage Boehm, Texas
*- unanimous selection
All-Big 12 Second Team
C: Kevin Bazzell, Texas Tech
IF: Kodey Shojinaga, Kansas
IF: Kaelen Culpepper, Kansas State
IF: Colin Brueggemann, Oklahoma State
IF: Peyton Powell, Texas
IF: Reed Chumley, West Virginia
OF: Cary Arbolida, Houston
OF: Bryce Madron, Oklahoma
OF: Nolan Schubart, Oklahoma State
DH: Wesley Jordan, Baylor
UT: Christian Mitchelle, Cincinnati
UT: Justin Murray, Houston
SP: Dom Stagliano, UCF
SP: Reese Dutton, Kansas
SP: Dominic Voegele, Kansas
SP: Kyson Witherspoon, Oklahoma
SP: Sam Garcia, Oklahoma State
RP: Tyson Neighbors, Kansas State
RP: Robert Cranz, Oklahoma State
Ties resulted in five starting pitchers and two utility players on the second team
Honorable Mention
Baylor: Ethan Calder, Cole Posey
BYU: Stone Cushing, Mason Olson, Collin Reuter
UCF: Dominic Castellano, Chase Centala, Kyle Kramer, Danny Neri, Matt Prevesk
Cincinnati: Lauden Brooks, Kerrington Cross, Josh Hegemann, Tommy O'Connor, Nathan Taylor
Houston: Cade Citelli, Harold Coll
Kansas: Michael Brooks, Hunter Cranton, Ben Hartl, John Nett
Kansas State: Owen Boerema, Nick English, Brendan Jones, Raphael Pelletier, Jackson Wentworth
Oklahoma: Cater Campbell, Anthony Mackenzie, Scott Mudler, Jackson Nicklaus, John Spikerman, Jaxon Willits
Oklahoma State: Aidan Meola, Tommy Molsky
TCU: Kurtis Byrne, Zachary Cawyer, Logan Maxwell, Sam Myers
Texas: Rylan Galvan, Will Gasparino, Max Grubbs, Jared Thomas (UT), Ace Whitehead
Texas Tech: Damian Bravo, Gavin Kash, Cade McGee, T.J. Pompey, Kyle Robinson, Drew Woodcox
West Virginia: Aidan Major, Sam White, Kyle West
All-Freshman Team
Kuhio Aloy, BYU
Nathan Taylor, Cincinnati
Ace Reese, Houston
Dominic Voegele, Kansas
Blake Dean, Kansas State
Jaxon Willits, Oklahoma
Chase Brunson, TCU
Sam Myers, TCU
Will Gasparino, Texas
Mac Heuer, Texas Tech
Parker Hutyra, Texas Tech
T.J. Pompey, Texas Tech
Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on X and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!