SURPRISE, AZ — No. 9 BYU and No. 11 Kansas State opened the 2026 Big 12 Baseball Tournament with opening round wins on Tuesday at Surprise Stadium. Read more: Day 1 in the books: BYU and Kansas State move on to Wednesday.
BYU managed to take down No. 12 Texas Tech in just seven innings after reaching the 10-run rule. The final score was 18-8.
No. 11 Kansas State outlasted No. 10 Utah in the second game of the day. The final score was 9-5.
Game 1- BYU vs Texas Tech
The Cougars got on the board first after Tualau Wolfgramm cracked one RBI double in the bottom of the second. However, the Red Raiders fired back in the top of third with five runs.
Logan Hughes powered the offensive surge with his 18th home run of the season that nearly went into the road.
BYU added three runs in the bottom half of the third. Easton Jones hit a near home run towards left field, but settled for a two RBI triple.
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The Cougars tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the fourth to regain the lead. Both teams then traded one run a piece in the fifth.
TTU managed to push two more runs across in the sixth, but it wasn’t nearly enough for BYU’s onslaught in the sixth. Fueled by six hits, including a two-run home run from Ridge Erickson, the Cougars scored seven in the bottom of the sixth. Their lead was extended to seven with just three innings left.
In the bottom of the seventh, BYU completed the early stoppage finish with three more runs. Jones walked it off with a two-run home run for his 14th of the season.
Game 2- Kansas State vs Uah
Both squads were at a standstill for the first four innings. For Kansas State, starting pitcher James Guyette was holding strong with just a handful of lonely singles. For Utah, Demitri Diamant pitched three scoreless innings where he allowed just two hits.
Into the bottom of the fifth inning, the game was still knotted at 0-0, the Utes finally broke through with two-RBI double from Jake Long. Later in the inning, Cal Miller singled right field and pushed Long across for the third run of the inning.
Suddenly, Kansas State’s offense woke up as well in the top of the sixth inning. AJ Evasco hit his eighth home run of the season, scoring two in the process.
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After a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the sixth, the Wildcats scored three more runs in the seventh to gain their first lead of the night. Dee Kennedy started the scoring with an RBI triple.
The Utes quickly took that lead away with two runs in the bottom of the seventh. Luke Jacobs led off with a solo home run and Miller later followed with a sacrifice fly.
The late back-and-forth continued into the eighth with KSU exploding for four runs in the eighth. Utah was unable to answer in the bottom half of the frame.
The same happened in the ninth with Utah not able to push any more runs across, and ending its season on Tuesday.
Analysis
The first game saw an array of offense from both teams. Specifically, the long ball reigned supreme in the tournament’s opening game.
Texas Tech and BYU combined for six total home runs on Tuesday. That doesn’t include at least two or three that just missed going out of the park.
The ball seemed to really jump out of Surprise Stadium, which, if that continues, will be something West Virginia should look to capitalize off of on Thursday.
The Big 12 tournament continues with No. 8-seed Baylor facing No. 9-seed BYU on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. MT/ 7:30 p.m. ET. No. 7-seed TCU is scheduled to face No. 11 Kansas State at 8 p.m. MT/ 11 p.m. ET.
