BYU baseball interim coach Trent Pratt owes a lot to former BYU head coach Mike Littlewood.

Going back to Pratt’s high school days as a catcher, Littlewood has been a mentor through their time together as coaches at Dixie State and at BYU — up until last week, when Littlewood suddenly resigned for personal reasons.

As Pratt takes on the enormous responsibility of leading the Cougars through the last month of the season and perhaps beyond, there is one thing he knows for sure.

Being authentic is the only path to success.

“I’m not Coach Littlewood,” Pratt said. “I just want to be the best version of myself that I can be for these guys.”

Littlewood’s resignation came as a surprise to everyone in the Cougar program, including Pratt.

“We’ve texted back and forth to each other a couple of times,” Pratt said. “He’s doing well and our thoughts and prayers are with Mike and his family. He’s been great to us, the whole staff.”

Pratt said he didn’t think his day-to-day preparation would change that much moving from assistant coach to head coach.

“I’m going to be who I am,” he said. “I’m an emotional guy. I told the players I was going to be the same guy. I think kids can sense when you try to be someone you’re not. I’m going to continue to work with them on a one-on-one basis. Mike and I are both fiery and we want to win. We want to be competitive and we expect the same thing out of the players.”

Director of Athletics Tom Holmoe and Deputy Athletic Director Brian Santiago broke the news of Littlewood’s resignation to the team last Monday, introduced Pratt as the interim coach and invited him to talk to the players.

“I told them we just had to go out there and keep playing,” Pratt said. “We have two choices: We can feel sad that our head coach has resigned and let the season get away from us or we can come together as a team and take this chance to grow together. I told them we just had to worry about today, not the future or the past. We can only control how we approach today and just take steps as the season goes on. I think the guys have done a great job. There has been a lot of energy and no complaints.”

Senior outfielder Hayden Leathan said the announcement of Littlewood’s resignation caught he and his teammates off guard.

“No one saw it coming,” Leatham said. “Personally, I was shocked and I think everyone was shocked. We really didn’t understand it and we were all wondering about what would happen next. The most powerful message was just how the coaches all responded. They all care about us as people and players and they’ve done everything in their power to make us feel that they are in our corner and fighting for us. The guys all believe in each other and I think every dude on the team believes in Pratt. We’re starting to catch our stride and I think we have a chance to make the rest of the year really special.”

Pratt said he felt as ready as he could be to take over the program.

“I always wanted to be a head coach,” he said. “I don’t know how prepared anyone really is. On the baseball side I feel like I know the game well enough. The administrative side, I’m learning things on the fly but I feel like I’m capable of doing those things.”

So far, Pratt said the BYU administration hasn’t given him a timeline for making a decision about 2023.

“I just want us to go take care of the kids and finish the season strong,” Pratt said. “If we do what we’re supposed to do, the outcome will be right. Those decisions (about the next head coach) are out of my hands. We just hope to get things rolling a bit.”

Incredibly, the Cougars (20-14 overall, 6-6 in West Coast Conference play) have played five straight games decided by one run since Pratt took over. BYU lost the opener of a four-game series at Nebraska 1-0 then won the other three games 3-2, 7-6 and 4-3. On Tuesday, the Cougars dropped an 8-7 decision at Utah, losing in the bottom of the ninth.

BYU gets back to WCC play on Thursday at Miller Park with Game 1 of a three-game set with San Diego.

“Our pitching has been great all year,” Pratt said. “We’ve had some key injuries to Andrew Pintar and Cole Gambill, so we’ve had some other people who have had to step into different roles. I feel like our offense has improved. This team, as a whole, roots for each other and that’s what we want going forward.”

College Baseball

San Diego (23-12, 9-6 WCC) at BYU (20-14, 6-6 WCC)

Thursday, 6 p.m. MT

Miller Park, Provo

TV: None

Streaming: BYUtv app

Radio: BYU Sports Network, BYUradio 107.9 FM/BYU Cougars app

The Word: BYU is 9-24 all-time against San Diego but took two of three from the Toreros last season. .. The Cougars have played in five straight one-run games, winning three. … In its last WCC series, BYU swept San Clara 5-1, 10-0 and 9-5. … Game 2 (Friday, 6 p.m. MT) and Game 3 (Saturday, 1 p.m. MT) against San Diego will be televised on BYUtv.

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