BYU baseball captured its first Big 12 series win with a 10-8 victory over Houston on Saturday afternoon at Miller Park in the final game of the three-game series.

BYU improved to 9-8 on the year and 3-3 in Big 12 play with the 2-1 series win, while Houston dropped to 12-6 (4-2). Houston had not lost a three-game series since falling to Oklahoma in March 2023.

“It really was a team win,” said BYU head coach Trent Pratt. “You look up and down the lineup and everyone did something. Sometimes little things don’t always show up on the box score, but everyone did something to win today.”

Houston registered baserunners in every inning, tallying 13 hits as BYU claimed the win with each team recording 13 hits.

Houston took an early lead, scoring two-run homers in both the second and third innings to go up 4-1. BYU’s first score came in the second inning with a runner on third and no outs as Chipper Beck hit a ground ball to the shortstop, allowing Crew Robinson to score.

The home Cougars responded in the bottom of the third with two right-field home runs. Jones led off with a solo blast, followed by Robinson’s left-handed long ball that scored Collin Reuter.

In the fourth inning, Luke Anderson walked then advanced to third on a ground ball and later scored on a Kuhio Aloy sacrifice fly as BYU took its first lead, 5-4.

After scoreless innings in the fifth and sixth, Beck singled up the middle with bases loaded in the seventh to bring home Reuter who had singled and Painter who had been hit by a pitch. Ryker Schow’s perfect bunt loaded the bases again and Luke Anderson’s sacrifice fly to right field scored Robinson for a BYU 8-4 lead.

Houston responded in the top of the eighth with three runs to cut the lead to 8-7. The home Cougars then answered with two more runs in the top of the eight to extend its lead to 10-7.

Aloy singled to shortstop to lead off the eighth and Reuter walked. Robinson then tripled to right field as Reuter and Bitner Workman, who was pinch running for Aloy, scored.

A walk and double gave Houston a run in the top of the night, but relief pitcher Stone Cushing got Houston to ground out to Jones at third base to end the game and preserve the 10-8 victory.

The Cougars will travel to St. George, Utah for a single non-conference game at Utah Tech on Tuesday, March 19 at 6:05 p.m. MDT. The game will be broadcast live on the BYU Radio App and BYU Radio 107.9 in the local market.

BYU swimmers compete at invitational

BYU men’s and women’s swimming concluded the weekend’s competition at the CSCAA National Invitational Championship at Florida Aquatics Swimming and Training on March 15-16.

Both teams posted a combined six top-15 finishes across preliminary and final events over the last two days in Ocala.

Halli Williams took 14th in both the women’s 100 free preliminary and final on Saturday with a 50.38 followed by 50.41. Mackenzie Lung clocked 2:14.64 to finish seventh in the 200 breast preliminary over opponents from Queens, Duquesne and Delaware.

Williams recorded a 22.84 at anchor in the 200 medley relay as she combined with Emma Marusakova, Lung and Lily Flint to go 1:41.11 for 10th. Victoria Schreiber, Megan Bergstrom, Abril Arias and Kara Martinson took 13th in the 800 free relay at 7:25.27.

True freshman Carson Hamblin went 44.27 to finish 10th in the 100 free preliminary over swimmers from TCU and Purdue.

With the conclusion of the CSCAA NIC, the collegiate swimming season has ended as well for these BYU swimmers.

The Cougars’ final showing of 2023-24 will come with eight entries at the NCAA Men’s Swim and Dive Championships at IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, Indiana on March 27-30.

BYU track enjoys successes at first outdoor meet

Cougar men’s and women’s track and field concluded their first outdoor competitions at the Arizona Spring Break Fiesta Meet in Tucson, Arizona.

The BYU men got individual wins from Riley Hunt, Cameron Bates, Danny Bryant and Dallin Shurts in their respective events to lead the way.

Riley Hunt finished first overall in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 13.94, which put him at No. 5 in program records. Hunt’s time hadn’t been reached by a BYU athlete for 25 years, with the last being Slade Combs in 1999. A graduate transfer from Cal, Hunt joined the team for the 2024 indoor season where he competed at the Big 12 Championships and placed 12th in the 60m hurdles.

“I think it was a good race,” said Hunt. “I can’t complain with a new personal best in the first outdoor race. We loved that it was warm and had a bit of a headwind, so that made the competition better. I think it will just keep getting better here on out.”

Cameron Bates took first place in the finals of the men’s javelin with a mark of 75.15/246-6. The performance netted Bates a U.S. Olympic Trials auto-qualifying mark of 75/246-0.75. He currently holds the school record in the javelin with a 77.17m/253-2 and has sights set on breaking the 80-meter mark.

“It went well,” said Bates. “It’s my best opener that I’ve ever had, so I’m happy about that. Hitting the auto-qualifying mark for the Olympic Trials was one of my goals. I wanted to hit the 80-meter mark. Obviously, that is a big goal of mine, but we are right there. It was a good first meet.”

Danny Bryant opened the season with a win in the shot put with a mark of 18.92/62-1, besting his previous personal record of 18.82m/61-9. Bryant recently competed at the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships in Lubbock, Texas where he placed fifth in the indoor event.

Senior thrower Dallin Shurts recorded a 60.62/198-10 performance to take first in the men’s discus finals. Shurts competed at the PAN American games in Santiago, Chile this past offseason where he placed eighth overall.

“I felt like it was a great meet for my throwers,” said throws coach Niklas Arrhenius. “There were lots of great performances, many of which earned our athletes spots at regionals. I’m very happy with the athletes that have come back from injuries and did great today. We are excited for the rest of the season.”

For the women, Libby Parkinson improved on her BYU No. 6 all-time spot in the women’s javelin and Annalise Hart tied the program’s No. 10 mark in the 400-meter hurdles Saturday at Roy P. Drachman Stadium.

Parkinson competed in a BYU uniform for the first time in 660 days and picked up better than she left off. Her throw of 50.93m/167-1 beat her previous personal best and previous BYU No. 6 mark by nearly three feet. She placed second in the competition.

“I feel great” said Parkinson. “It’s been 23 months since I’ve been in a BYU uniform due to a UCL surgery, so it has been a long time coming. I’m just happy about the consistency and happy to throw more nukes.”

Hart’s No. 10 BYU all-time mark came in just her first-ever 400m hurdle race. She placed second overall in the event with a 58.87.

“I was pretty nervous going into the race because I had no idea what to expect” said Hart. “However, I felt prepared and confident in my training, so I trusted that and went for it. I am excited to continue to learn and improve in the 400m hurdles.”

Maddie Passmore won the long jump with a personal-best mark of 6.02/19-9. She also placed fourth in the triple jump, leaping 12.26m/40-2.75 to earn her second personal best of the day.

Gretchen Hoekstre won the women’s discus with a toss of 51.73m/169-8. Hoekstre also placed fourth in the shot put and sixth in the hammer throw.

The Cougars will split next week when the multis and jumps groups will attend the Aztec Invitational in San Diego March 21-23, while the distance squad and throwers will travel to USC for the Ron and Sharlene Allice Trojan Invitational March 22-23.

Cougar gymnastic earns season-high floor score

BYU women’s gymnastics earned its second-highest score of the season with a 196.750 for a second-place finish at the Washington quad meet in Seattle on Friday evening.

Host Washington took home the win with a 197.175, followed by BYU’s 196.750, Southern Utah’s 196.550 and Sacramento State’s 195.300.

BYU held the top spot on two of the four events in tonight’s competition. Freshman Brynlee Andersen snagged the podium for beam with a 9.925 while Kylie Eaquinto shared the podium with Washington’s Skylar Killough-Wilhelm, notching floor scores of 9.975. The Cougars notched a new season high floor score of 49.475 in tonight’s quad meet.

Up next, the Cougars head to their first-ever Big 12 Championships on Saturday, Mar. 23 in Norman, Oklahoma to compete in the Lloyd Noble Center. BYU will take on Iowa State, No. 1 Oklahoma, West Virginia and No. 9 Denver in the conference meet, which will be broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.

BYU women’s tennis loses at Kansas

No. 35 BYU women’s tennis extended its undefeated doubles streak to 15 matches but fell to No. 58 Kansas 5-2, for just its second Big 12 Conference loss of the season. The Cougars dropped to 12-3 overall and 4-2 in conference play.

In singles, senior Emilee Astle notched the lone victory for BYU, defeating Tamari Gagoshidze for her seventh win of the season and improving to 7-1. The win marked Astle’s second victory of the road trip.

The duo of Bobo Huang and Kaavya Sawhney improved to 10-2 on the year in doubles with a victory over Jocelyn Massey and H Janse Van Vuuren. Tina Li and Kara Wheatley continued their unbeaten streak in doubles, moving to 12-0 with a win over Jasmine Adams and Maria Titova.

BYU will head to Lubbock for a matchup against No. 27 Texas Tech next Saturday, with the match starting at 11 a.m. MDT.

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