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BYU's Crew McChesney takes an at-bat during a game against Oklahoma during the 2024 season.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Bryker Hurdsman takes a swing during a Big 12 baseball game against Kansas at Miller Field on Thursday, March 28, 2024.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Stone Cushing throws a pitch against Texas in a Big 12 baseball game during the 2025 season.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU athletic programs experienced varying degrees of success in Year 1 of the Big 12 era.

The Cougar baseball team, to put it simply, struggled mightily.

There were some bright moments but for the most part BYU and its young roster had a substantial learning curve in 2024.

“We were crazy young last year,” BYU coach Trent Pratt said. “I think we lost 10 one or two-run conference games. We win three or four of those games, and we’re probably in the conference tournament. That’s how close it was. And so just getting that belief and learning how to win, I think those guys that were here last year understand how they were young and getting to play a lot. Now we’re older, and so now with that experience, we’re hoping that carries over to success on the field.”

Where were we?

BYU finished 21-31 overall and 7-23 in the Big 12 last season, last place (13th) in conference play. Playing against a schedule with opponents boasting a win percentage of .534, the Cougars did manage five wins against teams that made the NCAA Tournament. BYU was the only team in the Big 12 to take two out of three games from Texas, which tied for second in the league and advanced to the postseason.

Pitchers Stone Cushing and Mason Olson, along with catcher Collin Reuter, were named honorable mention All-Big 12 at the conclusion of the regular season.

The Cougars said goodbye to Olson, who graduated. BYU also lost Rueter, who transferred back home to play for Ole Miss, and designated hitter Kuhio Aloy, who transferred to Arkansas.

Right-handed pitcher Ben Hansen was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the 20th round of the major league baseball draft.

Youth is served

By May of 2024, 11 of 14 players in the Cougars’ batting order were either freshmen or sophomores, according to BYU. Many of those players return in 2025. Outfielder Crew McChesney, who led the Cougars with a .340 batting average in 27 games as a freshman, is back to give the offense a boost.

“I think we’re better everywhere,” McChesney said. “We’ve got some good hitters this year. I feel like last year we were kind of young but we have a lot more experience coming back. We’ve got a lot of pitchers coming back and they are throwing strikes. Got a lot of pictures coming back. We’ve got a lot of guys who are healthy. I think we’re going to come back and prove some people wrong.”

Junior third baseman Easton Jones (.274, 55 hits, 36 RBI) and junior outfielder Bryker Herdsman (.272) have plenty of experience. Pratt has high expectations for the continued growth of sophomore infielder Ryker Schow (.257), senior outfielder Cooper Vest (.254, 31 RBI), junior catcher Parker Goff (.293, 18 RBI) and junior outfielder Luke Anderson (.255, 27 RBI). Sophomore TCU transfer Ryder Robinson, who played high school ball at American Fork, will be expected to step in and contribute right away.

Former Pleasant Grove standout Brock Watkins, who has missed a large portion of his career with injuries, is healthy once again and has a great glove at second to solidify the defense.

While the offense is expected to be robust, the Cougars will only go as far as their pitching will take them. Last year, BYU was 11th in Big 12 play with a 6.94 ERA, giving up the most doubles (74) and home runs (51) in the league.

Cushing led the Big 12 with 10 saves last season, adding 57 strikeouts and a 3.94 ERA in 34.1 innings. Cushing will play a big part coming out of the BYU bullpen. Pratt and pitching coach Abe Alvarez will be spending a lot of time in non-conference play giving an assortment of pitchers their chance to step into the starting rotation as well as the bullpen

“We’ve got 20 healthy arms right now,” Pratt said. “We’re going to run them out there and see the ones that can help us win. All we can do is control what we can control, go play hard, play together and see what happens.”

Back to work

Oklahoma, which won the Big 12 last season, and Texas, which tied for second, have escaped to the SEC. Arizona, which claimed the Pac-12 regular-season title last season, joins the Big 12 along with Arizona State (tied for 5th) and Utah (7th).

Defending Big 12 Tournament champion Oklahoma State was picked by the coaches to win the league in 2025 while BYU was voted 14th (last).

The Cougars opened the season splitting four games at Fresno State, then lost at UCLA 15-4 on Tuesday. BYU plays their first 11 games on the road before hosting a four-game series with Stetson beginning March 4.

Starting Thursday, the Cougars begin a three-game set at Northridge.

“We just want to play good, clean baseball,” Pratt said. “We’ve worked hard and we want to make the game simple. We need to throw strikes, put the ball in play and just play catch. If we do those three things, we’ve got a chance to win a lot of games.

“I know they’re sick of losing. These guys are hungry. They don’t like to lose inter-squad games and they don’t like to lose playing Cornhole on a Tuesday night. They don’t like to lose playing ping pong. Hopefully we can have that competitive atmosphere when the lights come on and we get between the lines.”

BYU opens Big 12 play March 13 with a three-game home series against UCF.