BYU Roundup: Baseball hits another walk-off home run to beat Oklahoma State
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- BYU’s Keoni Painter (left) celebrates with a teammate after hitting a walk-off two-run home run to beat Oklahoma State at Miller Park on Saturday, March 28, 2026.
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- BYU’s Lara Rhokohl (13) makes a move against Missouri in the second round of the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament at the Marriott Center on Monday, March 23, 2026.
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- BYU’s Keoni Painter hits a walk-off two-run home run to beat Oklahoma State at Miller Park on Saturday, March 28, 2026.
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- BYU’s Teilon-Jonathan Tufuga (in black) takes a swing against Pepperdine in an MPSF men’s volleyball match at the Smith Fieldhouse on Saturday, March 28, 2026.
Winning in the late innings wasn’t something the BYU baseball team did much of last season.
In 2026, it’s becoming a regular event.
For the second time in three games the Cougars got a walk-off victory, winning 5-4 against Oklahoma State when Keoni Painter smashed a two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning on Saturday. It’s the fourth time this season that BYU has won after trailing going into the ninth inning, whereas the Cougars didn’t do that even once in 2025.
On Thursday, Cooper Jones hit a solo home run in the bottom of the tenth inning for a 6-5 victory against the Cowboys.
Painter, who relieved injured center fielder Crew McChesney in the seventh on Saturday, came to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth with Ezra McNaughton on second base and the Cougars down one run. Painter then hit a 1-0 fastball over the centerfield wall 402 feet from home plate for the win, earning a Gatorade bath.
BYU’s lone home run of the day helped the Cougars win the series over the Cowboys 2-1. BYU moved to 13-13 (4-5) on the year after holding Oklahoma State (17-11, 3-6) to four hits with Nate Gray recording six strikeouts over 6.2 innings of work for the win.
Trailing 3-0, Ezra McNaughton hit a ground rule double to right field just inside the foul pole in the bottom of the sixth inning. Ryder Robinson then singled scoring McNaughton to put the Cougars on the board, 3-1.
Ryker Schow doubled on a ball that hit the top of the wall before Luke Anderson hit an RBI double down the right field foul line bringing Schow home in the seventh inning, shrinking the Cowboys lead to 3-2.
In the top of the eighth inning Oklahoma State hit the first home run of the day to push its lead to 4-2.
With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Anderson was hit by a pitch bringing the tying run to the plate. McNaughton then doubled to left, scoring Anderson from first to pull to within one. After a strikeout left BYU down to its last out, Painter hit a walk-off home run to straight-away center over the 402-foot sign for the 5-4 win.
BYU hosts Kansas State in a midweek non-conference matchup at Miller Park on Tuesday, March 31 at 6:00 p.m. MST. Streaming will be available on ESPN+ with radio coverage from Greg Wrubell on BYU Radio and on BYURadio.org and 107.9 FM in Utah County.
Women’s basketball faces Kansas in WBIT semifinals
Wichita, Kan. — After taking down Stanford 76-61 on Friday, No. 1 seed BYU (25-11) is set for a Monday matchup against No. 2 seed Kansas (22-13) at Charles Koch Arena with a WBIT Championship berth on the line.
Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. MT with the game broadcast on ESPN+ with Spencer Linton, Kristen Kozlowski and Cameron Clark on the call. Fans can also tune in to live play-by-play on BYU Radio 107.9, byuradio.org and the BYU Radio App with Jason Shepherd.
Monday’s game will be the sixth all-time matchup between BYU and Kansas, with the Jayhawks winning all five previous meetings. The last game came on February 4, 2026 as BYU fell 81-60 at Allen Fieldhouse. The only neutral-site matchup in the series came in the Cougars’ first-ever Big 12 Tournament game with KU handing BYU a 77-53 defeat.
BYU will make its first appearance in the Final Four of any major national tournament on Monday. A win would mark the first time the Cougars have won four postseason games in the same season and give them their first opportunity to secure a postseason tournament championship.
With their win over Stanford, the Cougars secured their 25th win of the season, making Lee Cummard the winningest first-year head coach in program history, passing BYU’s all-time winningest coach (men’s or women’s), Jeff Judkins (24-9; 2002-03). It also marks the eighth 25+ win season in program history and first since the 2021-22 (26-4) campaign. The Cougars finished Big 12 play 9-9, the best record and conference winning percentage since 2022-23, when BYU was a member of the WCC.
The other WBIT semifinal features Columbia (23-8) and Wisconsin (16-17). The championship game is scheduled for Wednesday at 5 p.m. MT.
Softball gets one win vs. Kansas
In walk-off fashion by Danica Acosta, BYU softball took down Kansas in Game 2 of its Big 12 series, 4-3, at Gail Miller Field on Friday night. The Jayhawks won the series 2-1 by winning Game 3 on Saturday X-X.
BYU led 3-1 in Game 2 but Kansas closed the gap in the sixth after a two-run shot over the left field wall, tying the game up at three.
Shuler finished off her complete game showing by forcing a groundout to short with the go-ahead runner at third to set up a walk-off chance for BYU.
With two gone in the bottom of the seventh, Acosta called game on a solo blast to right for her first career home run.
Kansas won Game 3 10-3 on Saturday to claim the series.
BYU will travel to Rocky Johnson Field in Lubbock, Texas for a series against No. 2 Texas Tech from Apr. 2-Apr. 4. Game one is set for 5 p.m. MST and will be streamed live on ESPN+.
No. 9 men’s volleyball drops second match to No. 6 Pepperdine
The Waves moved to 8-0 in MPSF play with a 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 25-19, 25-22) victory against BYU at the Smith Fieldhouse on Saturday. Pepperdine won in four on Friday as well (25-21, 19-25, 25-23, 25-15.
Trent Moser led the Cougars on Saturday with 10 kills, while Connor Oldani and AJ Cottle had nine and eight, respectively.
Five different Cougars recorded an ace: Gavin Chambers, Tyler Herget, Ian Little, Cole Hauser and Oldani.
BYU hit .268 to Pepperdine’s .412, and the Waves became just the second team to hit above the .400 plateau against the Cougars this season. Hawai’i did so in both wins against BYU this season.
Ryan Barnett was unstoppable for the Waves, hitting .643 with 20 kills on 28 swings. Pepperdine won two straight in Provo for the first time since 2002.
BYU (17-8 overall, 4-4 MPSF) will travel to Costa Mesa, California, for two matches against Vanguard on April 2-3 at Don Nasser Family Plaza. First serve is set for 8 p.m. MST.
Akina second, BYU fourth at The Goodwin
STANFORD, Calif. — No. 23 men’s golf ended The Goodwin in fourth place at 9-under par (275-273-283-831) at Stanford Golf Course on Saturday.
“Even though the guys made three birdies on the first hole, we didn’t come out striking the ball well,” Director of Golf Todd Miller said. “It seemed like every time we would make a birdie, we would follow it up with a bogey. The last nine holes we were in position to make a move on the leaders but as a team we made some doubles that took us out of contention.”
The Cougars have placed fourth or higher in five of the last six events. Despite making the most birdies and fewest bogeys at Stanford, BYU will take home its eighth fourth-place or higher finish in 2025-26.
Host Stanford (269-280-274-823) defended its home course by capturing the team title at 17-under par. The Cardinal led the field in par-5 scoring on their way to the crown.
Kihei Akina (66-66-67-199) earned the runner-up spot at 11-under par, which gives him three consecutive finishes in second place or better. Akina led all players in par-4 scoring, and made the most birdies with 17.
Men’s track excels at Trojan Invite
LOS ANGELES – Carson Riner and Brayden Dahl set BYU top ten marks in the javelin and 400-meter hurdles Saturday afternoon at the USC Ron and Sharlene Alice Trojan Invitational at the Alyson Felix Field at Loker Stadium.
Riner made his season debut in the javelin, recording a toss of 69.14m/226-10 to put himself at No. 7 all-time at BYU in the event. The sophomore improved his personal record by more than three meters in the performance to take second overall at the meet. Brinton Paulson made his season debut in the event alongside Riner taking fourth with a throw of 63.44m/208-1.
“Carson demonstrated his capability of throwing distances exceeding his previous personal record during training throughout the year.” Throws Coach Niklas Arrhenius said, “It was an exciting moment when he achieved this feat on his very first throw of the year.”
Dahl came across the line in 50.32 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles to earn himself a spot at No. 7 all-time at BYU in the event. The junior finished second overall in the race ahead of teammates Garrett Copelin, Treyton Anderson and Jayden Jessee who each took second, third and fourth respectively.
The trio of Copelin, Anderson and Jessee each also competed in the 110-meter hurdles with Copelin coming out on top in first place coming across the line in a personal-record 14.25 seconds. Anderson and Jessee finished just behind him in second and third in 14.43 and 14.44 seconds each.
Tyler Poole set a personal record in the shot put with a toss of 17.02m/55-10.25 to take second. Silas Zimmerman and Dallin Thornton went head to head in the pole vault taking first and second respectively with Zimmerman clearing 5.17m/16-11.5 and Thornton clearing 4.92m/16-1.75.
Women’s track sets marks
LOS ANGELES – Paje Rasmussen clocked the second-fastest 200-meter in school history, while Marianne Barber, Zoey Bonds and Mayci Taylor added top-10 program marks Saturday at the Ron and Sharlene Allice Trojan Invitational at Allyson Felix Field.
Rasmussen crossed in 23.11 to win the 200m, and her time was just 0.01 seconds off Jaslyn Gardner’s school record set in 2024. This is Rasmussen’s third appearance on the outdoor top-10 list and second straight meet since last week’s Utah Tech Invitational. The Draper, Utah product owns the 200m program record in indoor track, as she clocked a 22.91 at the 2026 Big 12 Championships.
Barber finished third in the 400m, but her time of 53.51 was good enough to earn the No. 6 spot. Taylor added a program mark, No. 8 in the 400m hurdles, where the senior clocked a 58.04. After posting the 10th-best program mark in the event last week, Taylor trimmed 0.43 off her previous time to win the event by more than one second.
In the 100m hurdles, Bonds crossed in 13.46 to earn the No. 7 spot in program history. She improved from her previous best by 0.06 seconds.
Alysa Keller led Saturday’s throwing, as she won the javelin with her 50.38m/165-3.
