ESPY Bound: Tyce Armstrong Nominated for Award Following Hall of Fame Performance
Former Baylor first baseman Tyce Armstrong is gearing up for award season as his name found its way to the coveted list of ESPY nominees.
The Bears’ single-season homerun leader has been nominated for Best Single Game Performance for his three grand slam outing in Baylor’s season opener against New Mexico State on Feb. 13th.
“All glory to God because that is the coolest thing I have ever been a part of,” Armstrong said following the game. “I honestly have no words that can describe it.”
A rare feat
Armstrong’s feat marked only the second time that three grand slams have been hit in a single game in both college and professional baseball. Prior to Armstrong’s historic opening day, the only jackpot hat trick in baseball was accomplished by Louisville’s Jim LaFountain 50 years earlier in 1976.
“[The third one] wasn’t on my mind at all coming up to the plate,” Armstrong said. “I just got the right pitch and hit the ball. It took me a moment to realize that it went over the wall.”
Armstrong will now add an ESPY nomination to his long list of accolades acquired throughout his collegiate finale at Baylor. While the All-American is bringing a near incomparable feat to the pinnacle of the sporting world’s award show, the competition for the trophy is still quite steep.
The Big 12 Newcomer of the Year will be pitted against Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo’s infamous 83-point game and Notre Dame women’s basketball’s Hannah Hidalgo’s record breaking 16-steals and 44-point outing in a blowout of Akron back in Nov. 2025.
Armstrong is not the only three-bomb competitor up for the award. Los Angeles Dodgers Shohei Ohtani is also in the running for his three homer, 10 strikeout pennant clinching performance in game four of the 2025 NLCS.
Armstrong already appears in the Hall of Fame
While Armstrong is not the odds-on favorite to place the ESPY atop his trophy case, the first baseman’s iconic game has something the other nominees do not. Armstrong’s three grand slam outing has already made its way to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Following his unfathomable opening day, Armstrong’s batting gloves and the scorecard from the game were sent up to Cooperstown to immortalize the Baylor baseball alum forever in baseball history.
“They asked for my bat as well but I couldn’t give that one up yet,” Armstrong said in May. “I still needed it to play the rest of the season.”
As the ESPYs are presented as a fan-vote-focused award show, Baylor fans have the ability to vote for Armstrong to bring home the award for Best Single Game Performance as the All-American seeks to add to his already crowded trophy shelf.
The ESPYs will air at 7 p.m. CT on ABC on July 15th.
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Dylan is a class of '26 graduate from Baylor and is now pursuing his JD at the University of Massachusetts School of Law. A born and raised Baylor fan, Dylan served as a sportswriter for the Baylor Lariat from 2025-2026, where he won the TIPA award for second-best sports story of 2025. His favorite writing memory was getting the chance to interview both Darryn Peterson and Bill Self at Allen Fieldhouse. In his free time, Dylan can almost always be found playing pickup basketball.
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