Killer Frogs

Big 12 Baseball Roundup: Chaos Ensues in the Race for the Regular Season Title

Did the Big 12 see some separation between the contenders and pretenders?
Carson Wersal|
Cole Cramer celebrates after sealing the sweep of BYU with a walk-off hit in the 11th inning.
Cole Cramer celebrates after sealing the sweep of BYU with a walk-off hit in the 11th inning. | TCU Baseball X/Twitter

The most exciting conference in America is back at it again with another week of thrilling — and, in some cases, stunning — college baseball. From walk-off sweeps to teams hanging on by a thread, the Big 12 featured some extremely interesting results this past weekend that had effects both in the Big 12 standings and the national rankings.

The Weekend Recap

This past weekend of Big 12 baseball began with TCU's sweep of the BYU Cougars in walk-off fashion on Friday night. TCU took both games in the doubleheader on Thursday, including an electric start by Tommy LaPour that saw him take a no-hitter late into the game.

On Friday night, Cole Cramer showed out for the Frog faithful as he both sent the game to extra innings and ended the game with a walk-off hit in the 11th inning. Freshman Kaden Smith earned his first win as a Horned Frog with 3.0 no-hit innings out of the bullpen as well.

As for the rest of the conference, we saw some shocking events happen around the league. The Kansas Jayhawks lead the way in the conference standings after sweeping the UCF Knights in Orlando. Dan Fitzgerald and his squad dominated Games 1 and 3 of the series, outscoring the Knights 22-6, including a close 10-9 win in Saturday's game.

The story with the Jayhawks continues to be the long ball as they added 10 homeruns to their season total this past weekend against UCF. After the sweep, the Knights now stand at 3-9 in conference play and sit at 13th in the conference.

The West Virginia Mountaineers handled business this past weekend as they swept the Utah Utes in Morgantown, including two wins in a doubleheader on Saturday. After going 0-for-3 in the series opener, Brodie Kresser lit up the scoreboard in the doubleheader, going a combined 6-for-10 with five RBIs. The Morgantown faithful stand at 2nd in the conference while Utah continues to search for answers on both sides of the diamond.

The TCU Horned Frogs, Arizona Wildcats, Arizona State Sun Devils, and the Kansas State Wildcats all tie for 3rd in the conference with 8-4 records. Putting aside the TCU sweep of BYU, there were two significant reasons as to how we got here in the conference standings. The first notable series result was the battle in the desert between Arizona and Arizona State. The Wildcats took 2-of-3 from the Sun Devils and even looked for the sweep on Sunday until a 2 RBI single by Isaiah Jackson put the Sun Devils ahead 5-4 for the go-ahead run.

Easily, the most shocking result of the weekend was Oklahoma State's sweep of Kansas State. Heading into the weekend, the Wildcats led the conference, while many thought the Cowboys were left for dead with a 1-6 record in league play. Oklahoma State improved to 4-6 in the Big 12, while Kansas State fell to 8-4, but more on that series later.

The Cincinnati Bearcats got the series win in Lubbock against Texas Tech with a massive win on Friday night that ended in the 12th inning. While Texas Tech was able to salvage the series with a 12-8 win on Sunday, the Red Raiders continue to struggle this year with one of the more talented rosters in the Big 12. Tim Tadlock and his squad are now 9-19 on the season with a conference record of 5-7, while the Bearcats now sit at 7th in the conference at 6-6 after the series win.

Houston and Baylor battled it out down in Waco with the only series decider in Big 12 play this past weekend. All the other matchups this past weekend either resulted in sweeps or were decided in the first two games of the series. With a 4-2 win in the series decider, the Cougars walked away with the series win, stunning the Bears. Antoine Jean was the story of the weekend as he pitched in both Game 1 and Game 3, racking up 13 Ks and 2 Saves in 5.0 innings pitched. Both teams sit at 5-7 near the middle of the Big 12 standings.

Big 12 Conference Standings

School Name

Conference Record

Overall Record

Kansas

9-3

27-6

West Virginia

7-3

27-4

TCU

8-4

25-8

Arizona

8-4

22-9

Arizona State

8-4

21-11

Kansas State

8-4

20-11

Cincinnati

6-6

19-12

Baylor

5-7

21-10

Houston

5-7

18-13

Texas Tech

5-7

9-19

Oklahoma State

4-6

15-14

BYU

4-8

15-14

UCF

3-9

18-13

UTAH

2-10

13-16

Biggest Takeaway from the Week

The Oklahoma State Cowboys immediately caught my attention with their loud sweep against #22 Kansas State. While the series started with a walk-off thriller on Friday night with the Pokes winning 4-3, the next two games were not particularly close as the Cowboys outscored the Wildcats 17-2 in the doubleheader on Sunday.

Make no mistake, winning a series in Stillwater can be extremely tough. However, with the Wildcats trending upwards and Oklahoma State looking for answers left and right, one likely would have thought that Kansas State would at least come away with the series.

This past weekend, it seemed like the Cowboys were finally able to put it all together, especially on the pitching side of things. Head coach Josh Holiday's pitching staff only allowed 5 runs all weekend, with 3 of those runs being permitted in the 4-3 win on Friday night.

Sean Youngerman was the highlight of the Cowboys' pitching staff with his performance in the first game of the doubleheader on Sunday afternoon. The right-handed junior from Valencia, California, threw 8.0 scoreless innings, allowing only 3 hits and striking out 11 Wildcats in the process.

Oklahoma State wrapped up the sweep with a whopping 10-2 win to finish the series. What stood out in this game was the situational hitting that the Pokes haven't had in past weekends. The offense not only scored 6 runs in the 6th inning, but also scored 5 of their 10 runs while recording outs in the process. Whether it be a groundout, sacrifice flyout, or a fielder's choice, the Cowboys found ways to score runs even if it wasn't in the flashiest way.

Upcoming Series to Watch

Once again, I have to preface that I am a TCU baseball fan and am inclined to say that whatever series the Horned Frogs are playing is the series to watch. This weekend, however, is different. Not only could the Big 12 standings shift in a major way, but there are national rankings and RPI rankings at play this weekend as Kirk Saarloos and his squad welcome the Kansas Jayhawks to town this coming weekend.

TCU currently boasts a 25-8 record on the season and an 8-4 record in conference play. The last series loss for the Horned Frogs came against Arizona State, which included a game that I, and any other Frogball fans, would like to forget. The Horned Frogs also hold the #19 RPI in the nation, coming off of the sweep of BYU and some solid non-conference wins in the midweek against UTSA and DBU.

Kansas, on the other hand, holds a 27-6 record on the season with a 9-3 record in league play. The Jayhawks' last series loss also comes from Arizona State, as the Sun Devils won the series on a walk-off homerun by Nu'u Contrades. Kansas comes into this series with a 9-game winning streak, including back-to-back series sweeps of UCF and OSU.

It's not an understatement that this might be the biggest series so far in Big 12 play, with both teams lobbying for first place in the Big 12 standings. Kansas is currently ranked #22 in the nation, while TCU holds one of the better resumes with a top-20 RPI. The showdown in Fort Worth is sure to be an electric environment that you won't want to miss.

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Carson Wersal
CARSON WERSAL

Carson, a 2025 TCU graduate, is a sports journalist who covers college athletics for several On SI sites. While most of his experience is with TCU On SI, he also writes with Wake Forest On SI and Houston On SI. He also has a passion for the college baseball scene, most notably being a fan of TCU Baseball. In 2023, Carson was in Omaha and reported on the Men’s College World Series, where TCU finished 4th in the nation. His past work not only consists of major sports like football, basketball, and baseball, but with others like track and field and cross country as well.

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