PROVO, Utah — The temperature read 88 degrees at first pitch, the Wasatch Mountains were still catching the last of the daylight behind right field, and Ezra McNaughton was already in the on-deck circle when Utah Valley’s Kaden Carpenter punched a solo home run over the right-center wall to put the Wolverines up 1-0 in the top of the first.
It was the last good moment Utah Valley had at Larry H. Miller Field on Tuesday night.
In the bottom half of the inning, with Luke Anderson aboard, McNaughton — BYU’s sophomore second baseman — turned on a pitch and drove it off the netting above the right field video board for his 15th home run of the season. The crowd was still settling into its seats. From that point, the BYU Cougars never trailed, pouring on seven runs in the fourth inning on the way to a 13-3 mercy-rule win over their crosstown rival, called in seven by the ten-run rule.
Best of the rest of the coverage:
- “BYU defeats Utah Valley 13-3 in seven innings” — Ethan Tanner, BYUcougars.com
For head coach Trent Pratt, the home run was the kind of swing he’s been talking about all season.
“Every team wants someone that can anchor the lineup,” Pratt said postgame. “You put him in the middle, try and get as many at-bats, and he comes up in big situations. Teams try to pitch around him a little bit. To have a guy like that in our lineup is huge — it helps the guy in front of him and the guy behind him get better pitches. I’m just proud of what Ez has done and the season he’s having.”
The win completes a season sweep of Utah Valley — BYU also took the first meeting 10-5 in Orem on April 7 — and pushes the Cougars to 26-25 overall and 13-14 in the Big 12 as they head into a closing weekend series against No. 17 Kansas. The Jayhawks come to Provo Thursday for the final Big 12 regular-season series of the year, with the conference tournament in Surprise, Arizona, the week after.
“It means a lot, just to get the momentum going into this weekend,” McNaughton said, still in uniform after the game. “It’s a big series. Playing against the other Utah school, it always gets your energy going a little more. To be able to come out and play well on both sides of the field — we hit well, we pitched well — that was awesome.”
The pitching note matters. Red-shirt freshman Blade Paragas got the start and gave the Cougars usable innings after a long absence — Pratt called him “probably one of our top arms” coming into the season before an arm injury kept him sidelined for most of it.
“It just took a long time to get him healthy and back,” Pratt said. “We’re excited to have him back. It just keeps building for him. Hopefully he keeps getting better and we can use him this weekend and in the tournament next week as well.”
The Cougars cycled through six relievers behind Paragas — Brock Snow, Austin Park, Jaxon Clayton, Luke Sterner, Tyler Ball, and Bryant Ball — combining for 10 strikeouts across seven innings. It’s the kind of staff depth that travels well into a tournament bracket, and Pratt has been pointing toward exactly that.
“When we throw a ton of strikes and throw a secondary pitch for a strike, we have a good chance to win,” he said. “We have some guys on the mound that can beat anyone at any time. It’s about them believing in it, executing pitches, and playing defense behind them.”
McNaughton, for his part, framed the season — and the team — in terms that sounded less like a stat line and more like something carried from somewhere else. The sophomore spent two years on an LDS mission in Las Vegas before returning to baseball, and he carries his father’s and uncle’s BYU jerseys with him every time he takes the field.
“A mission is an amazing experience,” he said. “It’s completely different than baseball, but it’s also similar. You’ve got to be disciplined, you’ve got to work hard. Bringing those things together makes all aspects of life a lot better.”
He paused on the family part.
“I’ve heard them talk about playing BYU baseball their entire life. To be here right now experiencing it — it’s pretty awesome.”
Six days from now, the Cougars will be in Arizona, playing for a postseason they’ve been climbing the ladder toward since joining the Big 12 in 2024. They’ll get there on the back of arms that are finally healthy, a lineup that has a middle-of-the-order anchor, and a sophomore who keeps talking about momentum like a person who knows where his came from.
The Wasatch had gone full dark by then. The scoreboard read final.
Game Details
The Cougars are now 26-25 for their overall record and are 13-14 in the Big 12 Conference, under head coach Trent Pratt.
The Wolverines are 16-36 overall with their record in the Western Athletic Conference at 2-13.
BYU is now 2-0 against Utah Valley during the 2026 season, when they won 10-5 at UCCU Ballpark in Orem, Utah on April 7.
BYU’s pitching staff with starter Blade Paragas, and relievers Brock Snow, Austin Park, Jaxon Clayton, Luke Sterner, Tyler Ball, and Bryant Ball combined for seven innings, allowing eight hits, three earned runs, two walks, and 10 strikeouts.
Utah Valley’s pitching staff with starter Trey Jacobsen and relievers Cohen Baack, Chance Wallace, and Aaron Rice chucked six innings, allowing 13 hits, 13 earned runs, five walks, and five strikeouts.
Utah Valley got on the board early on Tuesday night, when center fielder Kaden Carpenter drove a solo home run over the right-center field wall to go up 1-0, in the top of the first inning.
BYU also did not hold back on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning, when Ezra McNaughton cranked a two-run home run off the netting off the right field scoreboard, for his 15th of the year, and with Luke Anderson coming into score, to take a 2-1 lead.
https://x.com/BYUBaseball/status/2054357711564005499
A few moments later, Matt Hansen poked a two-run single to left field with the bases loaded, scoring shortstop Ryder Robinson and third baseman Easton Jones to make it 4-1.
https://x.com/BYUBaseball/status/2054361631816294408
Wolverines second season head coach Nate Rasmussen decided to go to his bullpen in the bottom of the second inning, and took out starting pitcher Trey Jacobsen and called on reliever Cohen Baack.
Jacobsen threw one inning, and allowed four hits, four earned runs, one walk, and one strikeout, while facing nine batters with 32 pitches for 16 strikes.
Utah Valley cut the lead in half in the top of the third inning, when designated hitter Hunter Katschke scored on a wild pitch during Chipper Beck’s at-bat to inch back at 4-2.
The Cougars offense kept the bats rolling the rest of the way in the bottom of the fourth inning, when Parker Goff pounded a double down the left field line, scoring Hansen to extend the lead to 5-2.
https://x.com/BYUBaseball/status/2054375609946759240
Shortly after, McNaughton lifted a sacrifice fly to left fielder Derek Houston in foul territory, as he dove for the baseball and came up firing to home plate in an attempt to cut down Goff at the plate. Goff got in ahead of the tag with his right hand crossing over catcher Mason Strong. Home plate umpire Jeff Cluff went to the booth to review and the call was upheld to make it 6-2.
The Cougars offense tapered seven runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, with key hits from Robinson with his RBI single to left field, Tualau Wolfgramm’s two-run double to left-center field and Matt Hansen’s dunked single to shallow left field as the run outpour continued in to the early evening, with a 11-2 lead.
In the top of the fifth inning, Katschke punished his 22nd home run of the year for the Wolverines with a deep solo shot over the left field scoreboard that went 441 feet, alongside making the score 11-3.
https://x.com/Almakatschke/status/2054385103137280457
Utah Valley will be in their final season of the Western Athletic Conference, since joining in 2014 and will enter the Big West Conference for the 2027 season with Cal Baptist University and Sacramento State University.
Pratt is in his fifth season with BYU.
This is the Cougars third season in the Big 12 Conference since joining in 2024 and spending 11 seasons from 2012 until 2023 in the West Coast Conference.
BYU has made it to the College World Series in 1968 and 1971.
The Cougars have appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 1958, 1962, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1994, 2001, 2002, and 2017 in their program’s history.
BYU will play their last Big 12 Conference series of the season on Thursday, May 14 against the Kansas Jayhawks at 8 p.m. EDT on ESPN+, in their first game of their three game series at home.
Utah Valley will not qualify for the WAC Tournament for the 2026 season and will play their final three game series of the year against UT Arlington Mavericks on May 14 at 8 p.m. EDT on ESPN+.
Conference Tournament Champions
Western Athletic Conference
1983, 1985, 1988, 1994
Mountain West Conference
2001, 2002
West Coast Conference
2017
Conference Regular Season Champions
Mountain States Conference
1949, 1952, 1958, 1961
Western Athletic Conference
1968, 1971, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1989, 1994
Mountain West Conference
2001
West Coast Conference
2016, 2017, 2019
2026 Big 12 Baseball Tournament
All Game Start Times Are Eastern Daylight Time. All Games Will Be Played At Surprise Stadium In Surprise, Ariz.
Tuesday, May 19
Game 1 – No. 12 seed vs. No. 9 seed – 6:30 p.m. – ESPN+
Game 2 – No. 11 seed vs. No. 10 seed – 10 p.m. – ESPN+
Wednesday, May 20
Game 3 – Game 1 winner vs. No. 8 seed – 6:30 p.m. – ESPN+
Game 4 – Game 2 winner vs. No. 7 seed – 10 p.m. – ESPN+
Thursday, May 21
Game 5 – No. 5 seed vs. No. 4 seed – 11 a.m. – ESPNU
Game 6 – No. 1 seed vs. Game 3 winner – 2:30 p.m. – ESPNU
Game 7 – No. 2 seed vs. Game 4 Winner – 6:30 p.m. – ESPNU
Game 8 – No. 3 seed vs. No. 6 seed – 10 p.m. – ESPNU
Friday, May 22
Game 9 – Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner – 6:30 p.m. – ESPN+
Game 10 – Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner – 10 p.m. – ESPN+
Saturday, May 23
Game 11 – Championship Game – 6:30 p.m. – ESPN2
Photo: BYU sophomore Ezra McNaughton at the plate against Utah Valley at Larry H. Miller Field, May 12, 2026. (Photo: Brigham Young University Athletics / Duff Tittle)
