2025 Big 12 Baseball Tournament: Day 3, Semifinals Recap

After burning the midnight oil on day two, we had into the semifinal round of the Big 12 Tournament. Last night was all chalk as all four higher seeds advanced, which makes for some extremely fun baseball moving forward with how close the top four in this conference were.

Game 1: (4) Arizona Wildcats v (1) West Virginia Mountaineers

While West Virginia is the one-seed in this tournament, we have to remember Arizona took two-of-three in Morgantown during the regular season, one of which including a 16-inning marathon resulting in a Wildcats win.

The Mountaineers elected to go with their workhorse, Jack Kartsonas, the Kent State transfer who commanded a 2.29 ERA over 55 innings pitched this season, while Arizona gave Raul Garayzar the ball who made his sixth start of the season.

The Wildcats would jump out to an early lead thanks to a Mason White solo home run, a common theme during this game as he would finish the day with a monster four-for-four with two home runs, a double, two walks, and six RBI. The second of White’s home runs would end Kartsonas’ day, only working through four innings, allowing eight hits and five earned runs.

The offensive onslaught of Arizona would continue as eight of their nine starters would record at least one hit, six of which recorded multiple. Head Coach Chip Hale has put on a masterclass of managing the pitching staff using relievers sparingly and getting starters late into games; “We’ve about those three starting pitchers (Kramkowski, McKinney, Bailey) and if we can get five or six out of him (Bailey) tomorrow, that’s how we’ve done it and we haven’t had to piece it together too much and we’ll have everyone available,” said Hale.

On the other side of the mound, Garayzar would go into cruise control, rolling six scoreless innings striking out three Mountaineers and scattering six hits, as both Wildcat starters have gone six-plus innings in this tournament. Familiar territory for Garayzar as his last time in Globe Life Field, he threw a complete game against Clemson.

Most projections do have Arizona as a three-seed in the field of 64, but as they advance into the Big 12 Championship game, their stock continues to rise as I’d be shocked if they weren’t at least a two-seed, and a dangerous one at that.

Arizona advances to the Big 12 Championship game with their convincing 12-1 win over the Mountaineers. 

Game 2: (3) TCU Horned Frogs v (2) Kansas Jayhawks

As we got into the night cap, the Horned Frogs and Cardiac Kansas Jayhawks would matchup, with freshman left-handed pitcher Mason Brassfield taking the mound for TCU and sophomore right-handed pitcher Cooper Moore for Kansas.

Kansas drew first blood, extending at-bats as Derek Cerda would score on a Dariel Osoria single in the first inning. The Frogs would immediately respond, setting the tone with a leadoff walk of Noah Franco.

Franco would come around to score on an RBI-double from Chase Brunson, followed by an RBI-single from junior shortstop Anthony Silva until Jack Bell capped off the rally with a bases clearing double, the crooked number for the Frogs would all come with two outs.

After two consecutive walks to start the third from Brassfield, the torch would be passed to Louis Rodriguez to work out of the jam. After an immediate double play, he’d get Sawyer Smith to ground out to end the inning unscathed. Brassfield would finish his day with three-plus innings of work, five strikeouts, one earned run, and two walks.

Sawyer Strosnider would get the Frogs going in the fourth with a leadoff single, stolen base, and advance on a wild pitch leading to a Cole Cramer sac-fly to extend the Frogs lead to 5-1. The calling card yet again would be TCU taking extra bases on aggressive base running that puts an unbelievable amount of pressure on the defense.

The Jayhawks wouldn’t quit however, with 26 comeback wins this season, they’d look to make it another getting runners in scoring position with no outs. Louis Rodriguez would have other plans setting down three of the next four Jayhawks to end the threat with no runs. The Horned Frogs reliever put together an incredible performance keeping the high-powered Kansas offense at bay finished his day with five innings pitched, punching out four, and allowing just three hits.

“I was a little shaky at that time (5th inning jam), but was able to compose myself and take it one pitch and one hitter at a time,” said Louis Rodriguez after shutting down a Kansas threat and following it up with three consecutive strikeouts.

TCU continued to get traffic on the bases with a pair of knocks in the eighth to force Kansas back into the bullpen. The Frogs would tack on six more runs in the inning with a barrage of offense across the lineup as they went into full 10-run rule mode turning the semifinal into a blowout. 

The Horned Frogs have clicked in every aspect to this point, outscoring their opponents 18-2 after a 11-1 victory.

“We have a chance to win a Championship tomorrow, and that’s what we train all year for and that’s the opportunity we have tomorrow,”  said Head Coach Kirk Sarloos.

TCU advances to the Big 12 Championship game where they’ll take on the four-seed Arizona Wildcats.

Check back in tomorrow for a recap of the grand finale from Arlington!

Keep reading for the previous recaps from Day 2 of the Big 12 tournament.

2025 Big 12 Baseball Tournament Day Two Recap

While the Big 12 Tournament hosted in Arlington kicked off yesterday, my first day on site was this morning. Got some eyes on big draft guys in both the 2025 and 2026 class, walk-off winners, and all around fantastic baseball.

Game 1: (12) BYU Cougars v (4) Arizona Wildcats

Rolling into the first game of the day, there was nothing short of fireworks early as Sophomore Owen Kramkowski struck out the side in the first, setting the tone for what would be a six shutout inning performance racking up eight strikeouts flashing a low-mid 90s sinker with a sharp slider in the low-mid 80s, one of my favorite 2026 arms.

The Cats drove in a pair of runs in the second thanks to back-to-back home runs from shortstop Mason White and catcher Adonys Guzman, each of which going off the foul pole, an oddity that you could only see in a movie.

In the following innings, it would be a display of clean defense and Owen Kramkowski mowing down Cougars like it’s his job. His ability to get ahead of hitters made for uncomfortable at bats, throwing 65/92 pitches for strikes (70.7%), and was a huge reason BYU struggled to get any traffic on the bases.

Arizona would tack on an additional run with a Maddox Mihalakis RBI-single, which would hold until the 8th where BYU would get the tying run on base, but only scraped across one run.

A much needed insurance run for the Wildcats would come from a pinch-hit RBI-double from Dom Rodriguez in the eighth, as 4-1 would be the final.

“I thought our guys came out and played a beautiful baseball game, the offense powered by Mason and Adonys’ home runs, but we pitched the ball extremely well and played great defense today… we want to be playing our best baseball in the playoffs.” Head Coach Chip Hale discussed in the post game press conference.

Arizona advances to the Semifinals.

Game 2: (9) Cincinnati Bearcats v (1) West Virginia Mountaineers

It felt like Cincinnati was inevitable coming into this game, especially when thinking of the hot-cold-hot theory suiting the Bearcats. Taking on the one-seed West Virginia Mountaineers after handling business against the Red Raiders yesterday. 

The Bearcats struck first off Griffin Kirn thanks to an RBI-double off the bat of Jack Natili, but would be held at bay in the following innings. Kirn would settle in rolling through eight innings punching out eight Bearcats and surrendering just one free base during his outing. With a low three-quarters arm slot, Kirn’s arsenal of fastball/slider kept hitters off balance and did a fantastic job limiting damage, scattering eight hits.

Kyle West would break up the no-hit bid with a solo home run crushed into right field, and end Marsh’s day after striking out six over three innings, sending the Bearcat pitching staff into a spiral. Free bases plagued the Cincinnati pitching staff with two walks and a dropped-third strike would load the bases for the Mountaineers with no outs in the fourth.

West Virginia would push across four more runs as the Bearcats would roll through four different arms in the fourth inning, on just three hits. Cincinnati would respond with two runs in the fifth on a fielder’s choice and a Jack Natili bomb 107.5 off the bat and was the brightspot for Cincinnati going 4/4 with two doubles and a homerun.

West Virginia had a ton of success in their 10-3 win over Cincinnati with their ability to see pitches, get into the bullpen early and take advantage of free bases resulting in multiple crooked numbers in the fourth sixth and seventh innings;

“Over the course of the last few weeks, guys were pressing to get hits… the more pitches we saw, the game slowed down, we’re seeing the ball out of the hand and the at-bats just got grittier and grittier,” Head Coach Steve Sabins pointed out to his offense’s success. 

They’ll take on the three-seed Arizona in the Semifinals.

Game 3: (9) Oklahoma State Cowboys v (2) Kansas Jayhawks

What initially led on to be a pitching duel between both staffs’ aces in Harrison Bodendorf for Oklahoma State, and Dominic Voegele for Kansas, quickly turned into a barn burner. 

The Jayhawks drew first blood on back-to-back doubles from Derek Cerda and Brady Ballinger, but that lead didn’t last long. The Cowboys tallied three runs in the third, capped by a Brayden Smith 2-run bomb that traveled 384 feet.

While Kansas showed some life getting one back on a Jackson Hauge solo home run for his 19th of the season, Oklahoma State came right back with another crooked number thanks to an onslaught of offense, chasing Voegele after just four innings of work where he was charged with six earned runs on five hits, and surrendering five free bases.

Harrison Bodendorf, while shaky at times, seemingly did enough to keep the free-swinging Jayhawks offense at bay, *enter Brady Ballinger.* Bodendorf would exit after six ⅓ innings pitched, being held responsible for two runners on as the Cowboys went to the bullpen. Ballinger would deposit a three-run blast into the right field bleachers to tie the game at six in the seventh inning with the crooked number we were waiting on. 

With the game knotted up at six, it would become a race to the finish line with both teams reaching deeper into their bullpens to seal the deal as desperation sets in for the difference making run. 

In the bottom of the ninth, Kansas was able to reach base with a leadoff walk, followed by an attempted sac-bunt from TJ Williams which turned into a fielder’s choice as they would turn the lineup over with two-on zero-out. Derek Cerda grounded into a fielder’s choice that would result in an out at second base leaving the winning run at third, one intentional walk of Brady Ballinger later, the Jayhawks got two shots at hero-ball.

Mike Koszewski would stick a bleeder in the Bermuda Triangle for a walkoff win, somebody cut the onions, Jayhawks walk away with a 7-6 victory.

“They love baseball, and they love competing, and they love being together. And there’s these moments as a coach… I walked down to breakfast yesterday and it sounds like a stand-up club, howling and laughing. They just love each other and there’s a belief inside of our dugout that we can do it.” Head Coach Dan Fitzgerald commented on how the tightness of his Kansas team has contributed to their 26 come-from-behind victories this season.

Kansas advanced to the semifinal with their victory

Game 4: (11) Houston Cougars v (3) TCU Horned Frogs

In the finale of day two, we got the underdog Houston Cougars after taking down Kansas State in the first round against the three-seed TCU Horned Frogs.

Ace Tommy LaPour took the mound where he was lights out against the Cougars going six ⅓ shutout innings punching out six Cougars, allowing just two hits on the evening. Showcased electric stuff and is a huge reason his name is getting floated so often in draft circles for the 2026 class.

Tempers flared early in this in-state matchup as TCU second-baseman Colton Griffin was ejected in the second inning after being hit by a pitch, and an extremely quick trigger would prove to be the end of his night. 

The Frogs struck early and often, capitalizing on Houston mistakes taking plenty of extra bags resulting in a four-spot in the second thanks to a pair of infield singles from Cole Cramer and Noah Franco, all while forcing the Cougars’ hand and making them dip into the bullpen to burn Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, Antoine Jean.

TCU would add to their lead in the fourth when freshman phenom Noah Franco would go 390 to right field for a solo home run. From there Tommy LaPour would kick into cruise control before exiting in the seventh.

Extending their lead with one run in the seventh, the Frogs would close out the game with a 7-1 victory.

TCU will face off with Kansas in the semifinal next.

We will catch you back tomorrow for the semifinals with another full recap of the Big 12 Tournament!