After what was a thrilling home series win over then-No. 5 Oklahoma State, Iowa State starts what will be a four-day road trip to the state of Utah, where the first three of the four days will be spent in Provo in a series against BYU.
This will be the first time these two teams face off as Big 12 Conference opponents, as they had previously matched up six times prior. The Cougars currently hold a 5-1 advantage over the Cyclones.
For the Cyclones, it will have been nearly a week since they have taken on an opponent, as the previously scheduled matchup with the Iowa Hawkeyes was postponed Tuesday due to inclement weather.
They now take on a Cougar team that has not had a great start to its first season in the Big 12, as the Cougars currently have a 5-13 conference record. However, this does not discount the overall regular season the team has had, as they sit with a 23-19 overall record.
Despite BYU’s poor conference record, the Cougars still have wins against quality opponents in No. 2 Oklahoma and Oklahoma State this season.
One thing that has played to the Cougars’ advantage this season has come from their hitting, as they sit in third place in the conference with a .327 team batting average.
BYU’s strong hitting has been led by Aleia Agbayani and outfielder Violet Zavodnik, who both hold over a .400 batting average this season. While the Cougars might not be a home run-heavy team this season, they still find ways to get on base and score runners when needed.
The Cougars’ main weakness has been finding strong pitching to match their hitting. In the Big 12, BYU has the eighth-worst ERA (5.20), which has caused the less-than-ideal start in its first year in the conference.
Iowa State also has one of the worst pitching ERAs in the conference, so outscoring a hot Cougar offense will be key to the Cyclones taking yet another series away from a conference opponent.
The three-game series between these two foes starts at 7 p.m. Thursday, followed by the next game at 7 p.m. Friday. The series then wraps up at 2 p.m. Saturday.
