BYU baseball is living in a bizarro world and the Cougars are loving it. The typical Provo winter that keeps the Cougars practicing indoors has yet to show up. As a result, it’s the first week of February and BYU has yet to come in.
“We haven’t spent a day inside,” BYU coach Trent Pratt told the “Y’s Guys” livestream show this week. “This is the first time since I’ve been here (15 years) that we haven’t been inside. It’s great, but it also makes me nervous that it’s going to snow in March, April and May when we are supposed to be playing.”
On Wednesday, the forecast high for Provo was 53 degrees — 19 degrees warmer than Bowling Green, Kentucky, where the Cougars will open the season one week from Friday against Western Kentucky.
“The IPF (Indoor Practice Facility) is awesome, and we are grateful to have that, but for a couple of years, we were in there all the time,” Pratt said. “You kind of get cabin fever. We want to see the sunlight and be outside. When the sun is out, it just feels right.”
Pratt returns most of his roster for a third run in the Big 12. He is hopeful that BYU’s 2-0 win against Arizona State in the first round of last year’s conference tournament left a lasting impression.
“I think them seeing where they went last year and knowing, man, we want more. These kids are hungry and they have seen that we can play with anybody,” Pratt said. “It’s a matter of stringing some good weekends together and being more consistent. Having a veteran group back like that helps. They have been there. That’s one step. Now we need to take another step.”
Taking that step will require improved pitching. Pratt made a significant move in the offseason to hire pitching coach Adrian Dinkel away from the Yankees organization.
“There are a lot of new things in baseball as far as analytics go and he has a real good grasp on that, along with (pitching development director) Bradon Zastrow, who was at Arizona last year,” Pratt said. “Just having two coaches for our pitching staff is a big deal — half our team is pitchers. Having two guys to cover them has helped a lot.”
BYU finished last season 28-27 and 10-20 in the Big 12. Six of their conference losses were by a single run — heartbreakers at the time, but confidence builders for the future.
“We expect to be in a regional. With all the guys back, that’s their goal. That’s where we feel we should be,” Pratt said. “I think if you look at our season last year, we were five conference wins from getting to a regional, I don’t know how many games we lost by one run, but it was enough. When you look at it that way, it’s not far off.”
“We expect to be in a regional. With all the guys back, that’s their goal. That’s where we feel we should be.”
— BYU baseball coach Trent Pratt
BYU will play its first dozen games on the road, starting with four at Western Kentucky. The home opener against Cal Baptist is March 5. Pratt is holding his breath that Utah’s winter hasn’t traded places with spring.
“I know we need water, but can it just snow in the mountains and not down here and just let us play?” he said.
It might be wishful thinking, but as far as the season opener in Bowling Green, the temperatures are expected to improve by 30 degrees before next weekend.
All these practice days outside in the warm sunshine have BYU’s boys of winter longing to still be playing when summer comes around. It will take a successful spring to get them there.
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.