Baseball

ASU’s Hairston and KU’s Nayral and LeBlanc Take Home Big 12 Baseball Weekly Recognitions

Arizona State’s Landon Hairston (player) was joined by Kansas’ duo of Mathis Nayral (pitcher) and Tyson LeBlanc (newcomer) as the Big 12 Baseball Players of the Week for Week 7 of the 2026 season.
 
Hairston hit .632 (12-for-19) with five home runs, 13 RBI and 13 runs scored across five games for the Sun Devils. The sophomore from Queen Creek, Arizona recorded multiple hits in all five games, highlighted by a 3-for-3 showing against UNLV and a 3-for-4 outing in a series-opening win against then-No. 17 West Virginia. In the 14-4 win over the Mountaineers, Hairston belted two homers, including a leadoff shot in the bottom of the first, before recording a nation-leading and school record-tying fourth grand slam of the season in the fourth inning. His eight RBI were the fourth-most in a single game in program history. For the week, he led the nation in runs (13) and tied for the most with five home runs.  His 13 RBI tied him for the second-most this week nationally, while his 12 hits slotted him tied for the third-most.
 
Nayral turned in a dominant start in Kansas’ 8–2 road win in the second game of the series against Cincinnati. The junior right-hander from Montpellier, France worked 7.0 innings, allowing just three hits and one run while striking out a career-high 11 batters with only one walk. The 11 strikeouts were the most by a Jayhawk since the 2024 season. Nayral retired the final 14 hitters he faced to close out the outing to pick up his third win of the season and help the Jayhawks secure their first-ever series victory against Cincinnati.
 
LeBlanc recorded his first career multi-homer game against Sacramento State before adding two more home runs in the series against Cincinnati. The Maurice, Louisiana native began his week with two homers and four RBI against Sacramento State and capped his week with a grand slam in the ninth inning to widen Kansas’ advantage to 10-4 in the Jayhawks rubber match win over the Bearcats. He ended the week tied for the fourth-most RBI’s (12) and tied for the third-most home runs (4) in Division I.