Can WVU Defend Its Big 12 Title? Record Predictions for the 2026 Season Are In

It's Opening Day Eve for the West Virginia Mountaineers, who will begin the 2026 baseball season on the road against Georgia Southern starting Friday. WVU is coming off its first-ever outright Big 12 championship and another Super Regional appearance.

What can they accomplish this season? It's prediction time!

Schuyler Callihan: 40-14 (18-12)

Steve Sabins and his staff have done a really nice job of replacing key parts of last year's lineup and finding guys that can play multiple positions. It's one thing to have two or three guys who can slot in just about anywhere, but the Mountaineers have versatility up and down the lineup and bench.

Sophomore catcher/2nd baseman Gavin Kelly is a name you should all start to become more familiar with. He's the next star of WVU baseball and could be one of the best players in the entire Big 12. I'm expecting a big leap from him this spring, along with centerfielder Armani Guzman, who really came on strong down the stretch last season

What I like most about this team offensively is that there is a nice balance from top to bottom. There's no huge drop off once you get toward the bottom of the order, as there may have been in years past. They may not the 2026 version of the Pittsburgh Pirates' "Lumber Company" but they'll get on base and manufacture a bunch of runs.

The pitching, for me, is what sets this group apart. The trio of Chansen Cole, Dawson Montesa, and Ian Korn will be able to eat up a ton of innings, saving the bullpen from being taxed by the end of a weekend series. Reliever/starterChase Meyer has electric stuff, especially when he's in his groove and pounding the zone.

I fully expect the Mountaineers to be in the thick of the Big 12 race once again, and perhaps this is the year they break through and reach Omaha.

Christopher Hall: 41-13 (19-11)

West Virginia University outfielder Armani Guzman | Christopher Hall – West Virginia on SI

West Virginia aims to make program history for the third consecutive season, and reaching the NCAA Super Regionals for the third-straight appearance would fit the mold. The Mountaineers are poised to make another run at the Big 12 Conference regular-season championship as well, but will have to replace the bulk of their production once again.

The Mountaineers do have talent on the roster and have reloaded the bullpen and with WVU coaching staff’s record of identifying and developing the young guys and lower-level prospects, allows room for confidence the team can have another successful season.

Sophomore Gavin Kelly and junior Armani Guzman highlight this year’s club after strong performances in the latter stages of the 2025 season into the postseason. Both will provide plenty of highlights throughout the season.

West Virginia captured 40 wins during the regular season last year for the first time in program history, and I suspect the mark will be hit again, even though I don’t believe they will match last season’s Big 12 winning percentage, but the same number of conference victories of 19, and will fall short of the league title. I do believe this is the season they win in Huntington for the first time since Marshall opened its new stadium, and at Penn State, which has been a house of horrors for the Mountaineers with every conceivable WVU error that has occurred, but will turn the tide and end the Nittany Lions' luck.

Obviously, with a 41-13 record, West Virginia will be in the postseason. The last two years, they’ve won on the road and have won six-straight NCAA Regional games. I do not believe they will go unblemished once again, and I’m not sure they leave as victors either. A program going to three-straight Super Regionals is an incredible feat, and the Mountaineers will have to do something special if they are required to do it on the road again. Although eliminating the non-conference losses this season may have WVU hosting a regional for the first time since 2019.

Schuyler Callihan: 40-14 (18-12)

Christopher Hall: 41-13 (19-11)

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