No. 12 West Virginia Set for Weekend Clash at Cincinnati

The No. 12 West Virginia Mountaineers (27-10, 12-6) are on the road to take on the Cincinnati Bearcats (27-16, 8-10) for a three-game, Big 12 Conference series at UC Baseball Stadium. Game one is set or Friday evening at 5:00 p.m. EST, game two is slated for Saturday at 3:00 p.m. EST and he series finale is scheduled for Sunday at 1:00 p.m. EST. All the action will stream on ESPN+.

West Virginia is coming off a an unsettling 23-1 loss to Pitt Tuesday night. The Mountaineers notched a mere two hits, their lowest hit total of the season, and was the second time this season they were held without an RBI. It also marked the first consecutive loss to the Panthers in a decade.

Two of West Virginia's top hitters, sophomore Gavin Kelly and senior Paul Schoenfeld, have been in a bit of a slump in recent weeks. Kelly was batting .418 and was on a four-game multi-hit game hitting streak nine days ago heading into the midweek matchup against Penn State, but has been held hitless in the last four games.

Kelly remains the team leader in hits (56), batting average (.397), RBI (34), slugging percentage (.645), and his club-high 16 doubles rank second in the league and is tied with seniors Sean Smith and Matthew Graveline for the team lead with five home runs.

Schoenfeld brought team-highs of a .422 batting average and 28 RBI into the month of April. However, he's hitting .239 with four RBI this month. he did hit his second home run of the season in the win against Penn State. He currently holds a .368 batting average with a conference leading four triples.

West Virginia is slated to start Ian Korn in the series opener, marking the graduate senior's first start of the season. He comes into the weekend with a 3-0 record, a 3.22 ERA, and 34 strikeouts in 36.1 innings of relief. The right-hander stepped in for an injured Max Yehl in game two of the series against Houston last week and pitched a season-high five innings and allowed just one run on three hits to collect his third win of the season.

Yehl, a redshirt junior out of Portville, New York and the Big 12's leader in ERA (2.41), left the game with a shoulder injury and will be ou of the rotation for an undisclosed time.

Dawson Montesa has been the game one starter since the third series of the season. The junior right-hander will take the mound in game two. He holds a 3-5 record with a 6.16 ERA and 61 strikeouts.

Cole Chansen (6-1, 2.82 ERA) remains the series finale starter. In the last four starts, the sophomore right-hander has a 1.50 ERA and is on the heels of tossing five scoreless innings against Houston.

Cincinnati notched a top-10 win against Auburn early in the season and were 14-4 heading into the conference schedule. The Bearcats lost three of the first four league series and ended by getting swept at Oklahoma State, but have bounced back, taking two of three against Baylor and last weekend versus UCF.

Enzo Infelise paces the Bearcats at the plate with a .375 batting average. The freshman has notched a hit in eight of the last nine contests, seven of which were multi-hit games.

Sophomore Quinton Coats is second in the country with 23 home runs while sitting third with 59 RBI.

Jack Natili became the third player in the nation with multiple 3-HR games on Sunday in the series clinching win against UCF. Although he moved to DH the last three games, his 13 home runs this season lead all Big 12 catchers.

Cincinnati is scheduled to start junior right-hander Nathan Taylor (4-2, 4.29 ERA) in game one, Senior righty Logan Knight (4-3, 5.40 ERA), and freshman Connor Blue (3-0, 4.93 ERA) in game three.

WVU leads the all-time series 23-19. The Mountaineers swept Cincinnati last season after the Bearcats took two of three games at UC Baseball Stadium in 2024.

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