No. 15 West Virginia Heads to Lawrence for Big 12 Showdown with No. 7 Kansas

The No. 15 West Virginia Mountaineers (32-12, 16-8) travel to Lawrence (KS) to take on the No. 7 Kansas Jayhawks (37-12, 20-4) for a three-game Big 12 Conference series with the opener set for Friday at 7:00 p.m. Game two is slated for Saturday at 3:00 p.m. EST and the series finale is scheduled for Sunday at 12:00 p.m. EST.

West Virginia comes into the contest having won four-straight games. The Mountaineers swept Kansas State last weekend to stay alive in the Big 12 regular season title race before completing the season series sweep of Marshall Tuesday night.

Gavin Kelly paces the Mountaineers at the plate with a .394 batting average, 16 doubles, 43 RBI, and 10 home runs. The sophomore hit a brief slump in mid-April, going hitless in four games, but has since batted .440 with nine RBI and five home runs in the last seven games.

Paul Schoenfeld comes into the contest having recorded a hit in 14 of the last 16 games, including currently riding a seven-game hitting streak. The senior leads the Big 12 with four triples, while ranking second on the team in batting average (.381) and stolen bases (20) and is tied senior Sean Smith for second with 15 doubles.

Smith is also second on the team in RBI (40) and home runs (7), while sophomore Matt Ineich is the club leader in runs (52) and junior Armani Guzman leads the league in stolen bases with 27.

West Virginia is slated to start redshirt junior Maxx Yehl in game one. The southpaw threw five scoreless inning against Kansas State in his return to the weekend rotation last week after missing the Houston series due to shoulder soreness. He owns a 6-1 overall record and a conference leading 2.20 ERA.

Chansen Cole will start game two. The sophomore threw his first career complete game for his league-leading eighth win of the season. He's second in the conference with a 2.64 ERA, while junior Dawson Montesa (3-5, 5.74 ERA) is scheduled to started game three.

With a 20-4 Big 12 record, Kansas holds a four-game lead in the Big 12 standings and is currently on a seven-game conference winning streak. However, the Jayhawks dropped their midweek matchup at Creighton 9-8 in 13 innings.

Tyron LeBlanc leads Kansas with a .337 batting average, 50 RBI, and 16 home runs. The junior has registered a hit in 13 of the last 15 games, 11 of which were multi-hit games.

Cade Baldridge has recorded a team-high 68 hits and is second on the team with a .327 batting average, while graduate senior Jordan Bach, junior Brady Ballinger, and junior Dylan Schlotterback lead the team with 12 doubles.

Kansas junior Dominic Voegele will take the mound for the Jayhawks in the series opener. The junior went the distance in his last outing, allowing two run on six hits against Arizona. He holds a 5-2 record with a 4.95 ERA

Mason Cook (4-1, 4-95 ERA) is expected to start in game two. The sophomore allowed three earned runs on 12 hits the previous two starts in 10.2 innings of work, while junior Nayral Mathis (4-2, 5.47 ERA) is scheduled to close the series.

West Virginia leads the all-time series 22-17. The Jayhawks swept the Mountaineers in the final series of the season last year, while the Mountaineers swept Kansas in Lawrence the previous season. The road team has won the series the last four meetings.

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