No. 18 West Virginia Aims to Regain Form vs. Kansas State

The No. 18 West Virginia Mountaineers (28-12, 13-8) welcome the Kansas State Wildcats (26-19, 9-12) for a three-game Big 12 Conference series with game one set for Friday night at 6:30 p.m. EST. Game two is slated for Saturday at 4:00 p.m. EST and the series finale is scheduled for Sunday at 1:00 p.m. EST. All the action will stream on ESPN+.

West Virginia held a 20-5 overall record, including a 7-2 Big 12 record, and sat 13th in the D1 Baseball top 25 heading into April. However, the Mountaineers went 8-7 last month and have slipped in both the conference standings and the national rankings.

The first weekend of April had West Virginia pinned against UCF for a three-game home stand for the top spot in the league. The Mountaineers dropped two of three to the Knights, but bounced back and took the series at Texas Tech, then followed with a home series win against last place Houston, although fell in the opener. before wrapping up the final with a lopsided loss to rival Pitt and followed with a series loss at Cincinnati last week.

Gavin Kelly paces the Mountaineers at the plate with a .394 batting average, 16 doubles, 38 RBI, and six home runs. However, the sophomore has been hitless in five of the last seven games.

Paul Schoenfeld hit a bit of a lull, but has since bounced back, recording eight hits in the last nine games, three of which were multi-hit games. The senior is second on the team in batting average (.369) and stolen bases (19) and is tied with junior Armani Guzman in doubles, while leading the league with four triples.

Guzman leads the Big 12 with 24 stolen bases, while sophomore Matt Ineich has registered a team-leading 45 runs.

Seniors Sean Smith and Matthew Graveline are second on the team with five home runs.

West Virginia is expected to start the lefty Maxx Yehl in the series opener. The redshirt junior was out of the rotation last weekend due to an injury. He's spend most of the season starting in the middle game of the series. He owns a 5-1 record with 62 strikeouts, and is second in the Big 12 with a 2.41 ERA.

Chansen Cole will take the mound in game two. The sophomore right-hander is 7-1 on the season with a 2.91 ERA that ranks third in the conference, with 54 strikeouts.

Dawson Montesa will take the ball in the series finale. The junior right-hander holds a 3-5 record with a 6.00 ERA, and a team-high 64 strikeouts.

Kanas State comes into the series on a four-game losing streak after getting swept by rival Kansas last week and fell to No. 16 Nebraska on Tuesday.

The Wildcats pose on of the nation's top offenses, ranking within the top 10 in several categories. K-State is second in the country in total doubles (117), fifth in total runs scored (409), eighth in slugging percentage (.547), and 10th in scoring (9.1 runs per game).

Dee Kennedy leads Kansas State in batting average (.392), doubles (16), RBI (65), stolen bases (20), and a program record 19 home runs. The junior enters the weekend on a 13-game hitting streak.

Tazwell Butler will make his first start of the season in game one. The redshirt senior leads the team with seven saves. He holds an 0-2 records with a 6.00 ERA with 39 strikeouts in 33 innings.

Senior Lincoln Sheffield (6-1, 4.82 ERA) will take the mound in game two, while the team's leader in strikeouts (81), junior James Guyette (5-2, 5.79 ERA) is slated to start the series finale.

West Virginia leads the all-time series 21-17. The Mountaineers have lost three of the last four meetings against the Wildcats. However, WVU has not lost a series to K-State in Morgantown since 2016.

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