No. 19 Mountaineers Host Jayhawks for Big 12 Home-Opener

Morgantown, WV – The No. 19 West Virginia Mountaineers (22-7, 1-2) welcome the Kansas Jayhawks (12-13, 3-3) for their Big 12 conference home opening series with game one set for Friday night at six o’clock. Game two of the series is scheduled for Saturday at 4:00 p.m. EST and the series finale is slated for Sunday at 3:00 p.m. EST. All games are streaming on ESPN+.

West Virginia is coming off an exciting 15-9 win over Marshall in Charleston Wednesday night. Senior Caleb McNeely launched two two-run home runs in the contest, his fourth in four games, upping his season total to eight and moving past teammate sophomore J.J. Wetherholt.

Wetherholt, meanwhile, leads the NCAA in hits with 56 while also leading the Big 12 in batting average (.463), runs (39), and stolen bases (26), and his 14 doubles ranks second in the league.

Ben Hampton will take the mound for the Mountaineers in game one. He collected his second win of the season last weekend at Kansas State and the righty holds a 3.56 ERA and has 43 strikeouts on the year.

Senior Blaine Traxel will look to bounce back in game two after he dropped just his second game of the season last Saturday at K-State. The right-hander leads the conference in innings pitched at 56 innings.

Freshman Robby Porco will get the start in the series finale. The 6’8” right-hander has a 3-1 record on the season and has 18 strikeouts in 17.1 innings of work.

Kansas is expected to counter with redshirt senior Colin Baumgartner (3-0, 3.69ERA) in game one and Sam Ireland (3-3, 4.58) in game two while game three will be a game day decision for the Jayhawks.

Kansas has won five straight including a sweep of the Baylor Bears last weekend to improve to 3-3 in conference play and sit a notch below .500 on the season with a 13-14 overall record.

Kodey Shojinaga leads the Jayhawks with a .388 batting average while Janson Reeder has a team-high six home runs and 23 RBI, and sophomore Chase Jans holds a 23-game on base streak.

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