The Mountaineers Head to Stillwater for a Clash Against the No. 14 Cowboys

Stillwater, OK - The West Virginia Mountaineers (23-10, 3-3) are on the road for a Big 12 Conference matchup versus the 14th-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys (23-11, 7-5) for a three-game weekend series with all three games streaming on ESPN+.

Game one is set for Friday night at 7:00 p.m. with WVU junior lefty Ben Hampton taking the mound as the Cowboys are expected to counter with Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Year and Newcomer of the Year Juaron Watts-Brown. The senior right-hander leads the conference with 73 strikeouts.

The second game of the series is scheduled for Saturday at 7:00 p.m. EST with senior righty Blaine Traxel looking to get back in the win column after two tough outings in as many conferences starts while senior Ben Abram will toe the rubber for OSU.

Freshman Robby Porco will get the start in the series finale and looks to build off his first Big 12 win last week versus Kansas which was highlighted by 12 strikeouts to avoid the series sweep. Meanwhile, the Cowboys are expected to start redshirt freshman Carson Benge.

West Virginia has dropped three of the last four games, including a Big 12 opening home series loss to Kansas and falling on the road to rival Penn State 11-6 on Tuesday while Oklahoma State holds the same record in the last four outings, suffering a Big 12 series loss at TCU and fell at home to Oral Roberts on Tuesday 8-5.

WVU second baseman J.J. Wetherholt ranks second in the NCAA with 60 hits, however, current hits leader, Jonah Cox (Oral Roberts), has notched one more game than Wetherholt. The sophomore also sits fourth in the country in stolen bases with 26, and in addition to leading the Big 12 Conference in both categories, he also leads the league in batting average (.442), OPS (1.234) and runs (43) and ranks second in the league in slugging percentage (.725), on base percentage (.509) and doubles (16).

Junior Landon Wallace is currently riding a seven-game hitting streak and he is batting .467 and has registered 10 RBIs during that span.

Oklahoma State had four Cowboys featured on the 2023 Preseason All-Big 12 Team, including the Watts-Brown. Junior Marcus Brown, sophomore Roc Riggio, junior Nolan McLean were selected with Riggio leading the group with a .323 batting averaging and ranks second in the league with 10 home runs.

Redshirt freshman Carson Benge leads the Cowboys at the plate, hitting .380, while freshman Nolan Schubart has a team-high 34 RBIs.

Oklahoma State leads the all-time series 22-13.

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