The Ultimate WVU Baseball Rooting Guide Ahead of a Massive Weekend

One weekend series left in the regular season for every team in college baseball, and in the Big 12, it's a four-team race for the championship crown. In addition to finishing off the season strong against TCU, West Virginia needs a little help to enter postseason play in a good spot.

Obviously, they would love to leapfrog Kansas and win their second straight regular season title, but if not, they need to be careful not to slide down the standings and enter the Big 12 tournament with a worse seed.

Entering this crucial weekend, I created a rooting guide for West Virginia fans, which you can find right below the updated Big 12 standings. There, you'll see what WVU needs in terms of the Big 12 race, as well as who could help them outside the conference to increase their chances of hosting a regional.

Big 12 standings (games behind)

Kansas 20-7
West Virginia 19-8 (1)
Arizona State 17-10 (3)
UCF 17-10 (3)
Oklahoma State 16-11 (4)
TCU 16-11 (4)
Cincinnati 15-12 (5)
BYU 13-14 (5)
Baylor 12-15 (8)
Utah 11-16 (9)
Kansas State 10-17 (10)
Texas Tech 9-18 (11)
Arizona 8-19 (12)
Houston 6-21 (14)

The Big 12 games West Virginia fans should be scoreboard watching

Of the four teams still in the hunt for the Big 12 regular season title, West Virginia is the only one that will face an opponent with a winning record heading into the weekend. If they are going to defend their Big 12 crown, they are going to earn it.

Kansas at BYU: Kansas' offense was stymied by WVU's pitching staff last weekend, and their slump goes back to their midweek game with Creighton. If West Virginia wins one more game than Kansas this weekend, they will finish higher than them in the standings.

Arizona State at Houston: The Sun Devils enter their final series two games behind the Mountaineers in the standings. Passing WVU will be a challenge, though, because the Mountaineers hold the head-to-head tiebreaker. One WVU win OR one ASU loss, clinches WVU a higher spot.

Kansas State at UCF: One West Virginia win AND one UCF loss would keep WVU higher in the standings. The Wildcats have been scuffling, but if they can just steal one game, it would greatly benefit the Mountaineers.

Other games to scoreboard watch (for hosting purposes)

West Virginia is projected to host a regional for now, but being featured in a projection and actually being selected by the NCAA Tournament selection committee are two different things. WVU's RPI is 18th coming into the weekend, so winning this final series would help that ranking.

There are a few other series around the country that could help WVU's hosting chances if they get some help. Even if WVU takes two or three from TCU, having these teams lose their respective series would create some cushion. Teams underlined are the ones Mountaineer fans should want to win.

Miami at No. 11 Florida State

No. 12 Arkansas at Kentucky

No. 15 Ole Miss at No. 18 Alabama - Bama is 6th in RPI, Ole Miss is 13th

No. 19 Florida at LSU

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