West Virginia Continues Desert Swing with Midweek Test at Arizona

The West Virginia Mountaineers (19-5, 7-2) travel to Tucson (AZ) to meet the Arizona Wildcats (9-18, 2-7) for a rare midweek matchup against a Big 12 Conference foe that will not count towards the league standings. The first pitch is set 9:00 p.m. EST and the action will stream on ESPN+.

West Virginia remains in Arizona after taking two of three against then-No.22 Arizona State over the weekend. Showing respect to both clubs, the voters placed the Sun Devils 25th. The Mountaineers dropped the series opener, but bounced back with a 13-7 win in game two and closed the series with a 9-5 decision.

Paul Schoefeld leads the Mountaineers at the plate with a .418 batting average, three triples, and 26 RBI, while sophomore Gavin Kelly is hitting .416 with a team-high 11 doubles, senior Matthew Graveline has clubbed a team-best four home runs, and junior Armani Guzman has swiped a team-high 12 bases.

West Virginia is expected to start right-hander David Hagen. The sophomore has yet to allow a run in 9.1 innings of work this season. He threw a season-high three innings and registered a season-best three strikeouts in his last outing against Marshall a week ago.

After Arizona made its 19th College World Series appearance in 2025, the Wildcats opened this season on a six-game losing streak and come into the contest on a three-game skid. However, this team appears to be built for the future.

Tony Lira is hitting a team-high .364. The freshman's five home runs is tied for the team lead with sophomore Carson McEntire, and his seven doubles are knotted with senior Maddox Mihalakis and freshman Nate Novitske. Mihalakis and freshman Jackson Forbes lead the team with 19 RBI.

Jack Lafflam is scheduled to start for the Wildcats. The freshman is 1-1 in five appearances and two starts. He has nine strikeouts in nine total innings this season.

Arizona leads the all-time series 4-3 with four meetings coming a season ago. The Wildcats took two of three in Morgantown (WV) last year and then knocked off the Mountaineers in the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament.