West Virginia Faces Power Hitting Texas Longhorns

The Mountaineers host the Longhorns starting the three-game series with a doubleheader

Morgantown, WV - The West Virginia Mountaineers (27-16. 9-6) host the Texas Longhorns (32-16, 9-6) in a doubleheader Saturday, with the first pitch set for 2:00 pm EST and game two will begin approximately 30-45 minutes following the conclusion of game one, and the series finale is scheduled for Sunday at 1:00 pm.

Texas was swept at home last weekend by Oklahoma State, suffering two late inning losses and capping off the series blowing a 7-0 lead, allowing an eight-run seventh inning to fall to the Cowboys 10-8. The Longhorns stumbled out of three of the five top 25 national polls before bouncing back Tuesday with a 13-3 decision over Houston Baptist. Despite the tough weekend, Texas is in the hunt for the Big 12 title and is sitting 22nd in the RPI.

"We just need to play a really, really clean game all the way around,” said West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey. “If we don’t play great on the mound or at the plate or on defense, they can abuse you. They can literally have a first team all-conference player at every position, they’re that good.”

Ivan Melendez is having an All-American season, ranking second nationally in 22 home runs and in slugging percentage at .906, also ranks first in total bases (155), third in RBIs (68), and fourth in on-base percentage (.541). He also leads the team with .421 batting averaging, ranking seventh nationally.

“You’d like to think you can pitch around him but the guy behind him is just as good as he is and the guy behind him is just as good as those two,” Mazey said. “So, you can’t afford to pitch around anybody in that lineup you just got to hope that your pitchers are throwing good pitches and they’re not seeing it all that well that day, but they’re so dangerous from the first spot to the ninth spot. You can’t afford to give them free bases, can’t afford to make mistakes in the middle of the plate, they’ll just punish you.”

Stehly Murphy is second on the team and third in the conference in batting average at .387. He is also tied for second on the team in home runs (13) and RBIs (43) with Trey Faltine, while Skyler Messinger is hitting .358 with seven home runs. In total, the Longhorns have hit a program record of 87 homers this season, ranking first in the Big 12 and third nationally.

West Virginia is coming of a 3-2 walk-off win over Division II in-state foe University of Charleston on Wednesday after taking the three-game weekend series 2-1 at Kansas last weekend.

McGwire Holbrook leads the Mountaineers at the plate with a .336 average and is riding a seven-game hitting streak. Meanwhile, Austin Davis is hitting .333 and has a team-leading 83 total bases. Victor Scott has a team-best 40 RBIs and a program-best 35 stolen bases, and Grant Hussey leads the team in home runs with nine.

The Mountaineers are set to start junior right-hander Jacob Watters (2-4, 5.27 ERA) in game one while Texas is expected to counter with redshirt sophomore lefty Pete Hanson (7-1, 3.20 ERA).

West Virginia is 17-14 all-time versus Texas, including 7-2 at Monongalia County Ballpark.

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