West Virginia Squares Off Against Utah for a Three-Game Series

Morgantown, WV – West Virginia hosts Utah for a three-game weekend series and the first meeting between the two programs. Game one is set for Friday at 6:30 p.m. EST, game two is slated for Saturday at 4:00 p.m. EST and the series finale is scheduled for Sunday at noon p.m. EST.

The Mountaineers (24-4, 4-3) are riding a four-game winning streak after taking games two and three from BYU last weekend, and on the return home, beat Ohio State 9-5 and arrived home to hammer Pitt Wednesday night in the Backyard Brawl 11-1.

West Virginia has nine hitters batting over .300. and is second in the Big 12 with a team batting of .318.

Junior Sam White leads the Mountaineers at the plate with a .400 batting average but has missed the last six games with a separated shoulder.

Skylar King is batting .366 and tied with senior Brodie Kresser for a team-high 11 stolen bases.

Senior Jace Rinehart leads the team in home runs, (5) doubles (10), and RBI (29).

West Virginia is expected to start redshirt senior lefty Griffin Kirn (2-1, 2.19 ERA, 14 K) in game one, junior right hander Gavin Van Kempen (2-0, 2.81 ERA, 11 K) in game two.

Utah is scheduled to counter with sophomore right-hander Colter McAnelly (2-1, 2.72 ERA, 51 K) and junior righty Merit Jones (2-3, 7.57 ERA, 28 K) in the middle game, while both teams will wait to the day of the series finale to announce their game three starters.

The Utes (13-3, 2-4) have dropped four-straight after taking their first Big 12 series, winning two of three against the preseason Big 12 favorite Oklahoma State.

Senior Jackson Core leads the team in batting average (.406), home runs (6), RBI (24), stolen bases (9) and is tied with junior Kaden Carpenter with a team-best 10 doubles.

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