WVU Announces Starting Pitcher for Big 12 Championship Game

The Mountaineers are rolling with the former Division II Pitcher of the Year.

WVU Athletics Communications

Saturday evening, West Virginia head coach Steve Sabins made the decision to give the ball to Ian Korn to start the Big 12 Conference tournament championship game against No. 1 seed Kansas.

Korn finished off the last 2.2 innings on Thursday night against Kansas State, holding the fort down for ace Maxx Yehl, who pitched 6.1 strong innings of work. Korn was efficient in his outing, throwing just 33 pitches, allowing him to be available for tonight's game.

Although he is getting the start, Sabins will likely be cautious of his pitch count and not ride too deep into the game with him unless he is breezing through the Jayhawks' lineup and getting quick outs. They will need him to be ready to roll next Friday or Saturday in the regional, so going 80-90 pitches probably isn't in the cards.

“You can’t go wear your team out and go push the limits on everybody physically and then go try to win a national title," Sabins stated in an interview with Big 12 Today earlier in the week. "We’re all in this because you want to be the last team standing, so there’s some sort of balance there. But when you have an opportunity to win a championship, there’s not many of those, right? You got a regular season, you got a (conference) tournament, you got a regional, you got a super (regional), and then you got the whole damn thing. You get an opportunity to do each one of those, so you do it to the best of your ability and go try to win."

Back on May 9th, Korn pitched four innings of scoreless ball against Kansas, giving up just two base hits while punching out three batters before turning it over to the bullpen.

Speaking of the bullpen, pretty much all of West Virginia's top relievers should be able to go, if needed. Carson Estridge (11 pitches), Joshua Surigao (13 pitches), Dawson Montesa (23 pitches), and Ben McDougal (2 pitches) each had limited work on Friday. The only one in question would be Reese Bassinger (39 pitches), but if Sabins feels like he needs to turn to him for a couple of batters or to throw up a zero for an inning, he will.

The expectation is that Kansas will start Mathis Nayral.

First pitch between the Mountaineers and Jayhawks is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2.