West Virginia Set to Square off Against Baylor at Kendrick Family Ballpark

The Mountaineers starting rotation will have a new look versus the Bears.

Morgantown, WV - West Virginia (23-16, 11-7) will look to get back in the win column and keep pace in the Big 12 Conference standings as the Mountaineers host the Baylor Bears (19-20, 9-9) in a three-game series at Kendrick Family Ballpark.

The first pitch for the series opener is set for 6:35, game two is slated for Saturday at 4:05 and the series finale is scheduled for 1:05. All the action will stream on ESPN+.

The Mountaineers were swept by Texas Tech last weekend for their first losing streak of the season and fell out of first place of the Big 12 standings and are in a three-way tie for second place with Oklahoma State and Texas.

The West Virginia pitching rotation will have a new look this weekend. Senior right-hander Hayden Cooper gets the starting nod in game one in place of Aidan Major. Senior lefty Derek Carter will take the mound in the middle game and Major is moved to Sunday for the series finale.

Major was 3-0 and held a 2.81 ERA in his first five starts of the season. However, the junior right-hander has given up four or more earned runs in four of his last five starts and has an 8.86 ERA during that stretch.

Cooper is making is making his fourth start of the season and is 1-2 with an 8.25 ERA in those games. This will mark his first start since March 2nd and his 12th appearance of the season. He is coming off his best performance of the season at Texas Tech, tossing six innings and allowing one run on four hits with a season-high four strikeouts.

Derek Carter has been a steady hand in the rotation with a 4-1 record and a Big 12 leading 2.79 ERA.

JJ Wetherholt leads the Mountaineers at the plate with a .327 batting average while senior Reed Chumley is hitting .314 with a team-best nine doubles and has clubbed a team-high 10 home runs and Kyle West leads the team with 32 RBIs and is second on the team with nine home runs.

West Virginia junior Kyle West hits a home run versus UCF.

Christopher Hall

Baylor had won 10 of 11 games before dropping two to Kansas to lose the series last weekend but bounced back in its midweek contest Sam Houston on Tuesday with a 9-3 decision.

Enzo Apodaca leads the team with a .349 batting average and a team-high 33 RBIs. Since moving the redshirt junior back into the leadoff spot on March 29, the Bears are hitting .327 as a team across those 14 games and have scored 126 runs on 161 hits, including 30 doubles, five triples and 15 home runs.

Wesley Jordan has hit a team-leading 11 doubles and seven home runs, and he is second on the team with 29 RBIs. The junior is currently on a 30 game on-base streak.

Junior shortstop Tyriq Kemp is red hot at the plate, batting .447 (17-for-38) over his last 12 games and reaching base at a .558 clip.

The Bears are expected to counter with junior right-hander Mason Butsash (3-3, 4.17) in the series opener and redshirt freshman righty Collin McKinney (3-4, 6.13 ERA) will take the mound in game two while game three starter is to be determined.

West Virginia is 17-14 all-time against Baylor and the Mountaineers are riding a seven-game winning streak against the Bears.