West Virginia Looks to Remain Hot on the Road
Waco, TX - The West Virginia Mountaineers (30-11, 8-4) will take their five-game winning streak on the road to Baylor for a three-game series with the Bears (15-26, 6-12) with the series opener is set for Friday night at 8:00 EST while game two is scheduled for Saturday afternoon at three and the series finale is slated for Sunday at noon. The weekend series will stream on ESPN+.
UPDATE: The start time for the series opener has been pushed back from 7:30 to 8:00 p.m. EST. due to inclement weather in the area.
West Virginia has won seven of its last eight games, including series sweep over TCU last weekend which has propelled the Mountaineers to the top of the Big 12 Conference standings, and it’s been a collective effort with four Mountaineers hitting .319 or better
J.J. Wetherholt ‘s .459 batting average ranks second in the country to go with team-highs 44 RBIs and 17 doubles and a conference leading 28 stolen bases. The sophomore returned to the lineup after a five-game absence with an injured hand, and as a pinch-hitter in the series finale against TCU on Sunday, he went 2-3 at the plate with four RBI’s and a double. He was reinstalled into the starting lineup Tuesday night in the designated hitter spot where he dazzled the crowd with a grand slam in the 14-2 pounding of Penn State.
Sophomore Grant Hussey also provided a grand slam against Penn State, marking back-to-back games with a home run and upping his season to total for a team-high 10 home runs.
On Monday, shortstop Tevin Tucker became the second Mountaineer to earn Big 12 Baseball Player of the Week honors following a four-game stint batting .571 (8-14) with a pair of RBIs as the leadoff hitter in place for an injured Wetherholt.
Ben Hampton (4-1, 3.99) will take the mound in the series opener. The junior left hander is 2-0 against Baylor and holds a career 3.14 ERA versus the Bears. Senior right hander Blaine Traxel (5-3, 4.44) is scheduled to get the start in game two and freshman righty Robby Porco (4-1, 7.92) get the ball in the series finale.
Baylor sophomore right hander Mason Marriott will counter for the Bears in game one. He made two appearances in relief as a freshman in Morgantown last season, allowing one run on two hits in 3.2 innings of work. Will Rigney (3-1, 3.80) will take the mound in the middle game and the Sunday starter is tabbed as a game time decision.
The Bears have dropped their last two conference series and are coming off a 6-2 loss to Tarleton on Tuesday.
Kolby Branch leads the Bears with a .362 batting average and 35 RBI while John Ceccoli has a team-high of five home runs.
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