West Virginia Set to do Battle in Lawrence

The Mountaineers aim to get back in the win column versus the Kansas Jayhawks

The West Virginia Mountaineers (24-15, 7-5) are on the road to take on Big 12 Conference foe, the Kansas Jayhawks (17-24, 2-10) in a three-game series with game one scheduled for Friday at 4:00 pm, game two is set for Saturday at 3:00 and the series finale is Sunday with the first pitch is slated for 1:00 pm EST. All three games will stream on ESPN+.

West Virginia looks to bounce back after a rare midweek home loss Wednesday night to Penn State. It marked the first midweek home loss for the Mountaineers since the 2017 season, coincidentally to Penn State. The loss was also the fifth in the last eight outings for West Virginia after dropping consecutive Big 12 series to Oklahoma State and Texas Tech but did beat Pitt at PNC park last week.

Austin Davis is hitting a team-leading .340, while Victor Scott has a team-best 37 RBIs and McGwire Holbrook leads the Mountaineers in slugging percentage at .513.

West Virginia second baseman Mikey Kluska fielding a groundball versus Oklahoma State / Christopher Hall - Sports Illustrated: West Virginia

Meanwhile, Kansas snapped a four-game losing streak after splitting a two-game midweek series at Air Force, capturing game two 13-9. Sophomore shortstop Maui Ahuna leads the Big 12, 17th nationally in batting average (.411), he’s tied for first in triples (4) and he is second in hits (65). His .411 batting average ranks 17th in the country.

West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey will hand the ball to Junior right-handed pitcher Jacob Watters (2-3, 4.42 ERA) Friday night, before sophomore left-hander Ben Hampton (6-3, 3.97 ERA) takes the mound on Saturday and fifth-year senior right-hander Zach Bravo (3-1, 5.73 ERA) will take the hill in the season finale on Sunday.

Kansas head coach Ritch Price will counter with left-hander Daniel Hegarty (4-4, 4.82 ERA) on Friday, right-hander Cole Larsen (1-6, 6.67 ERA) on Saturday and right-hander Ryan Vanderhei (5-3, 5.96 ERA) on Sunday.

The Mountaineers (24-15, 7-5 Big 12) are 16-11 all-time against Kansas. Last season, West Virginia took the three-game weekend series in Morgantown 2-1, outscoring the Jayhawks 28-11, and handed Kansas an opening round 8-7 loss in the opening round of the 2021 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship.

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