West Virginia Travels to Texas with the Big 12 Title on the Line

The Mountaineers wrap up the regular season on the road in Austin

Austin, Texas - The West Virginia University baseball program is on the roads to take on the Texas Longhorns (35-18, 12-9) for a three-game regular season finale as the Mountaineers are one win away of sealing its first regular season conference championship since 1996.

West Virginia freshman Carson Estridge is expected to take the mound in the series opener is scheduled for Thursday night at 7:30 EST while Blaine Traxel will take the ball for game two Friday night with the first pitch set for 7:30 and the Mountaineers will wait the day of the series finale to announce their starter Sunday afternoon which is slated for 3:30.

West Virginia is coming off its program tying sixth Big 12 series win last weekend after a gutsy series deciding game three victory over Texas Tech on Sunday.

Sophomore J.J. Wetherholt vaulted himself out front of the Big 12 Baseball Player of the Year race following the weekend, earning his third Player of the Week honor of the season after batting .500 with a pair of home runs and four RBIs during the week.

Along with an NCAA-leading .466 batting average with a, Wetherholt leads the conference in six different categories; slugging percentage (.829), on base percentage (.530), OPS (1.359), runs (64). hits (90), and stolen bases (35) to go with a team-high 14 home runs.

Caleb McNeely bounced back last week after going hitless for three games and is currently on a four-game hitting streak. The senior hit a home run against Pitt and the go-ahead to-run home run in game three on Sunday.

Texas is still alive in the Big 12 title race but will need to take all three games for the Mountaineers and an Oklahoma State loss to lay claim to the Big 12 regular season championship.

Texas owns the best staff ERA in the Big 12 at 4.12. They keep the ball in the park as Longhorn pitchers have allowed just 29 home runs all season.

The Longhorns are countering with two of the top pitchers in the conference. Lucas Gordon has holds a 5-1 record with a 2.71 ERA and 77 strikeouts while Lebarron Johnson Jr. has a 2.76 ERA with 73 strikeouts.

Peyton Powell is hitting a team-high .360 with nine home runs and 39 RBIE while Eric Kennedy has blasted a team-best 15 home runs and Garret Guillette leads the team with 55 RBIs.

Dylan Campbell is riding the longest hitting streak in Texas Baseball history and tied for the second-longest in Big 12 history at 30 games, hitting .402 with 11 doubles, two triples, five homers, 27 RBI, 32 runs scored and 15 stolen bases.

West Virginia leads the all-time series against Texas 16-13 and holds a 7-8 record at Austin. 

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