The Mountaineers Remain in the Hunt for the Big 12 Championship

West Virginia's Big 12 Championship hopes are alive but will need a strong finish and a little help along the way for a consecutive conference title.

West Virginia sophomore Logan Sauve and sophomore Skylar King celebrate at home plate against the Pitt Panthers. / Christopher Hall

The West Virginia University baseball team sits three games back in the league standings behind Oklahoma with two Big 12 Conference series remaining,

Oklahoma separated themselves from West Virginia over the weekend after going into Lubbock and sweeping Texas Tech. The Red Raiders were 9-3 in home conference games prior to the series. Meanwhile, the Mountaineers dropped the series to Cincinnati and allowed Texas and Oklahoma State to catch up in the standings.

West Virginia, Texas, and Oklahoma State all have 15 league wins and are in a three-way tie behind Oklahoma, although all three took two of three games from the Sooners.

Oklahoma State holds the head-to-head tie breaker over WVU after notching a pair of wins in Morgantown, while Texas defended its home field against Oklahoma State with a 2-1 series win.

West Virginia and Texas do not meet in the regular season and if a tiebreaker is needed, it will come down to the highest common opponent record in the Big 12 standings.

The Mountaineers host Kansas State this weekend and finish the regular season next week at TCU. Both Kansas State and TCU will make a push in the final weeks for an NCAA tournament slot with both programs residing in the top 40 of the RPI.

There is an opportunity for West Virginia to make up some ground and may have to go 5-1 in league play to get there and, in the process, create some distance from Texas and Oklahoma State.

Oklahoma welcomes Baylor this weekend. The Bears have lost eight consecutive conference games. Then, the Sooners will be on the road for the season series finale against a surging Cincinnati club which has won three-straight Big 12 series and have yet to drop a Big 12 home series this season.

Texas will take its 8-4 road league record to Orlando against UCF before hosting Kansas State. UCF was 2-7 against Big 12 opponents in April before notching two wins at Houston last weekend and Kansas State has won three conference series.

Oklahoma State hosts Texas Tech this weekend, and as good as the Red Raiders have been at home, they’ve been the complete opposite on the road at 3-9 and have dropped six consecutive Big 12 games. Next, the Cowboys will travel to Houston to take on the Cougars, who have won six conference games this season, only two coming at home.

Big 12 Conference Standings

Oklahoma 18-6

Oklahoma State 15-9

Texas 15-9

West Virginia 15-9

Kansas 13-11

Kansas State 12-12

TCU 13-14

UCF 11-12

Texas Tech 12-15

Baylor 9-15

Houston 6-17

BYU 6-18