No. 15 West Virginia Returns Home to Host Houston in Big 12 Series

The No. 15 West Virginia Mountaineers (25-8, 10-5) host the Houston Cougars (16-19, 3-12) for a three-game Big 12 Conference series. The first game is set for Friday at 6:30 p.m. EST, game two will be Saturday at 11:00 a.m. EST and the series finale is scheduled for Sunday at 1:00 p.m. EST. All the action will stream on ESPN+.

West Virginia bounced back last weekend with a road series win over Texas Tech after dropping their first series of the season to UCF the previous week that knocked back in the standing and have since won four of five last games.

Sophomore Gavin Kelly holds a team-high .409 batting average, while leading the team with 16 doubles, 34 RBI and is tied with senior Sean Smith for a club best five home runs.

Paul Schoenfield bounced back in the win over Penn State Wednesday night after a tough seven-game stretch of hitting .228, going 2-4 at the plate and bashed his second homerun of the season in his first at bat of the game.

West Virginia is expected to start junior right-hander Dawson Montesa (3-4, 5.96 ERA) to open the series, redshirt junior Maxx Yehl (5-1, 3.13 ERA) in game two, and sophomore Chansen Cole (5-1, 3.13 ERA) in game three.

Houston won its first five games of the season, including an 8-2 decision over nationally ranked Wake Forest to open the season, but have struggled during the Big 12 schedule, notching a mere three wins.

Senior Tyler Cox leads Cougars at the plate with a .319 batting average, while redshirt sophomore Xavier Perez leads the team with nine home runs, three triples, and 28 RBI, in addition to hitting .311 on the season.

On the mound, Houston is scheduled to start sophomore right-hander Kendall Hoffman (1-4, 4.70 ERA) in the series opener, senior righty Paul Schmitz (2-4, 6.57 ERA) is set for game two, and the Cougars will announced the starter for the series finale on game day.

This will be the second series meeting between the two programs. The Mountaineers swept the Cougars last season in Houston to lead the all-time series 3-0.