West Virginia University baseball hopes to further their aspirations to secure a conference championship and an opportunity to host an NCAA Regional as they prepare for another Big 12 road series.
The Mountaineers (27-16, 14-7) are set for a weekend clash with a historical conference rival in Cincinnati (25-20, 11-10). It will be the first meeting between the two programs in 13 years — the opponents last met on the diamond as members of the Big East Conference in May 2011. WVU narrowly leads the all-time series 18-17, but the Bearcats own a 10-6 advantage in their home stadium.
The Mountaineers are entering behind the momentum of completing a season sweep of Pittsburgh in the Backyard Brawl with an 11-1 at PNC Park on Tuesday. During that rivalry affair, West Virginia native and WVU first baseman Grant Hussey blasted a pair of homers out of the park en route to securing the program’s all-time home run record with 36 total.
WVU can drastically improve their shot at a conference title and a top seed in the Big 12 Tournament this weekend with a strong performance. They enter one game behind current conference leader Oklahoma, tied with Oklahoma State for second-place in the league standings. Oklahoma is set for a weekend series against fourth-place Texas — meanwhile Oklahoma State will face Texas Tech, who has the second-most overall wins and third-best overall winning percentage this season amongst conference teams.
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The Mountaineers are also certainly hoping to impress enough during the final month of the season to earn the opportunity to bring the NCAA Regional back to Morgantown — to host they will need to be one of the Top 16 seeds in the 64-team field. In the last D1 Baseball forecast for the postseason field, WVU is projected as a No. 2 seed in a potential Knoxville region hosted by Tennessee. That puts them between the 17th and 32nd overall seed currently.
WVU will face Cincinnati at UC Baseball Stadium — first pitch on Friday is set for 5 p.m., Saturday for 3 p.m., and Sunday for 1 p.m. Fans looking to watch the action live will be able to find a television stream of all three games on Big 12 Now on ESPN, and an audio stream will be available via the Mountaineers Sports Network radio affiliates, the Varsity Network, the WVU Gameday App, and WVUSports.com.
BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) – West Virginia lawmakers continued working as the Saturday midnight deadline approaches.
Senate Action
The Senate passed 12 bills, including one requiring adult content websites to use age verification to block minors. Senators also passed a bill creating a Cold Case Task Force.
House Bill 49-90, targeting gift card crimes, and House Bill 54-37, the Vape Safety Act, also passed unanimously. All four bills now go to the House for concurrence.
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Delegates passed Alyssa’s Law, allowing teachers to wear mobile alert buttons that notify 9-1-1 and trigger a school lockdown in emergencies. The bill is named after a victim of the 2018 Parkland shooting.
Bill 4005, which clarifies jobs prohibited for workers under 16 — including bar work and logging — also passed. Both bills now head to Governor Patrick Morrisey’s desk.
Senate Bill 4 would require bystanders to stay at least 30 feet from first responders.
Senate Bill 75 would allow West Virginia law enforcement to cooperate with officers in bordering states. A bill from the Education Committee would allow teachers with at least 15 years of experience to become certified as school principals.
For more legislative coverage, go to our website at wdtv.com.
The West Virginia Mountaineers (10-3) welcome the Maryland Terrapins (10-5) to Kendrick Family Ballpark Tuesday afternoon the first encounter between the two programs since 2023 and the first meeting in Morgantown since 2018. The first pitch is set for 2:00 p.m. EST and the action will stream on ESPN+.
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The Mountaineers captured their fourth consecutive series of the season after taking two of the three games from Columbia over the weekend. West Virginia sophomore Matt Ineich and senior Brodie Kresser both blasted grand slams during the series. Ineich lifted WVU in game two with a walk-off grand slam in the 10th in game two, and Kresser ignited a 16-1 rout, capping a six-run second inning in the series finale.
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Gavin Kelly leads West Virginia at the plate with a .436 batting average with a Big 12 leading nine doubles. Ineich and senior Paul Schoenfeld has raked in a team-leading 16 RBI apiece, while senior Matthew Graveline has clubbed a team-high three home runs.
On the mound, West Virginia is expected to start sophomore David Hagen. The right-hander has made four appearances on the season, including one start. He last started in the home-opener against Ohio where he pitched two scoreless innings and recorded a strikeout to collect his first win of the season. He holds a 1.00 ERA with five strikeouts on the season.
After starting 3-4, Maryland is 7-1 in its last eight games. The Terrapins won two of three at UNC Wilmington in the season opening series, followed by a midweek win against Georgetown before getting swept at Louisiana. The Terps bounced back with a pair of midweek wins versus Delaware and swept a one-win Wagner team.
Junior Brayden Martin is batting a team-best .443 to go with four doubles and 12 RBI. Redshirt freshman Ryan Costello leads the Terps in home runs (9) and RBI (21) and is third in batting average at .328, while freshman Ty Kaunus has a team-high seven doubles and has .269 batting average.
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Maryland is scheduled to start freshman Nic Morlang. The right-hander has four appearances on the season, including four starts. He allowed five earned runs in his appearances, coinciding with his two starts, in six innings of work. In his last two appearances in relief, He’s allowed one earned run on five hits.
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West Virginia leads the all-time series 8-5, including a five-game winning streak over Maryland.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Multiple law enforcement agencies responded to a series of parties in Morgantown over the weekend.
Morgantown police officers, West Virginia University Police and state police responded to reports of overcrowded parties, underage drinking, physical altercations and multiple injuries.
Morgantown Communications Director Brad Riffie said several citations were issued for open containers and underage consumption.
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Two large parties were dispersed and six arrests were made without incident.
None of the reported injuries are believed to be serious or life-threatening.
The Morgantown Fire Department assisted in the operations.
