West Virginia baseball is looking to get more out of their arms this weekend, and they plan on doing so by changing their pitching rotation.
WVU is coming off a rough weekend where they got swept by Texas Tech and head coach Randy Mazey has made changes to his pitching probables.
Aidan Major, who had been WVU’s Friday starter, is now pitching on Sunday, while Hayden Cooper, who has started only three games this season, is pitching Friday.
Cooper is coming off his best outing of the season, tossing 6.0 innings and allowing four hits and one run on Sunday against Texas Tech. Cooper has not made a start since Mar. 2, but has pitched in 11 games. He is 1-2 on the year with a 6.19 ERA with 16 strikeouts in 32.0 innings pitched. Another piece of good news for Cooper is over his last eight appearances, he has not given more than four runs in an outing and has allowed fewer than three runs in six of those outings.
Major, getting bumped to Sunday is not a total surprise from Mazey.
After a strong start to the season, Major had three consecutive outings where he gave up at least five runs.
Over his last three starts, Major has thrown 12.1 innings, allowing 16 runs on 18 hits, walking 12 and striking out 15. Two of those starts came on the road, with his best of the three coming at home.
Major’s home-road splits show he pitches a lot better when at Kendrick Family Ballpark.
At home this season, Major is 1-1 with a 4.70 ERA. He has 38 strikeouts compared to only 10 walks in 26.1 innings pitched. On the road, he is 2-2 with a 6.43 ERA. He has 30 strikeouts and 18 walks in 28.0 innings pitched.
Derek Clark will get the ball in his usual spot on Saturday for WVU. Clark has been pretty consistent both at home and on the road this season, but is coming off his worst outing of 2024. Clark surrendered five runs on 12 hits in 5.2 innings last Saturday against Texas Tech. He also matched his season-low in strikeouts with four this past weekend.
Game one is set for 6:30 p.m. on Friday. First pitch of game two is at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, with the series finale taking place on Sunday at 11:00 a.m.
