Starting on Friday, the West Virginia baseball team will play Big 12 opponent Cincinnati in a three-game series on the road.
WVU is 27-16 overall this season, coming off an 11-1 win (7 inn.) over Pitt in the Backyard Brawl on Tuesday. They are tied with Oklahoma State for second in the Big 12, with a 14-7 record in conference play, one game back of Oklahoma.
Senior third baseman Reed Chumley leads the Mountaineers in batting average with a .319 average. He also leads the team in doubles with 10, triples with two and on-base percentage among players meeting the requirement (minimum two plate appearances per game and 75% of games played). Grant Hussey and Kyle West share the team lead for home runs with 11. With two home runs at PNC Park, Hussey became WVU’s all-time leader in home runs, having hit 35 across his career thus far.
On the mound, Derek Clark has pitched very well for West Virginia. He’s got a 2.72 ERA across eight starts and 59.2 innings pitched. He’s struck out 53 batters and has pitched three complete games, throwing one shutout. Aidan Major leads the team in strikeouts with 73, he is likely to get the game one start, while Clark is likely to start on Saturday.
As for Cincinnati, they are 25-20 this season and 11-10 in Big 12 play. The Bearcats are coming off a 12-6 loss to Ohio State on Tuesday but took two out of three games from UCF on the road last weekend. Senior outfielder Josh Hegemann leads the team with a .343 batting average, while junior catcher/first baseman Josh Kross leads the team with 13 home runs and 54 RBIs.
On the mound, freshman Nathan Taylor has pitched the most in 13 appearances and 12 starts. He’s got a 6-1 record, throwing one complete game, along with a 5.68 ERA and 55 strikeouts across 52.1 innings pitched.
First pitch Friday has been moved up to a 2 p.m. EST, followed by 3 p.m. start on Saturday and a 1 p.m. start on Saturday. All games can be streamed on ESPN+.
