The all-time baseball series between West Virginia and Penn State has a short history but a distinct trend.
Since the teams first met in Largo, Fla. in 2011, WVU and Penn State each had periods of apparent dominance over the other. After 12 total matchups, Penn State holds a 7-5 series lead over the Mountaineers, with four consecutive wins from 2014 to 2017.
West Virginia tied Penn State in the series at one game each in 2012, but after that, neither team has had a win that stands alone. Following Penn State’s four-game streak, WVU took three straight wins of its own.
The Nittany Lions broke WVU’s streak and won two in a row in 2022 and 2023, but just two weeks after the second, West Virginia bounced back to avoid another long-term streak. With the most recent game going in favor of the Mountaineers, though, WVU has a chance to build on the trend of win streaks once again.
In its first win over Penn State in Morgantown, WVU exploded for 14 runs and held the Nittany Lions to just two last season. With this momentum, along with a current second-best Big 12 conference record, WVU takes on Penn State at home on Wednesday, May 8 at 7 p.m.
Looking back at the short series history, each team has one key winning streak: Penn State’s four-game stretch from 2014 to 2017 and WVU’s three-game stretch spanning from 2017 to 2022. Each program will look to channel the energy of those past streaks on Wednesday as the series continues.
2014-2017: Penn State wins four straight to take a series lead of 5-1
Penn State began its four-year dominance over WVU at home, as the teams met for the first time at a non-neutral site. Led by a pair of hits, a triple and a double, from centerfielder Steve Snyder, Penn State scored eight runs in the game, including five in the third inning. Redshirt junior Geoff Boylston pitched for the Nittany Lions in his first collegiate start and allowed three of WVU’s total four runs in 5.2 innings for the win.
WVU hosted the game the following year, but, despite having 10 more wins at this point in the season, fell to the Nittany Lions 5-3. West Virginia scored one run each from the fifth inning to the seventh, including a fifth-inning home run from freshman Caleb Potter. Penn State scored all five of its runs before West Virginia had its first, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning, one in the second, and two in the top of the fifth.
With a third game in the following year, the series saw consistent new editions for the first time. The teams went back to State College for the fifth game in the series, where Penn State increased its winning streak to three games with a 5-4 victory.
Both teams had nine hits in the game, including two from a freshman Kyle Gray. After a Darius Hill triple sent KC Huth home in the fifth inning for the Mountaineers, the game remained tied at four runs until Penn State pinch hitter Greg Guers hit a pop-fly to right field, resulting in an out but sending Jim Haley home for the final run of the game.
Penn State would win its final game of its streak by one run once again the following season in Morgantown. The Nittany Lions scored six runs in just six hits thanks to a three-run homer from freshman Logan Goodnight. Penn State broke a 5-5 tie with one run in the top of the ninth, securing its fourth straight win over West Virginia. WVU finished the season 36-26 with a loss in the finals of the NCAA Regionals, while Penn State finished the year 18-37.
2017-2022: PNC Park creates perfect environment for WVU’s first winning streak
Just one day after Penn State’s fourth straight win over West Virginia, both teams traveled to PNC Park in Pittsburgh, where the 28-20 Mountaineers finally put away the 15-33 Nittany Lions, 4-2. WVU scored one run in each inning from the second to the fifth. Penn State found its runs in the fourth and the eighth.
West Virginia gave action to three pitchers at PNC Park, as coach Randy Mazey emphasized the historic importance of pitching at the Pittsburgh Pirates’ home stadium. Cody Wood pitched three innings and earned the win while Sam Kessler pitched five strikeouts in four innings. Both allowed one run in the game. Braden Zarbnisky, who earned an NCBWA third-team All-American selection that season, pitched three strikeouts in 1.2 innings in the game and played well as a designated hitter, grounding out for an RBI in the third inning and scoring in the fifth.
The following season, Penn State and WVU played at PNC Park once again, and, for the second straight year, WVU came out on top, 3-2. Penn State rotated in eight pitchers during the game, while Jackson Wolf pitched the majority for West Virginia. Wolf recorded five strikeouts in five innings and allowed three hits and a run with one unearned run in the ninth. Sam Kessler pitched 1.1 innings and earned the win with three strikeouts.
After Penn State’s run in the ninth inning tied the game 2-2, the game entered the 10th inning, where Kessler pitched and held the Nittany Lions scoreless. From the plate, Kessler loaded the bases with a groundout before Chase Illig hit a single to send Darius Hill home for the victory.
The series took a break after WVU’s back-to-back wins in Pittsburgh, but the Mountaineers managed to extend their streak to three games when they beat the Nittany Lions at State College in 2022. Two weeks after WVU’s 8-4 victory, Penn State returned the favor with an 8-4 win of their own in Morgantown to cut the Mountaineers’ streak short.
Photo by Aaron Parker, Blue Gold Sports
