WVU (35-12, 19-8 Big 12) had an amazing week with a win in Charleston against Marshall and a road series sweep of Kansas. They beat Kansas, 4-1, 5-2, and 13-2, on their way to a dominant sweep of the Jayhawks, who are now only one game ahead of the Mountaineers in the Big 12. WVU also jumped six spots in D1 Baseball rankings, moving up to No. 9. Read more: Mountaineers crack top 10, set sights on Big 12 title.
Maxx Yehl started the series against Kansas with a complete game victory. He allowed six hits and one earned run, while striking out nine batters to set the tone for the series. Gavin Kelly continued his stellar play, going 5-for-14 with two home runs, three RBIs, and four runs in the Kansas series.
Big 12 standings
The Big 12 Conference is coming down to the wire, and the Mountaineers put themselves in a great position to win the regular-season title, or at least a share of it. Here are the scenarios that can happen in the final three games:
- If WVU sweeps TCU (3-0) → WVU finishes 22-8
- Kansas sweeps BYU (3-0) → Kansas wins the title outright (23-7)
- Kansas goes 2-1 → Shared title (both finish 22-8; WVU wins tiebreaker/#1 seed)
- Kansas goes 1-2 or 0-3 → WVU wins the title outright (21-9 or 20-10)
- If WVU goes 2-1 vs TCU → WVU finishes 21-9
- Kansas goes 2-1 or 3-0 → Kansas wins the title outright (22-8 or 23-7)
- Kansas goes 1-2 → Shared title (both finish 21-9; WVU wins tiebreaker/#1 seed)
- Kansas gets swept (0-3) → WVU wins the title outright (20-10)
The best-case scenario for WVU if it goes 1-2 against TCU is a shared title. Kansas would have to get swept for that to happen, which is not likely. WVU would place second if they get swept, regardless of Kansas’ results.
Related: Mountaineers notch 13 runs, complete series sweep at Kansas
West Virginia owns the head-to-head tiebreaker after the sweep this past weekend. A shared title would give them the first overall seed.
D1 Baseball rankings
The Mountaineers benefited from some of the teams ahead of them struggling this past week. They were ranked No. 15 last week and moved up to No. 9 with a dominant sweep over No. 7-ranked Kansas. The Jayhawks fell to No. 14 this week after a 0-4 week.
Coastal Carolina was ranked No. 8 last week but fell to No. 20 after losing to Clemson and two games to Old Dominion. WVU also jumped Texas A&M, which went 2-2 last week. They dropped to No. 10 after holding No. 9 last week, with two losses to Ole Miss.
Mississippi State dropped from No. 11 to No. 13 with two losses to Auburn over the weekend. No. 13 Oregon dropped to No. 16 with two losses to UCLA. Florida State was the final team WVU jumped, but it was because of the caliber of opponents. The Seminoles won two of three games against Clemson over the weekend and moved up from No. 14 to No. 11.
What’s next?
The Mountaineers return to action for the final series of the regular season. They host TCU in Morgantown, but the series begins on Thursday. The first game is at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 14, and at the same time on Friday. The final game of the regular season is at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Wagener Field at Kendrick Family Ballpark.
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Let’s gooooo!