The Mountaineers stole a victory from the jaws of defeat on the road Tuesday evening against Marshall in thrilling fashion, but Big 12 Conference action resumes in Morgantown on Thursday. The Cincinnati Bearcats (21-15, 8-7) will come to town to try and end an 11-game winning streak for the West Virginia Mountaineers (31-4, 10-3). Read more WVU baseball prepares for Cincinnati below.
Setting the Scene
The WVU baseball team had its hands full for nine full innings in the battle for the state, but the Mountaineers once again proved why they are one of the best squads in the country. Chase Swain stole home from third base in the top of the ninth inning to take a 5-4 lead against the Thundering Herd before closing it out in the bottom half of the final frame. Now, the focus turns to Cincinnati, a team the Mountaineers fell short of twice in 2024.
As of this week, West Virginia stands at #24 in the D1 Baseball poll after being left off the rankings for most of the season, despite holding one of the best records in the country. That ranking would have been in serious peril if the Mountaineers had not left Huntington with a win Tuesday night. The challenges do not stop this week, as Cincinnati aims to play spoiler to West Virginia’s winning streak.
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Not only is West Virginia trying to preserve an 11-game winning streak overall, but the team is also defending a streak of eight straight wins in conference play. Luckily for the Mountaineers, Kendrick Family Ballpark has been kind to the home team in 2025, as WVU holds a 12-3 home record.
Cincinnati enters the upcoming series with a solid record of 21-15 and a winning record of 8-7 in conference play. The Bearcats are fresh off a stinging loss to Xavier, another team that resides in the “Queen City” of Ohio. UC dropped the contest to Xavier on Tuesday by a final tally of 7-6 in front of a home crowd of 1,194. In Cincinnati’s most recent conference series, the Bearcats took two out of three contests against the visiting Sun Devils of Arizona State. Going on the road has been a struggle for UC, though, as the team is 8-10 when paying visits to other squads.
Players to Watch
For WVU, keep an eye out for Chase Swain. Maybe consider it recency bias, but Swain has the clutch gene and steps up to the challenge when the Mountaineers need him most. Swain’s steal of home on Tuesday was just the most recent example, but the redshirt junior is also batting .355 this season. As always, though, the entire West Virginia lineup is worth watching out for in every phase of the game. Not many teams are playing more wholistically than the West Virginia Mountaineers are right now.
As for UC, Kerrington Cross leads the way with a .417 batting average. On top of that, Cross finds himself on base in some capacity over half the time he steps into the batter’s box. The redshirt senior has an on-base percentage of .544, a feat nothing short of stellar. The Bearcats’ best offensive player has started in 32 of the 33 games he has appeared in this season.
Tune In
The series between Cincinnati and West Virginia gets underway on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. from Kendrick Family Ballpark. Game two is slated for the same time on Friday, and the series wraps up on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Morgantown. The series, like most others across the country this weekend, was moved up a day so teams could have Easter Sunday off. The Mountaineers are no stranger to the odd Thursday-Saturday series this season, however, as WVU won two of three in Provo, Utah, against the BYU Cougars.
All three games will be streaming on ESPN+ and 100.9 FM The Torch, as well as the nine affiliate radio stations. You can find the online radio stream at WVTheTorch.com on game days. For all things WVU sports, stay up to date with WV Sports Nation.
