When Penn State canceled Wednesday’s home baseball game against WVU, it left the Mountaineers three contests short of the maximum allowable 56 in the regular season. The Mountaineers do have one schedule slot open on May 14 for a potential addition, but even if a game is played there, the Mountaineers still will be missing two chances to add wins to their slate.
That could be important in terms of NCAA selections, but for now WVU seems o.k. in that regard — so long as it can continue to stay in the upper reaches of the Big 12 standings and avoid sweeps or multiple series losses. West Virginia is currently projected as a No. 2 or No. 3 seed by most observers, and if the Mountaineers hold onto a mid-30s RPI and are a couple of games over .500 in the league, those should hold.
What it can’t do, though, is drop below the middle tier of the league standings, and the first of those challenges unveil this weekend with a three-game series against Baylor.
WVU is again shuffling its weekend rotation, elevating righthander Hayden Cooper (1-2, 6.19 ERA, 1.63 WHIP) to the Friday night spot, followed by Derek Clark (4-1, 2.79 ERA, 0.93 WHIP) on Saturday and Aidan Major (3-3, 5.30 ERA, 1.17 WHIP) on Sunday. This isn’t an unknown tactic, as some teams will save their better pitchers for Saturday and Sunday in order to create better match-ups. That move can also help in the crowded schedule of tournament play, putting a better pitcher in the rotation for what could be an elimination game.
Cooper doesn’t have eye-popping stats, but he has walked only eight hitters in his 32 innings this season.
The Bears will counter with righthanders Mason Marriott (3-3, 4.17 ERA, 1.49 WHIP) and Collin McKinney (3-4, 6-13 ERA, 1.36 WHIP) on Friday and Saturday, with Sunday’s first man up still to be announced.
The Bears are 6-2 over their last eight games and have climbed back into the middle of the Big 12 pack, tied with Kansas State, Kansas and Cincinnati for sixth place in the conference. Trailing the Mountaineers by just two games, this series is the start of a stretch run for WVU that will have ramifications on postseason seeding and selections.
On the negative side, BU is at just 116 in the RPI, and with its record isn’t in contention for a postseason spot unless it goes on a heater of unprecedented proportions, so this is a series the Mountaineers need to win.
The Bears are playing much better recently after starting the season 8-17, hitting well over .329 in their 13 most recent games prior to knocking off Sam Houston on Tuesday evening. Enzo Apodaca leads the hitting attack with a .349 average, and is on an even bigger tear of .368/.471/.509 after being moved back to the top of the batting order at the end of last month. He’s supported by Wesley Jordan (.336, 7 HR, 29 RBI) and Ty Johnson (.331).
SEAMS AND BARRELS
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West Virginia has won seven consecutive games against the Bears, reversing an 0-7 record in the prior septet of contests.
Baylor has three Big 12 series wins this year over Cincinnati, BYU and ... Texas Tech, which swept the Mountaineers last weekend. That’s just one of the many items that illustrates the up-and down nature of individual results in baseball.
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While Baylor has bumped up its productivity at the plate recently, that doesn’t include a lot of power. BU has hit just 29 home runs this season (224th nationally).
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WVU reliever Hambleton Oliver will be facing off against his teammates of a year ago. The Baylor graduate transfer is 2-1 with three saves and an ERA of 3.38 this year after going 6-5 with a 4.73 ERA for the Bears over four seasons.
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