West Virginia ready for Thursday-Saturday series as Cincinnati visits for conference play

(WVU Athletics photo)

By James Gravley

The No. 24 ranked West Virginia Mountaineers return home this week with a three-game series against the Cincinnati Bearcats.

The Mountaineers, 31-4 and 10-3 in the Big 12 are currently riding an 11-game winning streak. WVU, which trailed most of the game against Marshall in their Tuesday matchup, ultimately defeated the Herd thanks to Chase Swain stealing home in the top of the 9th inning, giving the Mountaineers a 5-4 lead that was ultimately the final score.

First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. EDT Thursday and Friday, with Saturday’s finale scheduled for 2 p.m. The games will be streamed on ESPN+.

The two teams have announced their respective starters for the series, with the lone exception that Cincinnati has not announced a starter for Saturday's series finale.

Thursday: LHP Griffin Kirn (4-0, 3.74 ERA) vs. RHP Nathan Taylor (4-0, 2.70 ERA)

Friday: RHP Gavin Van Kempen (2-0, 5.63 ERA) vs. LHP Kellen O’Connor (1-1, 4.62 ERA)

Saturday: RHP Jack Kartsonas (3-1, 2.22 ERA) vs. TBA

Cincinnati this past weekend took two of three games from Arizona State but lost its midweek against Xavier, 7-6.

Kirn, who starts the game Thursday, has been impressive this season out of the portal for the Mountaineers. He stuck out a season-high 14 batters two outings ago against Utah, his previous total 10 against Queens in eight innings of work. That also happened to be the most innings he has worked in a game this season for the Mountaineers.

Kartsonas made his first start of the season last week for the Mountaineers, working an impressive seven innings, striking out five, and allowing no runs on two hits in the win against Houston.

West Virginia currently sits atop the Big 12 standings while the Bearcats are seventh. If the season ended today, both teams would be in the Big 12 tournament, while UCF and Utah would fail to qualify.

On the offensive front Cincinnati is led by Kerrington Cross, who leads all Big 12 hitters in batting average (.417). When it comes to pitching, the Bearcats have a future MLB Draft pick in Taylor, as he currently sits second in ERA (2.70).

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