West Virginia Takes on Kentucky in the NCAA Regionals

Clemson, SC – West Virginia meets Kentucky in the first game of the Clemson Regional Friday afternoon with the first pitch set for 12:00 p.m. EST and the action broadcasting on ESPNU.

The two programs met in the Lexington Regional in 2023. The Wildcats eliminated WVU with a 10-0 decision.

The Mountaineers earned its third consecutive NCAA regional after a program record 41 wins, including a 19-9 Big 12 Conference record to capture the program’s first outright Big 12 regular season title.

West Virginia got off to a bit of a slow start to begin the Big 12 schedule, dropping the conference opening series to Arizona at home, then fell at BYU in the series opener before ripping off 14 consecutive league wins and solidifying their spot atop the conference standings and despite losing five of the finals six Big 12 games, the Mountaineers still clinched the regular season Big 12 championship.

Multiple Mountaineers have led the team at the plate this season and six are currently hitting above .300. Senior Kyle West is currently on an 11-game hitting streak and holds a team-high .354 batting average to go with a club-best 10 home runs.

Senior Jace Rinehart leads the team with 50 RBI and 20 doubles and junior Sam White has a team-best 60 hits, even though he missed nine games due to a shoulder injury.

On the mound, lefty Griffin (3.32 ERA, 92 K) Kirn has been steady as the weekend series opener starter. The senior is coming off one of his best performances of the season, throwing a complete game gem to record his fifth win of the season against Cincinnati in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Championship.

Jack Kartsonas began the season coming out of the bullpen and pitched his way into the weekend rotation after recovering from offseason surgery. The senior right-hander made all seven starts in the final seven weeks of the season. He currently holds a team-best 2.90 ERA.

The Wildcats (29-24) dropped six of their nine conference games to end the season and finish 13th in the SEC standings after going 13-17 in league play and were one and done in the SEC tournament.

Kentucky resided in the bottom half of the SEC in every offensive and pitching category, ranking 13th in team batting average (.268) and 10th in team ERA (4.51)

Senior Cole Hage leads the team in batting average (.317), home runs (12), slugging percentage (.586), On base percentage (.442), and stolen bases (14).

Tyler Bell was selected to the SEC All-Freshman team. The shortstop was second on the team with a .306 batting average, team-leading 17 doubles, second on the team with 10 home runs and a team-high 46 RBI.

There are a trio of Wildcat arms that could face the Mountaineers.

Freshman Nate Harris has been at the top of the Wildcats weekend rotation. The right-hander is 4-2 in 16 appearances and owns a 4.22 ERA with 38 strikeouts in 53.1 innings.

Ben Cleaver holds a team-best 3.39 ERA and is 6-2 on the season and leads the team with 87 strikeouts. The sophomore right-hander has been the series deciding game three starter since early in the SEC slate.

Right-hander Nick McCay moved into the game two starter with Cleaver moving to Sundays. The senior is 4-2 with a 4.37 ERA with 66 strikeouts.

Kentucky leads the all-time series 12-2.

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