The college baseball media landscape is growing, but perhaps not so large at this stage as to provide a wealth of eminently available, detailed information on every prospective opponent.
That’s why it can be useful to get firsthand accounts from those who see given teams on a regular basis — especially in advance of a series as significant as the one this weekend at Hoglund Ballpark, which will pit No. 7 Kansas (37-12, 20-4 Big 12) against No. 15 West Virginia (32-12, 16-8) beginning on Friday at 6 p.m.
A year ago, KU closed its regular season with a road sweep of the Mountaineers, only to fall just short of a Big 12 title based on WVU’s greater win percentage in a lesser number of total games played.
Now, the Jayhawks will look to claim another pivotal series win against a potent WVU team that features both the top two ERAs in the Big 12 on its Friday and Saturday starters, Maxx Yehl and Chansen Cole, and the second- and fourth-best batting averages in the league on catcher Gavin Kelly and center fielder Paul Schoenfeld.
If KU can win the series to make it to 22 Big 12 victories, it will clinch at least a share of the league title regardless of what happens with Arizona State (33-15, 16-8) against Oklahoma State. If it sweeps, it will claim sole possession of the conference crown.
To gain further clarity on the matchup with WVU, the Journal-World spoke with Spencer Ripchik, who covers the Mountaineers for The Dominion Post, a sister paper in Morgantown, West Virginia. Here’s an overview of what Ripchik had to say.
THE WORST WEEK
WVU had lost just one series on the season and was riding high entering its midweek matchup with Pitt on April 21. The Panthers are a solid team but had beaten their Backyard Brawl rivals just once in the last nine tries. They promptly scored 19 runs in the first four innings and beat the Mountaineers 23-1. It was a “big shock to the system,” Ripchik said.
That kicked off an alarming week for the Mountaineers in which they managed to win the rain-delayed extra-innings conclusion of their series opener against Cincinnati but lost the second game of the series later that day. Then, in the rubber match the next day, WVU’s offense went stagnant, the Bearcats rallied in the eighth inning and the Mountaineers lost 7-5.
Since then, however, WVU is back on track. The Mountaineers dominated Kansas State in a three-game sweep and took care of regional foe Marshall on Tuesday.
“Everything is right back to where it was,” Ripchik said.
That includes Yehl. WVU’s ace, who has a 2.20 ERA, missed that whole poor stretch due to a shoulder injury. He returned against K-State and pitched five scoreless innings and will be on track to battle KU’s Dominic Voegele on Friday. Cole backed him up with a complete game with one run allowed in the second battle against the Wildcats.
“The big thing for them at the start of the season was trying to host a regional and make it out of the super regional, which they failed to last year, losing to LSU,” Ripchik said. “So that was their big thing, and it’s all about the postseason in West Virginia … The momentum is really high right now, it’s back. That one week where they won one game out of four, that’s pretty much flushed away now.”
HIGH STAKES
Like KU, as Ripchik mentioned, West Virginia is trying to host a regional. The Mountaineers have quite a bit more work to do to get there, though. Baseball America and D1Baseball’s bracket projections this week each had them as a high No. 2 seed in the low 20s overall.
“I think you have to win at least two games this weekend to host a regional,” Ripchik said. “I think right now they’re on the bubble of hosting. But I think if you lose two games to Kansas, I think that hurts your chances, especially if you get swept.”
He added that he believes WVU would also need to win its final series against TCU.
REINFORCEMENTS
Yehl and Cole headline WVU’s pitching staff, with Dawson Montesa the expected Sunday starter behind them. But the Mountaineers also have a star reliever in Seton Hill transfer Ian Korn (3.22 ERA, 1.03 WHIP) and some additional options in Reese Bassinger and Carson Estridge, who rank among the team leaders in appearances.
Another one of those frequently deployed pitchers, converted shortstop and freshman David Perez, had for some time been working as WVU’s closer, “but he’s kind of been rocked these past couple weeks,” Ripchik said. Reliever Bryson Thacker got a midweek start recently and was one of many pitchers to get shelled by Pitt.
“Their bullpen is pretty solid, but they’re going to ride their starting pitching as long as they can,” Ripchik said.
OFFENSIVE PROFILE
Beyond Kelly and Schoenfeld, another headliner is Coastal Carolina transfer Sean Smith, a designated hitter. He has upped his production in league play, as he is batting .344 with a team-high 29 RBIs in Big 12 games. The transfer-heavy lineup also includes prominent names like Tyrus Hall, a JUCO third baseman; leadoff man Matt Ineich, a shortstop from Ohio; and Matthew Graveline, a left fielder from Ohio State.
“Their lineup’s pretty deep,” Ripchik said. “You wouldn’t think so because Kelly and Schoenfeld are hitting so well, but everyone on their lineup, there’s a lot of them that hit close to .300 if not over .300.”
West Virginia produces runs in quite a different fashion from KU. Kelly and Schoenfeld are the two star hitters, but WVU ranks last in the Big 12 with just 35 home runs on the year (KU is third with 83). The Mountaineers, however, are 85-for-108 on stolen bases as KU is 37-for-40.
First baseman Armani Guzman is the leader on the base paths with 27 stolen bases on the year, closely followed by Schoenfeld (20) and Hall (15).
“West Virginia is one of the most aggressive teams I’ve ever seen on the base paths,” Ripchik said. “On Saturday, they bunted like three times, and they’ll do it back to back. There’ll be a runner on first, they’ll bunt the guy over to second. Most of the time, they force the defense to make a throwing error, because they’ll make it competitive at first.”
This approach even predates Steve Sabins’ tenure as head coach, Ripchik said.
“You have to throw to first fast because they’ll have a speedster like Armani Guzman who can actually stretch out a bunt that goes five feet into a single,” he continued. “So they’ll bunt that over, and then they’ll bunt again to get the runner to third, and then if you’re not paying attention, they’ll steal home on you.”
