No. 16 West Virginia will look to stay atop the Big 12 as they host Texas Tech for a three-game series this weekend.
WVSports.Com previews the series as well as what to expect from each team heading into the weekend.
Last Time Out
West Virginia fell to Marshall on the road 7-6 on Wednesday, while Texas Tech lost 7-4 to UTRGV on Wednesday and 13-4 on Tuesday.
Last weekend, WVU swept UCF on the road, while TTU took two of three games from Arizona at home.
First Pitch Times and Pitching Probables
Game One: Friday, 6:30 p.m. — Mac Heuer (TTU) vs. Griffin Kirn (WVU)
Game Two: Saturday, 2:00 p.m. — Tyler Boudreau (TTU) vs TBA (WVU)
Game Three: Sunday, 1:00 p.m. — Zane Petty (TTU) vs Jack Kartsonas (WVU)
West Virginia is going with Griffin Kirn on Friday, and Jack Kartsonas on Sunday, with their game two starter yet to be announced.
Gavin Van Kempen has filled in that role this season, but has struggled as of late. He did not make it out of the first inning last weekend against UCF, before he pitched the first inning against Marshall on Wednesday, giving up a home run.
Kirn has a 3.36 ERA this season and is 4-0 on the year. He's pitched 56.0 innings this season, allowing 20 walks, while striking out 62 batters he's faced. Kirn is coming off his shortest outing since the month of March, where he tossed 4.2 innings against the Knights last weekend.
Mac Heuer is on the bump for the Red Raiders on Friday as he's 2-2 on the season with a 5.67 ERA. He's tossed just under 40 innings with 17 walks and 33 strikeouts this season. Tech is giving the ball to Tyler Boudreau on Saturday, who has an 8.10 ERA, while Zane Petty on Sunday has a 5.66 ERA.
Jack Kartsonas, WVU's projected Sunday starter, has a 2.19 ERA this season and has pitched at least 6.0 innings in each of his past three outings. Against UCF last weekend, he went 6.2 innings, striking out five, allowing three runs.
Lineups
West Virginia boasts the third-best lineup in the Big 12 in terms of batting average, while Texas Tech is seventh in the league in that category.
Robin Villenueve leads the Red Raiders in hitting .347 this season, while he's one of four hitters batting .315 or better at the dish this season. Another of those four is Logan Hughes, who is tied for second in the Big 12 with 14 home runs this year. He has 48 RBIs, which leads Tech and is sixth in the league this season.
Texas Tech has hit 54 home runs this season, which is sixth in the Big 12, while they have scored 274 runs, which is the third-fewest runs scored in the league this year.
During Big 12 play, Texas Tech is fourth in batting average, third in home runs, and sixth in runs scored. The Red Raiders have averaged 9.8 runs per game in their Big 12 wins this season, while they have scored 4.0 runs per game on average in their 11 losses during league play.
West Virginia is the second-best offense in terms of batting average during conference play this year. The Mountaineers have scored the second-most runs as well during league play with 168.
WVU's 23 home runs against Big 12 competition is sixth in the league, and their 43 doubles are fifth-most in the league. The Mountaineers have the second-most steals with 34 during Big 12 play as well.
West Virginia has eight batters hitting .307 or better this season, and 11 batters have at least 16 RBIs on the year.
Jace Rinehart and Logan Sauve lead WVU with seven home runs this season, while Rinehart also leads the team in runs batted in with 43.
RPI Ramifications
West Virginia is currently No. 18 in the latest RPI rankings, while UCF is No. 68. This means, as it stands, it is a Quad 3 series for the Mountaineers, and WVU is 12-2 in Quad 3 games this season.
WVU's RPI is currently second-best in the Big 12 as TCU is 17th in the latest RPI rankings heading into the weekend.
Standings Update
West Virginia is currently atop the Big 12 standings, holding a two-game lead on Kansas and a three-game lead on TCU and Arizona State.
TTU enters the weekend seven games back of first place, but they are in a tie with Cincinnati at 10-11 in the current league standings.
The Red Raiders are WVU are two of the top eight teams in the conference standings entering the weekend.
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