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West Virginia baseball to face Indiana Friday, seeks first NCAA Tournament win since 2019

Kevin Redfern

(Photo Ryan Decker/Gold and Blue Nation)

No. 22 WVU cooled by red-hot Red Raiders – The Gold and Blue Nation Podcast

Brooms were brought out for a third consecutive weekend involving the nationally ranked West Virginia baseball team, but this time Randy Mazey's club was on the receiving end of a sweep. No. 22 West Virginia drops all three games at Texas Tech, and loses its grasp on the top spot in the Big 12 standings.      On episode No. 100 of the Gold and Blue Nation Podcast, hosts Ryan Decker and Kevin Redfern react to this weekend's series, dive into the Big 12 standings, and give their thoughts on what WVU needs to do to be playing its best baseball when the fast-approaching postseason rolls around. 
  1. No. 22 WVU cooled by red-hot Red Raiders
  2. Mountaineers Sweep the Knights
  3. Catching up with Zach Frazier before the 2024 NFL Draft
  4. Boom Sticks and Brooms: WVU sweeps KU in Lawrence
  5. All-Americans Peyton Hall and Ty Watters join the show

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – While the majority of NCAA baseball players are thinking about their summer teams, WVU is preparing for its biggest test of the season.

No. 2 West Virginia (39-18) will play No. 3 Indiana (41-18) on Friday evening in the first round of the Lexington Regional of the NCAA Tournament.

Indiana enters the Regional following a disappointing exit from the Big Ten Tournament. The Hoosiers entered the conference tournament as the Big Ten’s No. 2 seed, but they won just one game before dropping two in a row en route to an early departure.

Their .299 team batting average is tied for the second-best in the Big Ten. Second-Team All-Big Ten infielder Brock Tibbitts leads the team with a .372 batting average while hitting ten homers, which is tied for the second-most on the team. He also has the most RBIs (66) out of all Hoosiers.

Big Ten Freshman of the Year Devin Taylor – an outfielder – slugged a team-high 16 homers while hitting .317 leading up to the tournament. Taylor also received First-Team All-Big Ten honors.

On the mound, the Hoosiers hold the fourth-best ERA (5.16) in the Big Ten. Righty Luke Sinnard leads the pitching charge for Indiana with a 6-3 record an a 4.16 ERA. Sinnard leads the team in starts (16).

Lefties Ben Seiler (1-3, 5.72 ERA) and Ty Bothwell (4-2, 7.03 ERA) are the other candidates who could start on the mound for Indiana on Friday.

The defensive picture is painted a little bit differently. No Big Ten team is within five of Indiana’s conference-high 66 errors. Meanwhile, West Virginia had the second fewest strikeouts in the Big 12. In short, WVU puts the ball in-play a lot, and Indiana struggles in the field.

Though his batting average took a slight dip last week, WVU infielder and Big 12 Player of the Year JJ Wetherholt leads the Big 12 in batting average (.443), stolen bases (35) hits (94) and slugging (.778). Wetherholt also holds team-high marks in home runs (15), RBIs (56) and on-base percentage (.512).

Along with Wetherholt, starting pitcher Ben Hampton (5-3, 4.17 ERA) and reliever Carlson Reed (1.50 ERA, seven saves) earned First-Team All-Big 12 honors. Righty Blaine Traxel (7-5, 3.79 ERA), as well as outfielders Braden Barry and Landon Wallace, made the Second Team.

While his name doesn’t show up on any awards, freshman righty David Hagaman (1-2, 3.06 ERA) is WVU’s dark-horse pitcher heading into the tournament. Prior to Hagaman’s first collegiate start last week, he carried a streak of 13.1-straight innings-pitched without allowing an earned run.

Right-fielder Caleb McNeely carries a four-game hitting streak into Lexington in which he doubled three times and homered once. McNeely is 6-for-16 in the last four games.

Friday’s game is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+.