Last night, the 15th-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers took game one from No. 7 Kansas, thanks to an incredible outing from lefty ace Maxx Yehl, who tossed a complete game, allowing just one run while punching out nine hitters over 121 pitches — the most he’s ever pitched at this level.
The win moved West Virginia to within three games of the Jayhawks for the top spot, and also, Arizona State lost to Oklahoma State last night, giving the Mountaineers sole possession of second place record-wise. In the event that ASU and WVU finish with the same record in league play, the Mountaineers would be rewarded the higher seed for the conference tournament because they took two of three from the Sun Devils earlier this season. So technically, WVU has a two-game cushion over Arizona State.
But second place isn’t what the Mountaineers want to settle for. They control their own destiny and can still defend their regular season title if they finish these final five games off strong.
So, what happens if West Virginia wins the series? Sweeps the Jayhawks? Or comes away with only one win? Here’s each scenario.
Lose the next two
League records would be: Kansas 22-5, West Virginia 17-10 (5 GB)
If this is what plays out, Kansas will have clinched the Big 12 title outright, and with only three games left, WVU would be hoping to hang on to second place. Dropping these next two could drop them below Arizona State and UCF, which would have them flirting with falling outside of the top four (first round bye in B12 tournament) heading into the final weekend.
Split the next two, win the series
League records would be: Kansas 21-6, West Virginia 18-9 (3 GB)
Just winning the series isn’t going to do much for the Mountaineers’ Big 12 title chances. They would need to sweep TCU next weekend and for BYU to sweep Kansas to share the title. Odds are that it isn’t happening. But still, taking a series on the road from a near top-five team would do wonders for their resume and should put them squarely back in the conversation to host a regional.
Sweep the Jayhawks
League records would be: Kansas 20-7, West Virginia 19-8 (1 GB)
If Steve Sabins pushes all the right buttons and the Mountaineers get great pitching and sweep the series, oh boy. It would really open the door for them to go back-to-back. Just winning the series gives them the tiebreaker, so that gives them the No. 1 seed in the scenario that Kansas goes 2-1 and WVU goes 3-0 next weekend, or if KU goes 1-2 and WVU goes 2-1 — basically any situation where they are tied, the Mountaineers will get the top spot. Arizona State is still lurking in the background, but they would need to win the final two this weekend against Oklahoma State and then sweep Houston next weekend, which is certainly possible.
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