Despite their offense looking inconsistent at times this past weekend, Maryland escaped Troy with a series victory. Now sitting at 10-5 on the season, the Terps will face their biggest challenge thus far as they travel to West Virginia to face off against the Mountaineers.  

The Terps dropped the series opener on Friday against Troy despite sophomore righty Lance Williams having a career day on the mound. While Williams recorded a career-high 10 strikeouts, Maryland’s offense couldn’t capitalize as it left 10 runners stranded on base. 

Things proved to be different for the Dirty Terps during the remaining two games of the series. Maryland dominated in a 9-3 win on Saturday where Aden Hill, David Mendez and Rylen Stockton all homered. Sophomore right-hander Logan Hastings also stood out, providing three scoreless innings with eight strikeouts which lowered his ERA to 0.96 on the season.

Maryland took the rubber match on Sunday as four homers propelled them to a 7-6 victory. The Terps had trailed most of the game but a go-ahead two-run shot from Ryan Costello turned the tables in the ninth.

The Dirty Terps look to continue their hot hitting and clutch moments Tuesday as they are scheduled to take on West Virginia, a team that was in the top-25 until the most recent rankings, at 2:00 p.m.

West Virginia Mountaineers (10-3)

Last Season 

The Mountaineers are coming off an exciting 2025 season where they finished with a 44-16 overall record going 19-9 in conference play. Their 19-9 conference record was good enough for them to finish atop the Big 12 standings and earn the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. 

After earning a first-round bye in the Big 12 Tournament, West Virginia took down No. 8 seeded Cincinnati, 10-3. The Mountaineers’ conference tournament run ended earlier than expected though, as they were blown out by No. 4 seeded Arizona, 12-1.

In the NCAA tournament, West Virginia started off strong. The Mountaineers went 3-0 in the Clemson Regional after two narrow wins against Kentucky and a 9-6 win over Clemson. In Game 1 of the Clemson Regional West Virginia walked off Kentucky to win 4-3 and to win the region the Mountaineers scored six in the bottom of the eight to erase a five-run deficit and win 13-12. West Virginia’s championship run would end in the super regional though, after two big losses to No. 6 ranked LSU, 16-9 and 12-5.

This Season

Although conference play has not begun yet, the Mountaineers’ 10-3 record has them sitting atop the Big 12 standings with the highest win percentage. West Virginia started off its season 5-0 after a series sweep over Georgia Southern and back-to-back wins over Liberty. The Mountaineers’ first loss came in their series finale against Liberty where they fell 4-1. From there on, West Virginia beat Ohio 19-6 in a midweek match and claimed series victories over Kennesaw State and Columbia.

The Mountaineers are most recently coming off of a dominating 16-1 series victory over Columbia. Surprisingly, while scoring all of those runs, West Virginia only hit one home run. Most of their runs came from playing small ball. The Mountaineers had four RBI walks, two sacrifice flys and three run-scoring singles

Hitters to Watch

The Mountaineers’ most consistent hitter so far this season is sophomore utility player Gavin Kelly. Kelly currently has a team-leading .436 batting average, 17 runs, 24 hits and nine doubles. He also has two home runs and nine RBIs through his 13 starts. The former Big 12 All-Freshman Team member went 2-for-3 with a double in his most recent start on Sunday, extending his hit streak to nine.

Sophomore infielder Matt Ineich has also been a leading offensive contributor for West Virginia as he is tied for the team lead in runs with 17 and RBIs with 16. The Ohio transfer is hitting .382 right now with 21 hits and one home run though his first 13 starts. Ineich lit up the scoreboard in West Virginia’s last game, contributing six RBIs off of a grand slam and a two-run single.

Pitchers to Watch

While West Virginia’s starting pitching has been impressive to begin the season, it has also seen quality work out of its bullpen.

Graduate right-hander Reese Bassinger has seen the most work out of the bullpen so far, leading West Virginia leaders with 11.1 innings pitched. Through his five appearances on the year, Bassinger has a 1.59 ERA, 12 strikeouts and a .154 opponent batting average.

Freshman righty David Perez has also seen important innings on the mound early into his collegiate career. Perez leads the Mountaineers with two saves while posting a 1.50 ERA and nine strikeouts through six innings pitched.

Probable Starters

Landon Edwards vs. David Hagan