MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia has a month’s worth of non-conference games in the lead-up to Big 12 play starting with Friday’s season opener at Jacksonville.
That will give first-year Mountaineer head coach Steve Sabins a better idea of how to formulate game plans, and perhaps more importantly, which WVU personnel will factor into the plan.
While seven of nine regular starting position players return from last season’s Super Regional-qualifying squad, the pitching staff will largely have a new look.
“My theory is always when you start the fall, you need to legitimately think you have eight starting pitching candidates,” Sabins said. “Not freshman with good arms, but eight guys that you think could start on a regular basis. You end up needing four per week if you play three-game sets and a midweek [game]. Right now, that’s been whittled down to six or seven legitimate starting candidates for us. I like where we’re at.”
There are big shoes to fill.
WVU’s four leaders in innings pitched from 2024 — Derek Clark, Tyler Switalski, Aidan Major and Hayden Cooper — are no longer with the program. The quartet combined for 47 of 60 starts from Mountaineer pitchers last year.
The left-handed Clark joined WVU for his final collegiate campaign as a transfer from Division II Northwood and was a first-team All-Big 12 pick after finishing 8-3 with a 3.23 ERA over 97 2/3 innings.
No returning West Virginia pitcher made more than five starts or threw more than 42 innings a year ago.
Left-hander Maxx Yehl, second among returning pitchers in innings with 29 1/3 last year, will miss the 2025 campaign after undergoing Tommy John Surgery in the offseason.
Six-foot-7 right-hander Carson Estridge is the leading returner in innings after throwing 42 over 21 appearances and four starts a season ago. Estridge finished 1-2 with a 3.21 ERA and four saves, while striking out 48.
Gavin Van Kempen, a 6-6 right-hander, is another key returner likely to play a pivotal role on the pitching staff. Van Kempen was 7-1 last year with a 3.14 ERA in 28 2/3 innings. He made 13 appearances, five of which were starts.
“We have some arms that have made big strides that we have very high hopes for in Gavin Van Kempen and Carson Estridge, who was instrumental to last year’s run,” Sabins said.
Robby Porco, a 6-8 right-hander, is likely to take on a more expanded role as a junior. Porco logged 10 1/3 innings over 13 appearances, and battled command and health issues while compiling an 8.71 ERA.
Sabins believes he’s in prime position to display significant improvement.
“Robby Porco is a name that’s had some injuries and been in and out of lineups for us over the years,” Sabins said. “But he’s as projectable and as big of a draft prospect as just about anybody on our team. There’s some names that have been in this program for a while that are ready to have their best years.”
Just as they did with Clark last season, Sabins is hoping the Mountaineers can strike gold with several new pitching additions by way of the transfer portal.
Sabins singled out left-hander Griffin Kirn and a pair of right-handers in Reese Bassinger and Jack Kartsonas as a trio to watch closely.
A redshirt senior with 22 career victories over 215 innings in his time as a standout at Division II Quincy University, Kirn possesses something most other WVU pitchers don’t — a wealth of experience.
“Griffin has more innings pitched than maybe 80 or 90 percent of our team combined,” Sabins said. “Extremely mature and an experienced left-handed strike thrower. In college, if you can put old guys on the mound that handle their heartbeat and throw strikes, you have a chance. Derek Clark was similar to that mold — a left-handed bulldog that threw strikes with a lot of experience. They both pitched in the Cape Cod League before coming here. I’m excited about him.”
Bassinger also has quality experience having played two seasons at Odessa Junior College and most recently one at Tarleton State, where he helped the Texans capture a Western Athletic Conference Championship at a time when the program was reclassifying to Division I.
Bassinger was 5-2 with a 3.06 ERA and 57 strikeouts over 27 appearances and 67 2/3 innings.
“He’s one of those rubber arm, lower slot type pitchers,” Sabins said. “Tarleton won the WAC Championship last year through that tournament and Reese pitched in five consecutive games on five consecutive days to win that tournament. You just don’t see that ever, especially in a Power 4 conference. He’s an old school, throwback gritty guy that wants the ball every day and doesn’t talk about his shoulder being sore or his elbow hurting. He really loves to pitch, so I’m excited about him.”
Sabins is hopeful the addition of Kent State transfer Jack Kartsonas will pay off.
A Pittsburgh native, the 6-4 right-hander battled injuries throughout four years with the Golden Flashes after starting his college career at John Carroll.
Kartsonas was sidelined throughout 2022 and finished his time at Kent State 7-7 with a 4.39 ERA and 103 strikeouts.
“He was an injured player when we signed him. He was Kent State’s Friday night starter and got hurt a little bit and became a reliever, but really gutted through pain and injury in his final year at Kent State,” Sabins said. “He had surgery this summer. We signed a player with some question marks on health, but he’s come back healthy and hopefully our bet pays off, because he’s a great worker and a great kid.”
While Yehl’s injury deals a blow to the team’s pitching depth, Sabins is hopeful WVU has enough options to where he can rely on a number of arms for quality efforts.
“I forget what it’s like to be completely healthy,” he said. “You have options. Last year, it was pretty easy on Maze [former WVU head coach Randy Mazey] making a lineup, because whoever could walk to the field got to be in the lineup. We have more options and guys competing for positions and time on the mound.
“We’ll make some decisions in the next week or so what our starting rotation is going to look like, and who’s going to be starting those first couple games, but it’s a relief. For the most part, bodies are in great shape and we’re healthy. So we’re going to go down to Jacksonville with 40 guys that are healthy and ready to play.”