(Photo gallery by Teran Malone)
GRANVILLE, W.Va. — West Virginia’s first shutout of the season in Big 12 play leaves the Mountaineers knocking on the door of their second regular season conference championship in the last three seasons. A 5-0 win over Texas Tech on Sunday afternoon in front of 3,384 fans secured a sixth consecutive series win for West Virginia.
“Today felt a little cleaner, like maybe how we had played earlier in the conference,” said WVU head coach Steve Sabins. “I like the direction, at least the trend, today.”
Reliever-turned-starter Jack Kartsonas delivered his fourth consecutive quality start since being inserted into the weekend rotation. The graduate student and Kent State transfer tossed seven scoreless frames. He did not walk a batter, allowed five hits and struck out seven.
“One of the best seasons being put together since I have been here in ten years from Jack Kartsonas,” Sabins said. “He really likes to compete in the moment. It is almost every week right now where you just know that it is going to be a fight. He is going to go into the game and fight for the Mountaineers with everything he’s got. As a coach, you can’t ask for anything else.”
“Shutting a team out is awesome,” Kartsonas said. “We have a great offense. You know they are going to score at some point. Shutting a team out guarantees a win with our hitters. It was really fun.”
After rehabbing from offseason surgery following his transfer, Kartsonas now sports a 1.59 ERA.
“I think they have done a great job of slowly building me up,” Kartsonas said. “I missed the whole fall. I didn’t start throwing until middle of the fall and I didn’t get on the mound until around Thanksgiving. My first time facing hitters was mid-January. I think the progression of my pitch count through the year lined up really well with where my arm was at.”
WVU broke a scoreless stalemate in the fourth inning with a two-run double from Brodie Kresser and an RBI double from Parkersburg South graduate Grant Hussey.
Steve Sabins on the possibility of clinching the Big 12 regular season championship as early as next weekend at Kansas State:
“As soon as you try to defend something that you are not the owner of, you just get your [butt] kicked…” pic.twitter.com/yTd7kj6b9H
— Joe Brocato (@joebrowvm) May 4, 2025
In the seventh inning, Hedgesville graduate Kyle West clubbed his 50th collegiate home run. It was a two-run shot that traveled 421 feet. West started his career at the University of Charleston before transferring to WVU.
“We talk about something, like offensive closes or offensive saves,” Sabins said. “That’s what that felt like.”
“I didn’t have the easiest journey to get here. Looking back at all fifty of them, I had labrum surgery and almost missed my sophomore year because of it. A lot of growth over those fifty home runs because each one is different and each one means a little something to me.”
West Virginia (39-7, 18-4) will play their final non-conference regular season game Tuesday at Pittsburgh. The Mountaineers will then travel to Kansas State for a weekend series. Six teams are mathematically alive to win the Big 12 title. Arizona State (16-8), Kansas, Arizona and TCU (15-9) and Kansas State (14-10) remain in the mix. While many scenarios are in play, WVU can secure the championship by reaching the 21-win mark in league play.
“As soon as you try to defend something that you are not the owner of, you just get your [butt] kicked,” Sabins said. “That is the truth. Try playing anything at a high level tight or tense. It is no fun first of all and you are worse. The only option, weirdly, is to not care and not put yourself in that mindset and just recognize how cool it is that we are even in that situation to begin with.”