MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Seven consecutive Big 12 victories have allowed West Virginia to, at the very least, make the Kansas Jayhawks sprint through the finish line in the race for the regular season conference championship. The Mountaineers utilized a pair of second-inning runs and impressive pitching performances from Ian Korn and Carson Estridge on the hill to defeat TCU, 2-0 in the opening game of their final regular season series.
In his second start of the season, Korn, who has excelled in various roles throughout the season, allowed six hits and did not walk a batter while striking out six. The six innings represented Korn’s longest outing of the season.
“It is nice to be able to do this again,” Korn said of getting the starting nod. “But it doesn’t matter where I am at in the rotation or on the staff. I am just going out there and doing my job.”
WVU starting pitcher Ian Korn on stranding two runners on base in the sixth inning with back-to-back strikeouts to finish six scoreless frames in WVU’s 2-0 win over TCU: pic.twitter.com/P7fIHDdZwy
— Joe Brocato (@joebrowvm) May 15, 2026
TCU’s best scoring threat against Korn came in the sixth inning as the Horned Frogs put two runners on base with one out. However, Korn retired the next two batters by strikeout, ending the inning with his 100th pitch in the game.
“He was kind of cruising through six and I thought his slider got better in the sixth,” said WVU head coach Steve Sabins.
“I was like, that guy is cooking. We’re not afraid to go, if a guy is going good and feels good, we feel like we have been able to manage guys, keep them healthy and be able to go 120 pitches, or more.”
“I wanted to finish that [sixth] inning bad,” Korn said. “I didn’t want the ball taken from me in that moment. I put those runners on so I was going to finish the job.”
Korn credited his defense for opening the game with a pair of impressive plays. TCU’s leadoff batter, Colton Griffin, opened the game with a deep line drive to the warning track in left field that was reeled in by Matthew Graveline. In the next at bat, Cole Cramer hit a hot shot to first base which was handled by Armani Guzman and he made the throw to Korn for the putout.
“When you go out there and can get barreled around for a few innings and your guys are just making spectacular plays, there’s nothing better than that,” Korn said.
“Gravy made a great play,” Sabins said. “It just shows that as a team, everybody is ready from the get. He got a great jump, went back on the ball. You are willing to put your face in the fence. It is a massive tone setter.”
Estridge faced just one batter over the minimum in his three innings of relief. He allowed one hit and struck out a pair.
“Save the bullpen,” Estridge said of his three-inning save. “Get every single arm that we can. We have three incredible starting pitchers. It is just helpful to have that backup just in case.”
West Virginia scored both of their runs in a three-batter span in the second inning. Graveline doubled down the left field line to score Sean Smith, who also doubled. After Graveline was sacrificed over to third base on a bunt from Guzman, Graveline scored on a sacrifice fly from Brodie Kresser.
Korn improved to 5-0 while Estridge collected his seventh save.
Steve Sabins on Ian Korn’s season-long six-inning performance in his second start of the season during WVU’s 2-0 win over TCU: pic.twitter.com/FuDzrZLgnJ
— Joe Brocato (@joebrowvm) May 15, 2026
TCU outhit WVU, 7-4. Chase Brunson, Jack Bell and Preston Gamster each had multi-hit games for the Horned Frogs.
TCU starting pitcher Tommy LaPour went five innings while Walter Quinn tossed three scoreless frames in relief.
West Virginia (36-12, 20-8 Big 12) will host the Horned Frogs (32-19, 16-12 Big 12) in Game 2 of the series Friday at 6:30. Maxx Yehl is slated to get the start on the mound for the Mountaineers. The 20 Big 12 victories are a program record for the Mountaineers.
Kansas defeated BYU, 9-6 in their series opener late Thursday night. The Jayhawks maintain their one-game lead on West Virginia atop the league standings with two games remaining.