West Virginia baseball coach Steve Sabins had high expectations for left-handed pitcher Maxx Yehl entering the 2026 season.
Yehl met and perhaps surpassed just about every one of them, and on Tuesday, the Mountaineers’ ace was named Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Year when the league announced its annual awards and all-conference teams.
Additionally, Yehl is one of four WVU players named All-Big 12 First Team, joining fellow pitchers Chansen Cole and Ian Korn as well as catcher Gavin Kelly to earn the honor.
WVU (37-13, 21-9) finished second in the Big 12 Conference and is well on its way to a fourth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
The Mountaineers led the conference in earned-run average by a fairly wide margin at 3.90, and the trio of first-team pitchers were a pivotal reason why.
Coming off Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for all of the 2025 season, Yehl is 7-2 with a Big 12-best 2.10 ERA over 73 innings. The redshirt junior totaled 88 strikeouts against 20 walks and allowed four home runs across 261 at bats, while limiting opponents to a .222 average.
WVU’s Maxx Yehl has been named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year (7-2, 2.10 ERA in 13 starts). pic.twitter.com/vuiTFFBkQn
— Joe Brocato (@joebrowvm) May 19, 2026
Yehl and Arizona State’s Landon Hairston, who was named Big 12 Player of the Year, are the only two unanimous selections to the all-conference tam.
Korn, a graduate student, is second in the conference with a 2.63 ERA and finished 5-0 while working 54.2 innings. Mostly used in long relief, the transfer from Division II Seton Hill made two starts in 17 appearances and earned his spot on the all-conference first team as one of three relief pitchers.
Cole, another D-II transfer from Newberry College, has an 8-1 record and leads the Big 12 in wins. The right-handed sophomore leads the Mountaineers with 14 starts and 75 innings pitched and has an ERA of 3 flat to go with 77 strikeouts.
Kelly, a sophomore, has been WVU’s top hitter throughout the season and leads the squad in batting average (.387), hits (75), home runs (12), doubles (16) and RBI (47).
Behind the dish, Kelly threw out 10 of 17 attempted base stealers, and he transitions to second base when not catching.
No other Big 12 team has more than three first-team honorees.
Outfielder Paul Schoenfeld is the Mountaineers’ lone all-conference second-team selection, while WVU leads all Big 12 teams with five honorable mention picks in relief pitchers Reese Bassinger and Carson Estridge, first baseman Armani Guzman, shortstop Matt Ineich and designated hitter/outfielder Sean Smith.
In addition to Yehl and Hairston, other major award winners include Baylor’s Tyce Armstrong as Newcomer of the Year, Cincinnati’s Enzo Infeliser as Freshman of the Year, BYU’s Ashton Johnson as Scholar Athlete of the Year and Kansas’ Dan Fitzgerald as Coach of the Year.
The Big 12 Conference Tournament starts Tuesday, while the Mountaineers begin play in the event at 7:30 p.m. Thursday against one of the following teams — No. 10 seed Utah, No. 11 seed Kansas State or No. 7 seed TCU.
Major Award Winners
Of the Year
Player – Landon Hairston, Arizona State
Pitcher – Maxx Yehl, West Virginia
Newcomer – Tyce Armstrong, Baylor
Freshman – Enzo Infelise, Cincinnati
Scholar-Athlete – Ashton Johnson, BYU
Coach – Dan Fitzgerald, Kansas
All-Big 12 First Team
C: Gavin Kelly, West Virginia
IF: Nu’u Contrades, Arizona State
IF: Tyce Armstrong, Baylor
IF: Quinton Coats, Cincinnati
IF: Tyson LeBlanc, Kansas
IF: Dee Kennedy, Kansas State
OF: Landon Hairston, Arizona State*
OF: Alex Conover, Oklahoma State
OF: Kollin Ritchie, Oklahoma State
OF: Logan Hughes, Texas Tech
DH: Enzo Infelise, Cincinnati
UT: Connor Shouse, Texas Tech
SP: Cole Carlon, Arizona State
SP: Nathan Taylor, Cincinnati
SP: Chansen Cole, West Virginia
SP: Maxx Yehl, West Virginia*
RP: Boede Rahe, Kansas
RP: Tanner Sagouspe, TCU
RP: Ian Korn, West Virginia
*- unanimous selection
All-Big 12 Second Team
C: Jack Natili, Cincinnati
IF: Dominic Smaldino, Arizona State
IF: Travis Sanders, Baylor
IF: Ezra McNaughton, BYU
IF: Josh Dykhoff, Kansas
IF: Aidan Meola, Oklahoma State
OF: John Smith III, UCF
OF: Andrew Williamson, UCF
OF: Jake Long, Utah
OF: Paul Schoenfeld, West Virginia
DH: Caden Ferraro, Texas Tech
UT: Cade Baldridge, Kansas
SP: Camden Wicker, UCF
SP: Dominic Voegele, Kansas
SP: Ethan Lund, Oklahoma State
SP: Lance Davis, TCU
RP: Caleb Bunch, Baylor
RP: Ashton Johnson, BYU
RP: Adam Buczkowski, Cincinnati
All-Freshman Team (12)
Tony Lira, Arizona*
Nate Novitske, Arizona
Brady Janusek, Baylor
Jordan Lodise, UCF
Max Murray, UCF
Connor Blue, Cincinnati
Enzo Infelise, Cincinnati*
Ryan Tyranski, Cincinnati
Brady Dallimore, TCU
Linkin Garcia, Texas Tech
Jesse Rusinek, Texas Tech
Cal Miller, Utah
*-unanimous selection
All-Big 12 Honorable Mention
Arizona: Garrett Hicks, Tony Lira
Arizona State: Sean Fitzpatrick, Taylor Penn, Dean Toigo
Baylor: Lucas Davenport
UCF: Evan Jones, Kris Sosnowski, Zak Skinner
Houston: Tre Broussard, Cade Climie, Ryne Rodriguez
Kansas: Brady Ballinger, Mason Cook
Kansas State: Bear Madliak
Oklahoma State: Stormy Rhodes, Brock Thompson
TCU: Chase Brunson, Cole Cramer, Zack James
Texas Tech: Tracer Lopez, Jesse Rusinek (OF, UT)
Utah: Jet Gilliam, Cameron Gurney, Cal Miller
West Virginia: Reese Bassinger, Carson Estridge, Armani Guzman, Matt Ineich, Sean Smith