West Virginia’s star power was evident throughout the All-Big 12 Conference selections announced earlier this week.
The Mountaineers led the league with 10 players honored, including a Big 12-best four on the first team.
That star power showed up in a big way Thursday to help the second-seeded and ninth-ranked Mountaineers earn a 4-2 victory against No. 11 seed Kansas State in a Big 12 quarterfinal at Surprise Stadium in Surprise, Ariz.
Big 12 Pitcher of the Year Maxx Yehl had his usual strong outing and Gavin Kelly belted his team-leading 13th home run in the first inning to help WVU play from in front the rest of the way.
The results sends West Virginia (38-13) into a conference semifinal at 11 p.m. (EST) Friday against No. 3 Arizona State, which defeated sixth-seeded Cincinnati 10-2 in the last of four quarterfinal round contests Thursday.
Yehl retired the side in order to start a strong outing that spanned 6.1 innings, and when he returned to toe the rubber in the second, the Mountaineers held a 1-0 lead thanks to Kelly’s 416-foot big fly.
GK puts us on top early!@gavin_kelly18 pic.twitter.com/7D4m9It1NT
— WVU Baseball (@WVUBaseball) May 22, 2026
Yehl worked around two walks in the second and allowed one baserunner over the next three innings — that on a hit batsman in the fourth.
Not until Kyan Lodice connected for a one-out single in the sixth did the Wildcats (30-27) manage a hit, and though it was followed with an error that left Yehl in a tough spot, the southpaw induced consecutive fly ball outs to keep KSU off the scoreboard at that point.
Small ball and speed helped WVU expand its advantage in the home half of the sixth.
Sean Smith led off with a single, stole second and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt from Matthew Graveline, who nearly beat the throw to first for a single.
Armani Guzman then laid down a bunt that caused a pair of KSU players to collide, resulting in a single that allowed Smith to score.
Armani lays it down!
B6 | Wildcats 0, Mountaineers 2 pic.twitter.com/A2nWZgBLYI
— WVU Baseball (@WVUBaseball) May 22, 2026
Following Brodie Kresser’s single and stolen base, Guzman scored from third on a wild pitch and Brock Wills drove in Kresser with a solid single to right on a full-count offering from Lincoln Sheffield.
That was the end of the outing for Sheffield, who was charged with four runs on 10 hits over 5.1 innings.
Yehl seemingly wore down in the seventh, which began with a Bear Madliak single, though Kelly threw a strike to second moments later that resulted in a caught stealing.
However, Shintaro Inoue reached on a walk and Grant Gallagher crushed a 433-foot home run to center to cut what had been a four-run deficit in half.
That marked the end of another strong outing for Yehl, who allowed three hits with seven strikeouts and three walks.
On came fellow All-Big 12 first team honoree Ian Korn in relief and the right-hander retired the two batters he faced in the seventh, along with all three in the eighth.
KSU had the tying run to the plate after Evasco singled off Korn to start the ninth, but he never got into scoring position. Instead, the right-hander struck out Madliak before Inoue hit a deep fly ball to right for the second out, and Korn struck out Gallagher to seal the verdict.
Yehl improved to 8-2 and the Mountaineers are 11-3 in his 14 appearances this season.
WVU is 15-3 with eight straight victories in games Korn has pitched in. Korn, who struck out five and allowed one hit, has thrown 16.2 scoreless frames over his last four outings.
Eight Mountaineers had one hit and Smith led the charge with three.
WVU finished 4-0 against Kansas State with a plus-24 (33-9) run differential for the season.
The Mountaineers have won 10 of their last 11 overall.
The other Big 12 semifinal features No. 5 Oklahoma State against top seed Kansas at 7:30 p.m. (EST) Friday.