The West Virginia University baseball team is set to meet Oklahoma this weekend in a three-game conference series at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman, Okla.

 

Thursday’s opener will begin at 7 p.m., Friday’s game is set for 7 p.m. and Saturday’s finale will be at 1 p.m. All times are Eastern.

 

Thursday’s game will be televised on Fox Sports Southwest, while Friday and Saturday will be televised on Fox College Sports. The radio broadcast will be on select affiliates of the Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG College.

 

The Mountaineers (17-15, 2-6 Big 12) are 1-4 in their last five games and currently sit in eighth place in the Big 12 standings. Most recently, WVU defeated Ohio State, 4-1, on Tuesday evening in Morgantown. In his first career start, sophomore left-hander Ross Vance struck out 14 batters in a complete game effort, allowing one run on eight hits with two walks.

 

It’s going to be tough from here on out with Texas, Oklahoma, TCU and Kansas coming up. There probably the four best teams in the league that we’re getting ready to play,” Coach Randy Mazey says. “Everybody is going to have to be on top of their game. It’s going to be a great opportunity for our guys to go down there and play on one of the biggest stages in the country.”

 

“Pitchers are unique characters to say the least and you don’t want to mess with their routines that much,” Coach Randy Mazey says. “Harrison pitches on Friday, and if you push Harrison to Thursday, it changes his routine a little bit. We’re going to keep him on Friday. We skipped last weekend with Means, so we’ll flip him to Thursday and hope for the best.”

 

Junior left-hander John Means (4-1, 1.72 ERA) will start game one on the mound Thursday for the Mountaineers, followed by junior left-hander Harrison Musgrave (3-2, 1.73 ERA) on Friday and senior right-hander Sean Carley (5-1, 2.73 ERA) on Saturday.

 

Musgrave is No. 2 in the Big 12 in innings pitched (62.1), No. 2 in strikeouts (56), No. 4 in opponent batting average (.198) and No. 5 in ERA (1.73). Means is No. 4 in ERA (1.72) and No. 6 in opponent batting average (.208).

 

Oklahoma coach Pete Hughes is unsure of who will see the mound after the Sooners were forced to send seven pitchers to the mound in an 18-inning, 12-9 victory over Oklahoma State on Tuesday evening.

 

WVU is sixth in the Big 12 with a .274 team batting average and seventh with a 3.60 team ERA. Oklahoma is ranked third in team batting average (.286) and team ERA (3.24).

 

The Mountaineers are led at the plate by junior center fielder Bobby Boyd, who is hitting .353 with five doubles, one triple and 12 RBIs. Senior first baseman Ryan McBroom is hitting .352 and leads WVU with six home runs and 36 RBIs. Junior second baseman Billy Fleming is batting .349 with three doubles and 12 RBIs.

 

Oklahoma junior catcher Mac James is hitting .372 with 13 doubles, three home runs and 27 RBIs, while sophomore outfielder Haley Hunter is batting .315 with seven doubles, five triples, five homers and 26 RBIs. Freshman infielder Sheldon Neuse is hitting .306 with 16 doubles, five triples, four homers and 31 RBIs.

 

Last season the teams met in Charleston with WVU winning two of three.

 

Editor's Note: Photo provided by Ben Queen of benqueenphotography.com