No. 24 WVU looks to prove it belongs in series against Big 12 favorite Oklahoma State

MORGANTOWN — It won’t exactly be a homecoming for WVU baseball coach Steve Sabins when the 24th-ranked Mountaineers roll into Oklahoma State.

Rest assured, the three-game series with the Cowboys (9-7) that begins at 7 p.m. Friday inside O’Brate Stadium, will still hold plenty of meaning for Sabins.

He was an assistant at Oklahoma State from 2012-15, before getting hired at WVU in 2016.

“The emotions are probably a little less after a decade,” in Morgantown, Sabins said. “I remember the first time they came in here. I was excited and you want to compete at the highest level.

“We had an extremely slow runner at first base in a 0-0 game on a Friday night. We hit a double down the left-field line, and I sent him home and he got thrown out by 30 feet at the plate. I asked myself, was that because I was so juiced up to try and beat Oklahoma State?”

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Along those same lines, the Mountaineers (15-1) will probably be juiced up to prove they actually belong among the Big 12 contenders.

Oklahoma State was the preseason pick to win the conference. The Cowboys won the Big 12 tournament last season.

They also have the preseason pick for player of the year in outfielder Nolan Schubart, who has responded to those accolades by hitting .383 with three home runs and 20 RBIs so far. He’s a 6-foot-5, 223-pound slugger who is projected as a first round pick in the 2025 major league draft.

“You just want the guys to treat every series the same and we’ve preached that since the beginning,” Sabins said. “Whether we’re playing Towson on a Tuesday or Oklahoma State on a Friday night, we want them to ignore the preseason rankings and the accolades. If we play clean baseball, we’re a really good team that has an opportunity to have success on a regular basis.”

Meanwhile, WVU has gotten off to its best start in decades with 15 wins in 16 games, but not a single game was played against an opponent with a winning record.

Are these Mountaineers for real? They’re about to find out.

“It is a big series, but literally, they’re all big series,” Sabins said. “You want to win the Big 12. You want to compete in the league. All of those things are important.”

WVU will go with lefty Griffin Kirn (3-0, 2.35 ERA) on the mound. Once a star at the Division II level, Kirn will make his first start against a Big 12 opponent.

Oklahoma State will likely counter with junior left-hander Harrison Bodendorf, a transfer from Hawaii who is 4-0 with a 3.15 ERA this season.

“I think there is a swagger and I think there is a confidence,” Sabins said about his players. “I think there are a lot of guys who know whoever we play, there is a chance for success.”

While Oklahoma State has the respect and tradition, WVU will respond with an offense that is second in the Big 12 in hitting (.327 team batting average) and third in pitching with a team ERA of 3.21.

WVU is also third in the conference in runs scored and RBIs.

All of that will mean nothing if the Cowboys romp their way to a series win.

“I think our whole thing is built on toughness, to some extent,” Sabins continued. “We train in the early spring in sleet and snow and ice. For a baseball player, it can be a frozen hell.

“I think a little bit of that mentality, wherever we show up, we’re going to try and play with more grit than anybody.”