The upcoming game between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the West Virginia Mountaineers on the baseball diamond has been canceled and will not be rescheduled. In place of tomorrow’s game, let’s look back at the history between the two storied programs. Read more A Brief History Lesson on WVU Baseball vs. Penn State.
Preface
Penn State and West Virginia have battled in baseball a whopping 118 times over the years, with the Nittany Lions leading the all-time series 73-45. Unfortunately, stat books and records for the series are severely lacking up until the rekindling of the matchup in 2011.
Since 2011
The record books are up to date as of the 2011 season. In this modern edition of the series, Penn State currently leads the Mountaineers in victories, but not by much. Penn State has won seven and West Virginia has won six of the past 13 matchups. Home-field advantage has not been a sizable determining factor in the modern rivalry, leaving the game to be decided solely off the quality of the performances on the diamond itself. Of the 13 games since 2011, five have been played in Morgantown, four at Penn State, and four at neutral sites.
PNC Park in Pittsburgh hosted two of the four neutral-site games, serving as a “middle ground” between the two schools. For the Mountaineers, the team is 2-3 when playing host to the Nittany Lions. When traveling to Penn State, WVU is 1-3. The neutral-site games have been the kindest to West Virginia, where the Mountaineers hold a positive 3-1 series lead in that category.
READ: WVU OFFENSIVE LINE PREVIEW
The past two matchups in the series have been dominated by WVU, thanks heavily in part to explosive offensive performances. On May 8th, 2024, the Mountaineers cruised to a convincing 18-7 over the visiting Nittany Lions within the confines of Kendrick Family Ballpark. Despite allowing seven runs in the shortened contest, WVU bats combined for six home runs and 18 total hits in seven innings.
The game was out of hand early, as the Mountaineers boasted a 12-0 lead in the third inning before the Nittany Lions could record a run. Turn back the clocks to April 25th, 2023, and you’ll find another incredible team performance by West Virginia at home. Penn State left Morgantown that evening as the recipients of a 14-2 thrashing, courtesy of the old gold and blue. These two outings were the most convincing WVU wins in the current era of the Penn State rivalry. Two weeks before the 14-2 Mountaineer victory, Penn State secured a home win in front of a crowd of 2,700 by a final tally of 11-6.
The Two Streaks
Despite the modern matchup history between these two schools being back-and-forth for years, there were two separate winning streaks, one for each squad. After the first two games of the modern rivalry were split in 2011 and 2012, WVU went on a cold streak. The Mountaineers lost four straight to the Nittany Lions between April 2014 and May 2017. Once the streak was broken, the momentum shifted in favor of West Virginia. WVU won three straight between 2017 and 2022 before being toppled late in the 2022 season.
Why This Matters
Even though these two crews will not do battle on April 8th, 2025, as originally planned, West Virginia will travel northwest to battle Penn State in University Park, Pa., later this month on April 22nd.
West Virginia will have a chance to not only even the modern series record at seven wins apiece but also deliver Steve Sabins his first win over Penn State as the head coach of the Mountaineers baseball team. WVU baseball will be back in action and on the road against the Houston Cougars for a three-game series that begins this Friday, April 11th, at 7:30 p.m. For more information on the history of PSU-WVU baseball (since 2011), visit here.
