Following another weekend series sweep, the West Virginia Mountaineers (37-5) set their sights on the third and final meeting with the Marshall Thundering Herd (23-22) this season. The upcoming showdown will be played at GoMart Ballpark in Charleston on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. PREVIEW: Mountaineers Go For the Mountain State Sweep Wednesday
Setting the Scene
The old gold and blue wrecking crew will make its way to the capital city following a three-game sweep of the UCF Knights. The series was a wild one, going back-and-forth but ultimately ending in favor of WVU. The Mountaineers can shut the door on the Thundering Herd for the season with a win Wednesday evening, as WVU prevailed in the first two meetings during the 2025 campaign. The Mountaineers have taken 20 of the past 25 contests against the Herd, but Marshall has been able to hang around with some of the best in the country on its schedule this year.
It took everything in the book (and then some) for WVU to leave Huntington with a win earlier this month, as Chase Swain stole home in the top of the ninth inning to take a 5-4 lead that Marshall could not overcome in the bottom half of the final frame. Marshall has been a feisty team all season long, with wins over ranked teams such as Southern Mississippi and Troy. It can be difficult to predict how a game between the Herd and the Mountaineers will go, as the 2025 series has been bipolar. Game one between the two marquee teams in the Mountain State was a 7-0 trouncing that took place in Morgantown before the aforementioned 5-4 thriller in Huntington. Regardless of the margin of victory, WVU has come out on top in both games this season.
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Wednesday’s game will be played at GoMart Ballpark, home of the Charleston Dirty Birds minor league team. The venue has a supposed capacity of approximately 4,500 and sold out its reserved seating tickets weeks ago. There are still a handful of standing room only tickets available at the time of publication, but those have been going rapidly as well. Both contests in the 2025 series have drawn great crowds at both campus venues, as the reported attendance at Kendrick Family Ballpark on March 25th was 3,244. Down in Huntington, Jack Cook Field welcomed 2,620 spectators to witness an instant classic in the series. Simply put, every time these two teams share a baseball diamond, it is a win for the state of West Virginia.
Players to Watch
For WVU, it was another complete team effort across the weekend series against UCF. However, Jace Rinehart is coming off a Sunday outing that featured the senior outfielder going 2-4 with two doubles and three RBI. Rinehart also crossed the plate once, making the Mannington native responsible in some part for all four runs scored in the 4-1 victory in Sunday’s matinee against Central Florida. This was no fluke performance for Rinehart, either, as he has the second highest batting average (.351) on a Mountaineer roster that is loaded from top to bottom.
As for Marshall, Eddie Leon is always a threat when he steps into the batter’s box. Leon leads the Thundering Herd with a batting average of .278 and has started all 45 games this season. Other players for Marshall lead different categories, but Leon is the most consistent hitter and also possesses great talent defensively. Keep an eye on Leon to make some great plays on Wednesday night.
Tune In
WVU goes for the season sweep against its in-state rival, Marshall, with first pitch scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday in Charleston. ESPN+ will be carrying the game and will go live promptly at the time of first pitch. The radio stream can be found, as always, on 100.9 FM The Torch and its nine affiliate stations.
PREVIEW: Mountaineers Go For the Mountain State Sweep Wednesday
