By: James Gravley | WV Sports Chat
The No. 25 West Virginia Mountaineers (3-0) and the Liberty Flames (2-1) are set to play a three-game series starting this Friday.
For the first time since 2013, the West Virginia Mountaineers and Liberty Flames are set to play each other in the three-game series. The two met for one single game in 2020 where West Virginia won 7-0.
West Virginia leads the all-time series 5-2.
West Virginia enters the second weekend series ranked No. 25, the first time that has happened in firs two weeks in recent memory.
The Mountaineers will face two stellar pitchers in Ben Blair and Bradley Zayac. Blair gets the nod Friday while Zayac cleans it up and shuts out the series on Sunday.
Blair, who is a projected early 2026 MLB Draftee, is 1-0 this year with seven strikeouts already. He brings a quick delivery to the dish and does not wait on the hitters to get settled in. This has worked well for him in the past and if the Mountaineers’ hitters aren’t ready, it will be a long day offensively.
Blair was named the CUSA Preseason Pitcher of the Year. He struck out eight in 6.0 scoreless innings against The Citadel to open the season. Tanner Marsh joined Blair on the CUSA Preseason Team.
Zayac, who transferred to Liberty from East Carolina this offseason, made 13 appearances for the Pirates, including eight starts last season. He is 1-0 and also has tabbed seven strikeouts.
On the other side Dawson Montesa for West Virginia made his debut last Saturday in the series finale against Georgia Southern.
Montesa worked six successful innings allowing two runs on six hits while not allowing a single walk and striking out seven along the way on 98 pitches thrown. Montesa earned the win and finished with a 3.00 ERA.
Chansen Cole and Maxx Yehl will need to provide more depth this weekend. That’s just the truth. If not, it will be a long weekend for WVU fans. Cole and Yehl combined have five strikeouts through 4.2 innings of work.
Photo: James Gravley | WV Sports Chat
