West Virginia baseball lost the last game against Kennesaw State for its second loss of the season. The Mountaineers canceled the series against Radford and then the makeup against Marshall. Amidst the scheduling changes, coach Steve Sabins dismissed All-Big 12 pitcher Chase Meyer from the team. WVU opened the three-game series against Columbia with a loss as well.

It was looking like the week of negativity was taking its toll on the team. Brodie Kresser changed the downward trajectory with a walk-off grand slam in Game 2, making it a rubber match for the final game. WVU carried the momentum into the finale and hung 16 on the Lions, winning its fourth series of the season. The Mountaineers haven’t lost a series yet this year.

After a big high, winning back-to-back games, WVU faces its toughest opponent yet for a midweek home game against Maryland on Tuesday, March 10, at 2 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.

The Terrapins are by far the best team WVU’s played this season. Georgia Southern and Liberty are no slouches, but this is the first power school the Mountaineers have faced this season. Maryland is 10-5 and is also on a two-game win streak, beating Troy in a three-game series over the past weekend.

WVU has had the Terrapins’ number recently. The Mountaineers have won the past five meetings between the two. Maryland hasn’t played in Morgantown since 2018, when it also lost. But, since 2001, the series is tied 11-11.

Maryland has some sluggers. Brayden Martin leads with a .443 batting average and four doubles. It’ll be interesting to see how the Mountaineers’ pitching staff throws to the big bat of Ryan Costello. Costello had two home runs in the Troy series and is now one of the leaders in all of college baseball with nine.

David Hagen is expected to face Costello first, getting the nod as WVU’s midweek starting arm. Hagen started just one game this season in WVU’s last midweek game on Feb. 25 on Ohio. The sophomore didn’t pitch long in his start. Hagen pitched two innings, allowed two hits and struck out one. WVU’s offense put up 19 runs on the day, so he had a lot of run support.

Sabins used the game to get as many arms in as he could, but against Maryland, who is a much better opponent, he might use a different strategy.

“We went into the game with a plan of trying to get eight arms in the game,” Sabins said after Ohio. “Getting guys in, that’s a luxury. You have to be able to win the game first and foremost. But, if you want to be best at the end of the season, you have to get guys experience.”

Maryland’s pitching staff isn’t anywhere near WVU’s. The Mountaineers have a top-50 ERA, while the Terrapins are closer to 130. WVU takes advantage of bad pitching, like against Ohio and in the final game of the Columbia series. But in Game 1 against the Lions, WVU faced a top pitcher and lost.

“Their starting pitcher on Friday was really good,” Sabins said after the Columbia series.

The one loss against Columbia dropped the Mountaineers out of the top 25 of the Division I Baseball rankings. Sabins said he didn’t care about rankings before the season started, after WVU was preseason ranked No. 3 in the Big 12. He might find it odd that the impact of the one loss had on the most recent rankings.

A dominant win against a Big Ten school like Maryland, who has won 10 games, could vault them back into the top 25. But, it might take some more convincing, and could take a couple of wins against Baylor this weekend as Big 12 play starts up.