It was an unorthodox weekend for No. 12 West Virginia baseball in its three-game series heading to Cincinnati. The Mountaineers played an extra-inning game, had a game postponed, making for a doubleheader on Saturday, and did all of it without their top pitcher, Maxx Yehl.

In Game 3 of the series Sunday afternoon, in a rubber match, WVU blew a 5-2 lead in the eighth inning, losing 7-5 to Cincinnati, falling in its second series of the season. WVU needed a big bounce-back series this weekend, after being blasted in the Backyard Brawl on Tuesday by Pitt. The tide looked turned after winning the first game of the series in the 13th inning, 9-5, which started Friday and ended Saturday, but then they lost Game 2 5-2.

Losing two this weekend doesn’t help overall in the Mountaineers’ hopes to host a regional and in the Big 12 standings. WVU is now 28-12 overall and 13-8 in the conference. A win in Game 3 would’ve made WVU tied with UCF for the second-best record in the conference. The Knights would’ve still have been ahead because they have the tiebreaker, because they won the three-game series in Morgantown. Kansas leads the Big 12.

WVU had Game 3 and the series in its grasp, too. The Mountaineers had a 5-2 lead heading into the eighth inning. Paul Schoenfeld, who had a big weekend, helped WVU rack up some early runs in the first three innings, and Gavin Kelly singled to score in the seventh.

With Reese Bassinger on the mound in the eighth, Cincinnati rallied and scored five runs to take the series. WVU had runners on to score more runs, but couldn’t reel them in.

Dawson Montesa started the game and pitched well, too. Montesa went four innings and an out, let up two runs and struck out three, but the bullpen and the lack of situation hitting really let the starter down.

The starting pitching and bullpen were going to be out of sorts this weekend and for the entire week. Steve Sabins and WVU had to debut two new starting pitchers because Yehl missed the weekend, recovering from an injury in the Houston series. Relief pitcher Ian Korn received the nod in the first game of the series, making his first start for the Mountaineers. Korn had been a reliable arm out of the pen for WVU.

In his first start, Korn went four innings and an out, allowed five hits, struck out five and allowed three earned runs. For the first start, Korn did enough to turn it over to the pen and the offense to take the first game.

Schoenfeld singled to tie the game in the ninth, and then Maxwell Molessa singled to get the offense going in the 13th. Schoenfeld also helped in the 13th. The Mountaineers had 18 hits over the 13 innings, with Schoenfeld, Matthew Graveline, Brock Wills and Kelly all having three.

The bats were a lot quieter in Game 2 of the series behind Chansen Cole. The Mountaineers had just six hits, with two of them coming from Armani Guzman. Game 2 also wrapped up a long day. Cole went three innings, allowed two earned runs and struck out four. WVU tied the game for a brief moment, but couldn’t generate enough offense to win the series in two games.

Now, WVU finished the week 1-3, losing two to Cincinnati and the beatdown it took in the Backyard Brawl. The Mountaineers turn their attention to Penn State, who they play next in State College on Tuesday. Then WVU gets to head back home to host a three-game series against Kansas State for a bounce-back series in conference.