WVU Baseball Moves Up to Best 2026 Rank Yet in National Polls

Rallying for back-to-back wins to claim another Big 12 series has WVU Baseball moving up the national rankings.

At the start of the new week, West Virginia is now ranked in their best spot yet at No. 11 by Perfect Game and at No. 13 by both Baseball America and D1Baseball and

WVU took Sunday night’s game and their series with then No. 22 Arizona State, winning 9-5 as starter Chansen Cole and closer David Perez combined for a complete game.

Cole struggled with command early, allowing a leadoff home run, plunking three batters and needing a mound visit in the first inning alone. The No. 17 Mountaineers (19-5, 7-2 Big 12) turned a double play behind him, limiting the damage to one run and 22 pitches thrown. Cole worked through traffic but managed to complete 5.1 innings of one-run ball, head coach Steve Sabins turning to Perez with two on and one out in the sixth.

West Virginia led 4-1 at that point, Sean Smith breaking through with a grand slam in the top of the frame that put him at seven RBI in the past two days. Matt Graveline stole home in the eighth, continuing the Mountaineers’ daring base running success, and West Virginia added three more runs in the ninth, an RBI double from Paul Schoenfeld and a two-run single off the bat of Brock Wills.

WVU Baseball will continue their Grand Canyon State road trip during midweek play, facing Arizona at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, March 31. They scheduled the one-off before the Wildcats joined the Big 12, so it counts as an out-of-conference matchup.

Find more coverage of the WVU baseball program at WV Sports Now.