photo by: WVU Athletics

WVU pitcher Ian Korn (18) is set to make his first start against Cincinnati.

MORGANTOWN — No. 12 West Virginia baseball’s midweek game against Pitt is one they’ll scrap. The Mountaineers were decimated 23-1, which was the biggest Backyard Brawl loss in history.

WVU’s pitching is something you can circle as the biggest issue in that game. The Mountaineers went with Bryson Thacker, who made his first start, and he allowed three home runs in just over an inning. He was relieved, and the bullpen didn’t do any better. WVU’s pitching walked 15 batters, let up five home runs and allowed 19 runs in three innings. WVU was mercied in seven innings.

But the pitching problems started way before the Backyard Brawl, going back to Game 2 against Houston. WVU’s ace Maxx Yehl left the game early with an injury. His injury impacted Thacker’s start on Tuesday in the Backyard Brawl. Steve Sabins also wanted to see David Hagen in a different spot.

“Thacker threw on Sunday, and the ball came out good,” Sabins said. “We’ve seen Thacker be really good for us in the fall when he started for us… Hagen has been able to go two or three innings in these midweek games, but the performance has been a little bit stale… So we wanted to put him in a different role.”

Thacker started because this weekend, in a three-game series against Cincinnati, Yehl won’t be available. Instead of Dawson Montesa on Friday and Yehl on Saturday, which is how it normally goes, WVU is going with relief pitcher Ian Korn to start Friday, moving Montesa to Saturday. This will be Korn’s first start.

Korn is a graduate transfer from Seton Hill, which is a Division II school, and he’s been pretty solid out of the pen. He’s been one of the stronger relief pitchers WVU has and can go a couple of innings. In his last outing, Korn pitched five innings, allowed three hits and let up just a run. He has a 3.22 ERA in 36 innings pitched and 34 strikeouts.

Out of all the relief pitchers, Korn is the most worthy to start.

“He’s just pitched so much in his career,” Sabins said. “He’s got hundreds of innings in his career. He’s been a starter. He’s gone long in games.”

Korn has developed over the span of the season, too. In his first outing, back in February, Korn allowed five runs. From there, Korn has only been better, and he’s at most let up two runs.

Sabins has seen improvement, even being an older guy.

“He’s the perfect definition of a guy that showed up here and got better,” Sabins said. “He developed some pitches. He’s got a better slider, his velocity has increased, so you pair that with a guy that’s been starting his whole college career and can command the ball. That’s kind of where we’re at right now.”

Korn’s making his first start in a big series for WVU, especially after getting rolled by Pitt. Cincinnati is 8-10 in the Big 12 and is 27-16 this season. 8-10 might not sound great, but the Bearcats just took two games over UCF, who is the only team that has beaten the Mountaineers in a series. The series win knocked the Knights out of the top 25 in the Division I Baseball rankings.

Korn will face the sixth-best offense in the conference and have some of the top hitters in the Bearcats lineup. Freshman catcher Enzo Infelise is their best hitter with an average of .375, and they have one of the best power hitters in the Big 12, Quinton Coats. Coats is tied for the most home runs in the Big 12 with 23.

Cincinnati’s pitching is also strong and has the third-best staff in the league, which is just behind WVU. The Mountaineers’ offense needs a big bounce-back game, too, after the starting lineup just had two hits. WVU’s best hitter, Gavin Kelly, is back in the lineup, so that’ll help the offense.

But, it’ll be on Korn to set the tone in Game 1 of the series at 6 p.m. WVU doesn’t fare too well in the first game of the series, so maybe Korn will turn the tide.

“We’re definitely riding high with Korn,” Sabins said. “He’s been great. It’s about guys getting better, and he’s one of those guys who have made a jump.”