INSTITUTE, W.VA. – West Virginia State Baseball concludes its 2022 regular season campaign Saturday, splitting a four-game series with cross-county rivals Charleston. State will host the Golden Eagles for a pair of games Saturday at Cal Bailey Field, while UC will host the Yellow Jackets Sunday at the Welch Athletic Complex.

First pitch is slated at 1 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, with video and live stats available for all four contests. Saturday, State will honor its nine seniors/graduate students prior to the game.

 Saturday will be the first regular season contest for the two county rivals since May of 2019. The two teams met a year ago in the NCAA Regional in Charleston, a marathon affair lasting over five hours with five rain delays. UC was victorious 12-8.

That crew includes stalwart Andrew Stone, fellow graduate students Andrew Sharp, Matthew Kline, Daniel Brandon, and Austin Martin, senior catchers Dylan Ball and Cole Kiddy, utility man Trey Junkins, and exceptional infielder Brett Christian.

THE SCOOP ON STATE
State has won 10 of their last 11 games, most recently sweeping Davis & Elkins and taking 3-of-4 from both WV Wesley­an and Glenville State in critical South Division series. The Yellow Jackets carry a 24-17 record, going 16-12 in the league.

 Freshman pitcher Quincy Thornton has been dynamic in his last two starts, tossing complete game shutouts-- State's only shutouts of the season. Thornton is also the only Yellow Jacket this season to claim a conference weekly honor, being dubbed MEC Pitcher of the Week for his efforts against WV Wesleyan.

Sophomore outfielder Ryan Kay has been explosive offensively, carrying a 12-game hit streak as he enters the weekend. In those 12 games, Kay has tallied three hits or more in six games, including four in a row.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES
UC carries a 30-14 clip into the weekend, with a 22-6 mark in MEC action. The Golden Eagles are coming off a 3-2 heartbreaker to WVU in Morgantown earlier this week, but prior to that, took 3-of-4 from visiting Concord.

Charleston sits atop the division, and has the second-highest batting average amongst the league at .330. They are lead individually by redshirt junior Tyler Dellerman, who also leads the squad with 11 home runs.

On the mound, the team posts a collective ERA of 4.94, but does not boast a pitcher with a sub-3.00 ERA.