photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas sophomore Dominic Voegele pitches the ball to start the game against Oklahoma State at Hoglund Ballpark on Friday, March 28, 2025.

Led by seven shutout innings from starter Dominic Voegele, the Kansas baseball team started its final series of the regular season with a bang on Thursday night, taking down No. 16 West Virginia 3-0 at Kendrick Family Ballpark.

Voegele has been up and down at times after entering the season as the Big 12 preseason pitcher of the year and KU’s unquestioned top-level starter, but on Thursday he was extremely consistent. He did not issue a walk and worked around six hits, all while nursing a one-run lead, including in a fourth-inning predicament that saw Kyle West reach third base with one out before Voegele struck out one of WVU’s top hitters, Sam White.

Continuing his steady performance as KU’s closer, Alex Breckheimer recorded a six-out save, rendered somewhat more comfortable by late-game solo home runs from Michael Brooks and Ian Francis. Breckheimer struck out four Mountaineers, all of them swinging.

KU’s one other run came in the first inning when, with runners at the corners and one out, WVU was not quite able to turn two against Brady Counsell and Derek Cerda ended up scoring on a fielder’s choice. The Mountaineers’ starter Griffin Kirn went eight innings and they only needed a combined three outs from two relievers, leaving WVU’s bullpen mostly intact as well.

West and Gavin Kelly recorded two hits apiece for the Mountaineers, who were held below two runs in a game for the first time all season. Despite the loss, they still sealed the Big 12 regular-season title and the conference tournament’s top seed because Arizona State lost to Oklahoma State 6-2 later on Thursday night.

As for KU, it moved into a tie for second at 18-10 in league play with ASU’s defeat and still controls its own destiny for a top-four seed and therefore first-round bye in the Big 12 tournament. The win also ensures KU will not be affected by any potential sweep of Kansas State by Cincinnati (the Bearcats won on Thursday).

Some help from Utah (against TCU) and Houston (against Arizona), though, would go a long way toward improving KU’s seeding prospects.