photo by: AP Photo/Colin E. Braley

Kansas' Derek Cerda celebrates as he heads toward home plate after hitting a homerun during first inning of an NCAA college baseball game against Milwaukee on Thursday, March 6, 2025, in Lawrence.

The Kansas baseball team completed a road sweep of Big 12 regular-season champion and national No. 16 West Virginia on Saturday afternoon by shutting out the Mountaineers 7-0 at Kendrick Family Ballpark.

KU pitcher Kannon Carr went 5 1/3 shutout innings while giving up just two hits and one walk — the first time in league play that he has not allowed a run — and center fielder Derek Cerda broke the game open with a two-out three-run home run in the eighth inning.

The Jayhawks successfully locked up a No. 2 seed in the Big 12 tournament, meaning they will play their first postseason game at 4 p.m. on Thursday at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. They are now also extremely likely to get a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, as even prior to Saturday they were No. 24 in RPI.

KU is not, however, the league champion, despite having swept the first-place team.

Although they have more total wins in conference play, the Jayhawks’ league record of 20-10 results in a lower win percentage, .667, than West Virginia’s 19-9 (.679). The Mountaineers had two games canceled in March during a series against Oklahoma State because of wildfires taking place in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Between Thursday and Saturday at Kendrick Family Ballpark, KU outscored WVU by a combined tally of 18-5. The Jayhawks’ starting pitching did the heavy lifting throughout, between Dominic Voegele’s seven shutout innings on Thursday, Cooper Moore’s three earned runs allowed in eight innings on Friday and Carr’s arguably season-best showing on Saturday.

Moore got a boost from his offense, particularly a three-run home run by Brady Ballinger that — like Cerda’s — quadrupled KU’s lead when it had a one-run advantage. KU tacked on two more runs in the fifth and Alex Breckheimer shook off a ninth-inning homer by Ellis Garcia to win 8-5.

On Saturday, WVU didn’t threaten KU nearly that much. The Mountaineers got a couple runners in scoring position early, once on a double and once on an error and wild pitch, but never brought them home. Dariel Osoria hit KU’s go-ahead RBI single in the top of the sixth, and after Carr allowed a single in the bottom of the inning, Manning West struck out two Mountaineers swinging.

West was steady the rest of the way, and he also struck out Kyle West in the sixth inning, at that point holding a 4-0 cushion, when Gavin Kelly had reached third base on a wild pitch.

KU shortstop Sawyer Smith hit a solo home run in the ninth, defensive replacement Tommy Barth hit an RBI double and Ballinger scored on a wild pitch for KU’s final three runs before West finished up the game.

Ballinger was 3-for-4 with a double, Osoria and Smith tallied two hits apiece and Cerda hit the three-run home run.

The Jayhawks, looking to continue the best season in recent program history, will turn their attention to the Big 12 Championship in Arlington. Their opponent is yet to be determined, but it will be the winner of a matchup on Wednesday between the No. 7 and No. 10 seeds.

Last year in Arlington, when the event still had a double-elimination format, KU beat Kansas State, lost to Oklahoma, beat TCU and then squandered a 6-0 lead against Oklahoma with a trip to the tournament final on the line.