Preview: West Virginia at Texas Tech

LUBBOCK, Texas (Interstat) — The West Virginia Mountaineers and Texas Tech Red Raiders will meet Sunday afternoon to decide their Big 12 series after splitting the first two games at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.

First pitch is scheduled for Sunday, April 12, 2026, though rain is in the forecast with a game-time temperature of 69 degrees.

The series is tied after West Virginia (23-8, 5-3 Big 12) won 12-8 on Friday before Texas Tech (20-14, 4-7) evened it with a 4-1 victory Saturday.

A player to watch for the Mountaineers is right-hander Dawson Montesa. In his last start against Texas Tech on Friday, he earned the win despite allowing five earned runs over seven innings. He has been inconsistent, following that with a strong seven-inning, two-run outing against BYU on March 19 but struggling in subsequent starts against Arizona State and UCF.

Texas Tech will counter with right-hander Lukas Pirko, who took the loss in relief on Friday. Pirko allowed one earned run over five innings against the Mountaineers but has struggled recently, with losses in his last three appearances where he surrendered 11 total earned runs.

Interstat’s game simulator projects a 7-5 victory for West Virginia.

The Mountaineers have won six of their last eight games overall. Following Sunday’s finale, West Virginia travels to face Penn State in a neutral-site game in Hagerstown, Maryland, on Wednesday before hosting Houston for a three-game Big 12 series next weekend.

Texas Tech, after a midweek game at Abilene Christian on Tuesday, will host Incarnate Word on Wednesday before traveling to Utah for a three-game conference series starting Friday.