MORGANTOWN — No. 13 West Virginia baseball starts its three-game series with No. 23 UCF on Friday, April 3, with the first pitch at 6:30 p.m., which is the second-straight weekend the Mountaineers are facing a ranked opponent. The Knights are the top team in the Big 12 at 8-1, which is a game ahead of WVU, and have an 18-8 record overall.

Last week’s series against Arizona State was nothing but fireworks. The Sun Devils have one of the best offenses in the Big 12 and by far the best hitter, Landon Hairston. Hairston went off and had a homer in all three games, but WVU’s offense outscored Arizona State in two of the three games, winning the shootouts and keeping its undefeated series streak alive.

This week against UCF, it will be a different story. The Knights don’t have home run hitters like Arizona State. UCF relies on its dominant pitching to shut down offenses, winning low-scoring battles. The Knights are second in the conference, behind WVU, with a 4.24 ERA this season.

UCF’s ace is junior Matt Sauser, who leads the conference with the lowest ERA (0.64). The right-hander has allowed two earned runs and just 13 hits in 28 innings this season. He didn’t pitch in the latest series against Arizona because he was a late scratch with back tightness. Sauser could be good to go in a much more crucial series this weekend.

But if Sauser isn’t healed up, the drop off isn’t much from the next starter. Camden Wicker is UCF’s No. 2 pitcher, and he’s third in the Big 12 in ERA (2.78). The only pitcher to separate the two, in second, is WVU’s ace, Maxx Yehl. Wicker is 6-foot-7 and has pitched 32.1 innings, allowing 17 hits and 10 earned runs.

WVU is expected to go with the same rotation of Dawson Montesa, Chansen Cole and Yehl, like it normally does. Montesa was lit up against Arizona State, but the other two starters shut down the high-powered offense. Even after facing the Sun Devils, the Mountaineers’ pitching is the best in the Big 12, setting up a pitching duel this weekend, especially since there isn’t a lot of power between the two programs.

WVU is last in the Big 12 in home runs, and UCF is just ahead of them in 13th. Both teams rely more on situational hitting to score runs and a lot of help from the pitching staff. WVU’s offense is fourth in the Big 12, and UCF’s is ranked No. 7.

UCF does have some bats to watch out for. John Smith III leads the team with a .387 batting average, five doubles and five home runs. Andrew Williamson is the power on the team and leads with 25 RBIs and leads the team with six home runs. It won’t be too high-stress of a weekend for WVU’s pitching staff.

However, it’ll be important for the offense to break through UCF’s starting pitching. Gavin Kelly and Paul Schoenfeld had double-digit game hitting streaks before the Arizona game. Schoenfeld leads the team in average (.422), and Kelly is just behind (.415). Kelly is tied with Matthew Graveline and Sean Smith with a team-high four home runs. Kelly was named to the Buster Posey Award Watch List, presented to the nation’s most outstanding catcher. He’s one of 50 pitchers on the list.

Head coach Steve Sabins asked on social media for fans to pack Kendrick Family Ballpark, and he’ll definitely get a crowd with the first top 25 matchup in Morgantown of the year. Fans shouldn’t expect homers at the plate, but a lot of top pitching on the mound.

UCF is also the second-highest ranked Big 12 team in the Division I Baseball rankings, so like last weekend, this could be a preview of the Big 12 Tournament Championship in late May.