It’s hard to beat a team four times. West Virginia baseball realized that Saturday night against Kansas.

The Mountaineers were shut out by the Jayhawks 9-0 in the Big 12 Championship game, losing their first game to Kansas this season. WVU swept the Jayhawks in the regular season on the road, but couldn’t win one of the most important games of the year.

But it’s not the end of the road for the Mountaineers. WVU will see if it will host an NCAA Tournament Regional, which is announced on Sunday. The Mountaineers are projected to host, and haven’t since 2019.

The Mountaineers kept it within striking distance for a while. WVU went with Ian Korn on the mound to start the game. Korn made his third start of the season, just a few days after he pitched in the first game of the Big 12 Tournament against Kansas State, coming in relief. He pitched two and a third innings against the Wildcats and didn’t allow a run.

In the championship game, Korn allowed a solo shot in the first inning from Tyson Owens, but then he settled in. Korn didn’t allow a run until the sixth inning, when Kansas took the lead 2-0 on a single. He finished with five and two-thirds innings, allowed two runs, struck out two, walked two batters, and let up five hits.

Reese Bassinger came in for relief of Korn, who is the second-best option out of the pen, aside from Korn. In the seventh, Bassinger allowed a single, scoring a run, making it 3-0. Then, Josh Dykhoff homered off of him to score three, opening up the game.

After Bassinger, WVU went with Dawson Montesa to try to stop the bleeding. Montesa started most of the season, but came out of the pen in the championship game. He didn’t have his best stuff. Augusto Mungarrieta homered off of him. Jordan Bach did the same on a solo shot, and Kansas blew it open to 8-0 in the seventh.

J.T. Huether came in for Montesa, and he allowed a run, making it 9-0. Dykhoff had three RBIs in the game, and Tyson LeBlanc had three hits as the top hitter for the Jayhawks. Mungarrieta and Bach both had two hits. A lot better than in the three-game series.

WVU had multiple chances to score some runs. In the fifth inning, down just a run, WVU had a runner on third with just one out. WVU couldn’t ask for a better hitter to come up to the plate in Gavin Kelly. He’s a top hitter in the Big 12 and a top prospect in the 2027 MLB Draft class. He hit the ball to right field for a sacrifice fly, and Brodie Kresser tagged, trying to score home. He was thrown out at home, which would’ve tied the game and maybe provided some momentum, but came up empty.

In the sixth, WVU had another chance and had the bases loaded with just one out. Kresser popped out for the second out, and then Brock Wills grounded out at short, ending the inning. Two innings, with back-to-back chances, and WVU came up with nothing.

WVU had six hits the entire game, compared to Kansas’s better situational hitting, where they had 11 hits. The Jayhawks are known for their long ball, too. Kansas had the third most homers in the Big 12 before the postseason, and the only way they scored in the three-game series was with a home run.

WVU wasted most of its top pitching in the first two games of the tournament. Maxx Yehl pitched in the first game, and Korn pitched a few innings, and then Chansen Cole pitched in Game 2, using up all three of the best pitchers.

The Mountaineers have a chance to bounce back in the NCAA Tournament. WVU has done pretty well and made it to the Super Regional last season. The Mountaineers ultimately fell to LSU, who won the National Championship. The Mountaineers learn their fate on Monday, when the full bracket is revealed.