MORGANTOWN — Logan Sauve and Griffin Kirn led a pack of nine WVU baseball players who were selected to the all-Big 12 team Monday, as voted by the league’s coaches.
Cincinnati’s Kerrington Cross was named the Big 12 Player of the Year after batting .414 with 12 home runs and 49 RBIs. Kansas coach Dan Fitzgerald was named the league’s coach of the year after guiding the Jayhawks to the most wins in program history, as KU finished 42-14 overall. Out of the 42 wins, the 20 road wins and 20 Big 12 wins both set program records.
Houston’s Antoine Jean was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Year after recording the lowest opponent batting average (.162) in the Big 12, as he held batters to 36 hits in 222 at-bats in 20 appearances. He’s the first reliever to be selected as the league’s top pitcher.
Arizona State’s Matt King and Oklahoma State’s Harrison Bodendorf shared co-newcomer of the year honors, while TCU’s Sawyer Strosnider earned Big 12 Freshman of the Year.
Sauve was named to the first team as a catcher and Kirn was named to the first team as a pitcher. It is the fourth straight season that the Mountaineers have had multiple selections on the first team.
Sauve’s selection to the first team is his second all-Big 12 honor, after being named an honorable mention selection as a freshman in 2023. This season, he’s played in 47 games and is hitting .287 with seven home runs, six of which came against Big 12 opponents, and 33 RBIs.
Kirn, who came to WVU this season as a transfer from the Division II level, finished 4-2 with a 3.36 ERA and a team-high 83 strikeouts in 77.2 innings pitched across 14 starts. Among qualified pitchers, he had the fifth-lowest ERA and the sixth-most strikeouts in the Big 12. Kirn has three double-digit strikeout games this season, including a season-high 14 against Utah.
WVU, which won the Big 12 this season for the second time in program history, also placed outfielder Kyle West and pitcher Jack Kartsonas on the all-Big 12 second team, while pitchers Reese Bassinger and Chase Meyer, as well as outfielder Jace Rinehart and utility man Sam White were named honorable mention.
WVU second baseman Gavin Kelly was named to the all-Freshman team.
West led the Mountaineers with a .352 batting average, nine home runs, a .616 slugging percentage and a .493 on-base percentage. Against Big 12 opponents, West has been even better with a .381 batting average and six home runs. It is his second all-Big 12 selection after being an honorable mention last season.
Kartsonas led all Big 12 qualified pitchers with a 2.29 ERA in 55.0 innings this season. He made 17 appearances on the mound with six starts, all of which came in conference play. He is 6-2 on the season and has 63 strikeouts against just 13 walks. Kartsonas went 5-1 against Big 12 opponents and held hitters to a .226 batting average.
Kelly played in 44 games and made 38 starts at multiple positions, including catcher, second base, and the outfield. He hit .304 with a home run, 32 RBI, and 30 runs scored while stealing 14 bases. He is the first WVU player to be named to the Big 12 All-Freshman team since J.J. Wetherholt and Chris Sleeper in 2022.
