In the third game of the three-game series with Georgia Southern, West Virginia baseball gave the ball to Division II transfer Dawson Montesa to start. WVU was on the verge of a sweep, winning the first two games.

Montesa had a lot of hype around him as potentially another great Division II transfer pitcher, as WVU had in the past with Derek Clark and Griffin Kirn, who were both drafted into the MLB. Steve Sabins also called Montesa a “superstar” before the game.

The former Adelphi player had a lot of pressure on him, but he lived up to the hype. In a low-scoring game, Montesa had the best start out of WVU’s three starting pitchers. He pitched six innings — the most of any starter — allowed just two runs and struck out seven batters.

And Sabins’ plan was for each starter to just go four innings, so Montesa exceeded those expectations.

“Dawson Montesa probably had the best start out of anybody,” Sabins said. “Certainly, had the best start out of anybody this weekend. He was really competitive. He found his curveball in the third inning and was able to really pitch off of that, and that helped play up his fastball a little bit.”

Montesa helped WVU win the third game 5-2.

But Montesa wasn’t the only Division II pitcher who hit the mound at some point over the three-game series. Sabins pitched all three of his Division II arms.

The series started with young Division II transfer Chansen Cole on Feb. 13. Cole’s start didn’t go the distance like Montesa’s and wasn’t as dominant. Cole was still ironing out the kinks and finding the strike zone. Cole pitched just two innings and two outs, but he allowed two runs and walked three batters over 63 pitches.

“Cole started off on Friday and held his own,” Sabins said. “Certainly, he wasn’t as sharp as we had seen him in the past. He never really quite got his change-up working the way that he wanted to, but got his feet wet.”

Division II Pitcher of the Year Ian Korn came in during the second game as a relief pitcher. Korn came in and pitched four innings, which was a lot more than some of the relief pitchers, and it was longer than that game’s starter, Maxx Yehl, who just pitched two. Korn allowed eight hits and five runs on 60 pitches. He struck out three.

“Ian Korn really neutralized and stabilized the game for us,” Sabins said. “He clipped off four innings this weekend.”

Korn and Cole weren’t the only two on the staff who struggled. WVU went through 13 pitchers against Georgia Southern, and the Eagles scored 15 runs over three games. WVU walked 20 batters.

It wasn’t the softest landing spot because it was the first series of the season, and Georgia Southern isn’t a bad offensive team. The Eagles had the sixth-best batting average in the Sun Belt Conference and were one of the few teams to score over 500 runs.

“I think we played a very competitive offense, and so it was awesome to see them get challenged,” Sabins said.

This is the first series of a long series, so best to leave the judging, whether it be positive or negative, to after more than just a couple of innings. Sabins, who recruited the three, liked what he saw in all three pitchers for their first time stepping on the mound for the gold and blue.

“It was great to see them out there competing for the first time at the Division I level,” Sabins said. “Those kids did great, especially in their first outing. I think they’re going to learn a lot and grow and develop, but really liked what we saw.”