WVU baseball head coach Steve Sabins has been nothing short of great this offseason in the transfer portal. And on Saturday, Sabins and his staff landed yet another talented player from the transfer portal.
The pitching staff needed to be retooled after the 2025 season, which ended with WVU getting swept in two games by LSU in the NCAA Super Regional. Sabins and his staff have jumped all over the recruiting game early in the offseason, chasing talented players on the mound in particular.
National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Division II Pitcher of the Year Ian Korn committed to the Mountaineers on Saturday, transferring from Seton Hill (PA), who recently finished their season with a trip to the Division 2 Super Regional. Korn is not the only pitcher who has committed to the WVU staff early in the offseason, following the commitments of Chansen Cole and Owen Puk earlier this month.
BREAKING - West Virginia just landed a big arm. DII National Pitcher of the Year Ian Korn is joining #WVU after a dominant season at Seton Hill, where he went 11-2 with a 1.81 ERA. #HailWV
— WVSports.com (@WVSportsDotCom) June 14, 2025
Details and quotes 👉 https://t.co/JUEr6ENFBg pic.twitter.com/pAqO1EBZGV
Korn was dominant at the Division II level, posting a staggeringly low 1.81 ERA with an 11-2 record in 84.1 innings pitched. Along with his ultra-impressive low ERA, Korn added 83 strikeouts in his 84.1 innings of work, good enough for an 8.86 strikeouts per nine innings pitched (K/9).
Korn will be a redshirt senior for the Mountaineers in 2026 and will be expected to have an immediate impact on this WVU pitching staff. First Team All-Big 12 and Third-Team All-American pitcher Griffin Kirn does not have any eligibility left, and the Mountaineers will need to replace their Friday Night ace.
In addition, starter Jack Kartsonas has graduated, and starter Gavin Van Kempen has entered the transfer portal, so WVU baseball will need to replace all three weekend series starters. Korn, Cole, Puk, and incoming freshman Weston Smith will all compete for starting roles on the 2026 WVU pitching staff.
If Korn or Cole can resemble anything that Kirn was in his final season, transferring into WVU from the DII level, the WVU starting rotation will be in a great position. The transfer portal is still open for non-graduate transfers until July 1, and coach Sabins and staff still have some time to land some additional talent still floating in the portal. Could this be the best class in WVU baseball history? We can only wait and see.