GRANVILLE, W.Va. — In securing its 14th straight victory and 11th straight triumph in Big 12 play with a 10-5 win over Cincinnati to wrap up a three-game sweep Saturday, West Virginia got a second straight dominant start from right-handed pitcher Jack Kartsonas.

A key piece of the team’s pitching staff out of the bullpen throughout the season, Kartsonas recently began in his role as a starter with the Mountaineers last Sunday at Houston.

The results could hardly be better over two starts, with the Kent State transfer having logged 13 innings without allowing an earned run against the Cougars and Bearcats.

At Houston, Kartsonas threw 97 pitches — 51 more than he had in any outing to that point in the season — and held the Cougars scoreless on two hits over seven frames.

He followed it up with six dominant innings Saturday against the Bearcats, which featured a season-high 102 pitches. Kartsonas allowed one unearned run on one hit.

“When you’re in the bullpen, you know you’re hot four times a week,” Kartsonas said. “I’ve been able to slow down a little bit and work on stuff during the week — work on my pitches, things of that nature, throw a bullpen during the week. That’s been a big contributor to my success the last two weeks.”

Across the two starts, Kartsonas has 12 strikeouts and five walks, while he’s lowered his team-best ERA to 1.78.

A native of Pittsburgh, Kartsonas attributes much of the success in a Mountaineer uniform to his sinker, discovered not long ago following multiple offseason procedures after an injury-marked career with the Golden Flashes that cost him the entirety of the 2022 campaign.

“To that point, all the resources we have here have been a big deal for me,” Kartsonas said. “Getting on a Trackman my first bullpen off of surgery, figuring out what works and what doesn’t work, that’s been really big.”

Kartsonas was plenty effective in a relief role and described building up his pitch count as a progression.

He twice threw 43 pitches early in non-conference play, before 41 at BYU and 46 against Utah. Then came assuming the role as a starter, which has included other adjustments in preparation.

“It’s been very different the last two weeks,” Kartsonas said. “In the bullpen, we throw at 6:00 for a 6:30 game and then you’re kind of just keeping your body loose for the next two or three hours whereas [Saturday] I get rolling at 1:00 [for a 2 p.m. start] and moving around, so it’s a very different prep.”

Kartsonas has thrown the fifth most innings (30 1/3) on the Mountaineers and has the second best WHIP (Walks + Hits per inning) at 0.96.

Catcher Logan Sauve has gotten the closest look at the continued development in his time at West Virginia.

“He and I probably mess with each other the most on the team,” Sauve said. “We’ve built a really good relationship. It’s been awesome catching him. He’s a really big competitor and he loves to pitch, so it’s really fun to catch him.”