In the eyes of history, only one result would make sense for WVU Baseball at this weekend’s Tucson Regional.
West Virginia will begin its 14th NCAA Tournament appearance in Tucson, Ariz. this weekend. Despite the decent sample size, though, the Mountaineers have no history of success on their side in tournament play.
Since the establishment of the Regionals in 1975, WVU has made the round seven times but never advanced to the College World Series. The Mountaineers have made their region’s final twice, in 1982 and 2017, but fell.
Even outside of the Regional round’s existence, though, WVU simply has not had luck on its side in the postseason. Across all NCAA Tournament appearances, including those with the former district format, WVU has never won more games than its lost. Three times, the Mountaineers finished 2-2 in tournament play.
As the Mountaineers enter the Tucson Regional, though, they will obviously be looking to change that history. To do so, they will have to start by defeating Dallas Baptist on Friday and fight toward a spot in the Regional final.
Despite never getting past that final, that is a feat WVU has accomplished before, and it has a few moments in its own history it can look toward to do it again.
1996: West Virginia shocks early in the Atlantic Regional
Starting non-chronologically, the first postseason the Mountaineers will want to emulate to start their historic run was in 1996. In the six-team Atlantic Regional, West Virginia was seeded fifth but jumped out of the gate early to put impressive wins on the board.
In the first game of the Regional, WVU upset Tennessee, who finished 43-20 for the year, 8-4. In what was the teams’ third meeting all-time, WVU had earned its first over the Volunteers, and it was at the most important stage.
As stakes grew higher, though, West Virginia still had plenty of work to do in the five-round Regional, but, carrying their momentum from round one, the Mountaineers advanced just as easily in the second round.
WVU played third seed Georgia Southern in the second round, who, despite defeating Old Dominion in its first game 6-0, fell to the Mountaineers 9-4.
The Mountaineers found themselves no match for the region’s top seed, Clemson, in the quarterfinals, as they lost 6-3. In the rematch against the Volunteers in the consolation final, WVU fell 10-4 as a victim of a revenge game.
Still, though, as the third seed in Tucson this season, WVU will look to emulate this pattern of early upsets from 1996. They will start off against the 44-13 Dallas Baptist and look to carry that momentum forward.
1982: Mountaineers recover to make their first Regional final
Jumping back in time, WVU’s 1982 season is evidence that things do not necessarily have to go perfectly as planned from the start.
After falling 7-0 to South Carolina in the first round of the East Regional, WVU won a tight 7-6 game over Old Dominion to advance the top four of the region. There, the Mountaineers faced East Carolina and won a low-scoring fight, 4-1.
Defense was key in the Mountaineers’ 1982 run. Without much offensive firepower, West Virginia barely managed a 24-23 season record, and in the Regional, their offensive abilities did not see a significant change.
WVU faced South Carolina again in the finals of the region and did a far better job keeping the score low. The Mountaineers fell 2-1 in the game but controlled scoring to a level they could handle.
As such, WVU can learn from 1982 to make sure it plays the game it wants to play, even if things do not work out immediately against Dallas Baptist.
2017: Randy Mazey coaches WVU to the Winston-Salem Regional final
Coach Mazey enters this postseason with one last chance to prove himself as a winning coach of a winning program. To do that, he will likely reflect greatly on what got his Mountaineers so close in 2017.
While the region saw plenty of early blowout wins, including an 11-3 Wake Forest victory over UMBC and a 16-2 Maryland win over UMBC in the consolation game, WVU made sure it was not left out.
In their first game, the two-seeded Mountaineers dominated Maryland 9-1. Current Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah started at the mound for WVU in the game, but it was the reliever BJ Myers who came in for 5.2 innings to secure the win. Manoah allowed three hits and a run while Myers allowed four hits and no runs. Both pitchers walked a batter and struck one out.
The headline of WVU’s win, though, was the Mountaineers’ home run total. WVU hit six home runs in the game, including two each from Kyle Davis and Jimmy Galusky. With sluggers Reed Chumley, Kyle West, and JJ Wetherholt at their disposal, the current Mountaineers are not necessarily incapable of this level of success. While it should not be expected, Mazey may encourage the team to put everything out there swinging in Tucson.
Alternatively, the Mountaineers may opt for the strategy that earned them a win in their second game against Maryland in 2017. After falling 4-3 to Wake Forest, WVU matched up against a red-hot Terrapins team, but the Mountaineers cooled them down despite three Maryland home runs.
West Virginia hit no home runs but 12 important hits in the game for eight RBIs and an 8-5 victory. WVU hit two groundouts and allowed a fielder’s choice for three of its runs and found a walk for one, but the rest of the Mountaineers’ scoring came from finding good spots to hit toward. Three WVU RBIs came on outfield singles, and the other was in the form of a deep double to left center by Jackson Cramer.
The Mountaineers met Wake Forest once again in the region final and fell 12-8, but the Mountaineers tallied an impressive 10 hits, including a Kyle Gray homer off three Demon Deacon pitchers.
Finding a pitcher with a consistent rhythm was difficult for WVU in the finals loss, and with confident senior pitchers such as Derek Clark, Hayden Cooper, and closer Hambleton Oliver at his disposal, that should not be an issue for Randy Mazey this season.
West Virginia takes on Dallas Baptist in the Tucson Regional at 3 p.m. ET on Friday. The game will be streamed on ESPN2.
Photo by Aaron Parker, Blue Gold Sports
