From a historical perspective, only one outcome can be meaningful for the WVU baseball team in this weekend’s Tucson Regional Tournament.
West Virginia University will be playing in its 14th NCAA Tournament this weekend in Tucson, Ariz. But even with a large sample size, the Mountaineers don’t have a track record of tournament success.
West Virginia has reached the finals seven times since the regional tournament was established in 1975, but has never made it to the College World Series. The Mountaineers have reached the regional finals twice, in 1982 and 2017, but lost.
But even outside of the regional round, WVU hasn’t had much luck in the postseason. In all of its NCAA Tournament appearances, including the previous regional format, WVU has never won more games than it lost. The Mountaineers finished 2-2 in the tournament three times.
But the Mountaineers, entering the Tucson Regional, are clearly looking to change that story, and to do so they must first beat Dallas Baptist University on Friday to earn a spot in the regional finals.
Though they didn’t make it past the finals, it’s a feat WVU has accomplished before, and there are several moments in the school’s history where they could do it again.
1996: West Virginia gets an early shock in the Atlantic Regional.
Though not in chronological order, the first postseason the Mountaineers hope to emulate to begin their historic run was 1996. West Virginia was a No. 5 seed in the six-team Atlantic Regional tournament but got off to a strong start and posted an impressive win.
In the first game of the regional tournament, WVU defeated Tennessee, who had a 43-20 record on the year, 8-4. It was the third time the two teams had met, and WVU came out on top when it mattered most, beating the Volunteers for the first time.
As the stakes got higher, West Virginia still had a lot of work to do in the five-round regional tournament, but riding their first-round momentum, the Mountaineers advanced just as easily in the second round.
WVU faced third-seeded Georgia Southern in the second round, but Georgia Southern had defeated Old Dominion 6-0 in the first game before losing to the Mountaineers 9-4.
The Mountaineers were no match for the region’s top seed, Clemson, in the quarterfinals, losing 6-3, and then fell victim to a rematch with the Volunteers, losing 10-4.
Still, WVU, the No. 3 seed in Tucson this season, is looking to repeat the pattern of its early upset in 1996. They’ll look to keep that momentum going in their matchup against Dallas Baptist University, 44-13.
1982: Mountaineers bounce back and reach first regional final
Going back in time, WVU’s 1982 season is evidence that things don’t always go perfectly as planned from the start.
After a 7-0 loss to South Carolina in the first round of the East Regional Tournament, WVU won a close game against Old Dominion, 7-6, to advance to the top four in the region, where the Mountaineers faced off against East Carolina and won a low-scoring game, 4-1.
Defense was the key to the Mountaineers’ success in 1982. Without much offensive power, West Virginia finished the season with a 24-23 record and didn’t see much change in its offensive output in the regional tournament.
WVU faced South Carolina again in the regional final and did a much better job of keeping the score low. Though the Mountaineers lost the game 2-1, they kept the scoring to a manageable level.
So even if WVU doesn’t get it right away against Dallas Baptist University, they can learn from the 1982 game and ensure they play the game they want to play.
2017: Randy Maisey leads WVU to the Winston-Salem Regional Final.
Coach Mazey enters this postseason with one final chance to prove himself as a winning coach with a championship team, and to do so, he’ll likely take a deep look back at what brought the Mountaineers to such a close victory in 2017.
There were a lot of early dominating wins in the region, including Wake Forest’s 11-3 win over UMBC and Maryland’s 16-2 win over UMBC in the consolation round, but WVU made sure not to lose.
In the first game, the No. 2 seeded Mountaineers swept Maryland, 9-1. WVU started with Alec Manoah, now with the Blue Jays, but it was relief pitcher BJ Myers who secured the win. Manoah gave up one run on three hits, while Myers gave up no runs on four hits. Both pitchers walked one and struck out one.
But the headline of WVU’s win was the Mountaineers’ home run total. WVU hit six homers in the game, with two each from Kyle Davis and Jimmy Galsky. With power hitters like Reed Chumlee, Kyle West and JJ Weatherholt, this level of success isn’t necessarily impossible for the Mountaineers today. It’s not something to expect, but Coach Mazey may be urging his team to give it their all in Tucson.
Or the Mountaineers may choose to use the strategy that won them the second game against Maryland in 2017. After a 4-3 loss to Wake Forest, WVU faced the in-form Terrapins, but the Mountaineers iced them despite three Maryland home runs.
Though West Virginia didn’t hit a home run, they had 12 significant hits in the game, scoring eight RBIs en route to an 8-5 victory. West Virginia hit two grounders, scored three runs on a fielder’s choice and one on a walk, but the rest of the Mountaineers’ runs came from finding good spots to hit the ball. Three of West Virginia’s RBIs came on outfield hits and the other came on a deep double to left-center field by Jackson Kramer.
The Mountaineers faced Wake Forest again in the regional final and lost 12-8, but recorded an impressive 10 hits off three Demon Deacon pitches, including a home run by Kyle Gray.
Finding a pitcher with a consistent rhythm has been a challenge for WVU coming off a loss in the finals, but with a stable of confident veterans in Derek Clark, Hayden Cooper and closer Hambleton Oliver, that shouldn’t be an issue for Randy Maisey this season.
West Virginia University will face Dallas Baptist University in the Tucson area on Friday at 3 pm ET. The game will be streamed on ESPN2.
Photo by Aaron Parker, Blue Gold Sports
