'A Connection to the Past': Tradition Fuels WVU Baseball’s Future

The West Virginia University baseball program will honor the past this season when the Mountaineers don throwback uniforms, featuring the highly anticipated interlocking WV logo, as part of the jersey rotation throughout the year.

“The amount of feedback that we got from former players and staff members just excited that a program would honor the past because I felt like before there may have not been enough recognition for what this program had done with the resources that it had,” WVU head coach Steve Sabins said. “I think it’s just a sense of pride of 125 years of guys playing hardball for WVU. So, I think it’s a connection to the past and the present which is pretty cool.”

Although the program was established 135 years ago, West Virginia is entering its 132nd season – the difference is a three-year hiatus due to World War II. Sabins joined the program in 2016 and served under Randy Mazey, who took over the program four years prior in 2012. The 125-year mark came in year two with Sabins on the staff, referencing the Mountaineers who helped build the program prior to his arrival.

The 2017 club reached the NCAA tournament for the first time in 21 years. Two seasons later, the program hosted its first reach regional in 64 years. The Mountaineers have now made the postseason three consecutive seasons, only the second time the program has accomplished that feat. Iin Mazey’s last season at the helm, he led the program to its first Super Regionals, and in year one under Sabins, the Mountaineers returned to the Super Regionals.

When Mazey first stepped foot in Morgantown, the Mountaineers were at Hawley Field. There was some nostalgia to the old ballpark, but it didn’t meet Big 12 Conference standards. Mazey broke ground for what is now known as Kendrick Family Ballpark, which opened in 2015.

“When I was at Oklahoma State [in 2013] and we came and played here and it was the chain link fence and it was the natural grass and it was the porta potties – I tell that story all the time, but that was my motivation,” Sabins said. “Seeing that to where it is now and where we want to go from here. So, I do think its extremely valuable for the players, the staff to know whats been built here, and the fans because there’s a certain excitement that comes with growth. So, I think that’s what we’re always into and always pushing.”

Where the program is now is a perennial Big 12 power, having won two of the last Big 12 Conference Championships. The success has elevated through the course of Sabins time in Morgantown with the most recent addition coming in the form of the state-of-the-art WVU Baseball Biomechanics and Performance Center – a big step forward in just over a decade of growth.

West Virginia aims to take the next step with a trip to the College World Series. The journey begins with a three-game series at Georgia State Feb. 13-15. Game one is set for Friday with the first pitch set for 6:30 p.m. EST, game two will be played on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and the series final is scheduled for Sunday at 11:30 a.m. All the games will stream on ESPN+.

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