WVU is One Win Away From Hosting a Super Regional for the First Time Ever

Over the last decade or so, the West Virginia baseball program has loved making history. Whether it's making the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 21 years, winning a conference title, developing first-round picks, hosting a regional, or making it to super regionals for the first time.

The ascension of this program is hard to even fathom.

And thanks to an incredible come-from-behind win last night over Kentucky, coupled with Saint Mary's beating UCLA again and knocking them out of the field, the Mountaineers are one win away from making more history — hosting super regionals for the first time ever.

“I think Joey (Cuomo), our Director of Operations, said that in the dugout," WVU head coach Steve Sabins said in his postgame press conference. "And I was like, ‘Awesome. 'We need more motivation to win tomorrow,' he said sarcastically while laughing. Like, at a certain point, there’s just no more (motivation). You probably need less. Let’s go turn a couple double plays and throw some strikes. It’s awesome, but definitely not more motivation. We just want to keep playing together as a team.”

He's absolutely right. UCLA losing doesn't give you more of a desire to win. That motivation is already there, as evident last night. The Mountaineers were down three heading to the ninth with the 7-8-9 hitters due up, and never once thought about feeling sorry for themselves and throwing in the towel. They were going to go down swinging, and it just so happened that one particular swing from Paul Schoenfeld flipped the script in a hurry, extending WVU's season at least another 24 hours.

The crowd was phenomenal last night and should be once again tonight, doing everything they possibly can to push the Mountaineers into the next round, which would allow them to host Cal Poly in a best-of-three with a spot in the College World Series on the line.

Cal Poly went a perfect 3-0 in the Los Angeles regional, beating Virginia Tech and Saint Mary's twice. Thanks to the Gaels' two upsets, they were able to avoid UCLA. Prior to the tournament, Cal Poly had struggled against high-quality opponents this season, losing four games to USC, three to UC Santa Barbara, and three to Oregon State.

A super regional in Morgantown would be absolutely nuts. But first things first, they have to take care of business tonight and send Kentucky packing.

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