Who is West Virginia? The Mountaineers have never been to the College World Series, but they’ve recently become a quality baseball program. For the first time since the 1960s, they are in the NCAA Tournament for a third consecutive season, and this is the second straight year they’ve made it to the Super Regionals.
“I think it’d be fair to say that we’ve been a top 16 program in the country for the last two years, at least. We built something really, really special in Morgantown, West Virginia,” first-year WVU head coach Steve Sabins said. “We’ve had 12 big leaguers in the last 10 years, we won an outright title in the Big 12, and we’ve won two Big 12 titles in the last three years.”
“To say that our program is the upper echelon and the best of the best in the country when it comes to Division I baseball would not be an understatement.”
Last year, West Virginia won the Tucson Regional and lost to North Carolina two games to nothing in their first ever Super Regional Series. If LSU won the Chapell Hill Regional, the Tigers would have hosted West Virginia in the Super Regionals.
Head coach Randy Mazy made West Virginia relevant in college baseball and in July 2023, he announced 2024 would be his last season.
His longtime assistant, Steve Sabins, took over as the head coach and led the Mountaineers to a Big 12 regular season championship and a program high 44 wins in his first season. West Virgina was picked to finish fourth in the Big 12 Preseason Poll.
They are really good on the road, a 27-7 record away from Morgantown.
West Virginia was in position to host a Regional, but they lost 9 of their last 13 heading into Selection Monday.
But the Mountaineers found their mojo in the Clemson Regional, beating Kentucky twice and defeating Clemson 9-6.
West Virginia does not have a great offense, but they put the ball in play. As a team they’ve struck out 400 times, compared to the 453 times LSU has struck out.
As a team, they are hitting .299, with a .396 on base percentage. They’ve only hit 55 home runs, but they have swiped 108 bases. Speed on the base paths has been a characteristic of West Virginia teams in the past.
Outfielder Kyle West is West Virginia’s best power hitter. The senior has 10 home runs, and he’s walked 46 times and only struck out 36. West has a .500 on base percentage.
Another senior, outfielder Jace Rinehart leads the team with 51RBIs and also leads the team with 21 doubles. He’s a transfer from USC Upstate.
Junior designated hitter Sam White leads the team with a .352 batting average.
West Virgina has been good on the mound. A team ERA of 4.97. They average 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings, which ranks 36th in the country. They rank 21st in the country for fewest hits allowed per nine innings.
Saturday’s starter is expected to be Griffin Kirn. The six-foot-three left-hander is 5-2, with a 3.13 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 95 innings. In his last four starts, he’s allowed just eight earned runs. After starting on Friday, Kirn returned on Sunday to get the final three outs in the Clemson Regional.
Right hander Jack Karstonas is expected to start game two. He started the season in the bullpen as he was recovering from surgery to his elbow. Kartsonas has made eight starts and he’s 6-3 with a 2.94 ERA with 76 strikeouts and 64.1 innings pitched. Karstonas allowed two earned runs in 5.1 innings against Clemson last Saturday.
WVU likes to rely on Reese Bassinger out of the bullpen. He leads the team with 5 saves and he has a 4.28 ERA. Bassinger has thrown 61 innings in 29 games, which is a lot for a reliver.
West Virginia’s fielding percentage is .969 which is average. The rank 143rd in the country.
