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Dominion Post
6 days ago
- Sport
- Dominion Post
No. 24 WVU going into super regional with expectations of beating the odds
BATON ROUGE, La. — They call it 'The Intimidator' for fairly obvious reasons. LSU baseball's billboard-sized sign towering above the right field bleachers at Alex Box Stadium — and directly across from the visitor's dugout — shows all seven national title years for arguably college baseball's most storied program. Even more than the blistering heat, thick Cajun accents or anything else, it is the ultimate reminder of where you are. This is what stands in No. 24 West Virginia baseball's way as it tries to win the Baton Rouge Super Regional and clinch its first College World Series appearance in program history. That, all the rest of the mystique around the Tigers and, of course, a tremendously talented LSU (46-15) team it will have to beat twice in a three-game series. Almost nobody makes it out in June. The Tigers have won 23 of 27 home regionals in program history, and nine of 12 home Super Regionals. This year's Tigers are 33-6 at home. But West Virginia has prepared for this all season. 'This environment is incredible,' head coach Steve Sabins said. 'This will be something that is great for our kids. But going to Clemson before we came here certainly puts us in a better situation than going to a quiet, golf clap community.' West Virginia (44-14) swept through three games at a hostile Clemson Regional last weekend, bringing its season total for wins away from Morgantown to a nation-leading 27. The Mountaineers went 10-3 in road Big 12 games and like most cold-weather teams, spent the first two weeks of the season on the road. 'As a team we love being on the road,' senior pitcher Reese Bassinger said. 'On the road you're going to have a lot of fans that really want you to suck, really want you to lose. And that's where I think we come in together really well. Last week we played against probably 8,000 fans at Clemson, and there were 27 of us rooting for each other in the dugout.' Everything this weekend is an adjustment, from the quality of the opponent, the size of the stadium and even the weather. For as much as playing in different environments can prepare a team, the heat index for Saturday's 2 p.m. ET (ESPN) first pitch is expected to break triple-digits. 'The reality is this is different from what we play in,' Sabins said. 'It's extremely hot and it's extremely humid. We had to do things to mitigate those circumstances. I think our guys are in a good spot.' Where West Virginia may legitimately be able to carve out an advantage is in terms of experience and building off last year. Ironically, this was very nearly the super regional match-up 12 months ago. West Virginia won its regional, but traveled to North Carolina — not LSU — after the Tar Heels squeaked out a ninth-inning rally against the Tigers in the regional final. It was West Virginia's players who earned an opportunity on this stage, not LSU's. The Mountaineers were in both games, but dropped 8-6 and 2-1 decisions in the program's first-ever super regional. But this roster features 21 upperclassmen, 11 players who were on the field in Chapel Hill last June and almost astonishingly given the historical gulf, West Virginia actually has more players on its roster with super regional experience than LSU. 'People are ready to go,' Bassinger said. 'It's not like, 'Oh, we're in a super!' It's like, 'Yeah, we're in a super, let's win it.' ' Sabins announced staff ace Griffin Kirn will start game one, but did not confirm a pitcher for Sunday. Kirn allowed one earned run in 7 1/3 innings against Kentucky in the regional opener last Friday, then pitched an inning of relief in Sunday's clinching win. LSU head coach Jay Johnson did not announce his pitching plans, but it really is only a question of order. Starters Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson make up the best one-two punch in college baseball. Regardless of who goes in game one, at some point this weekend the Mountaineers will face two of the top three strikeout pitchers in the nation, a combined 291 whiffs in 189 2/3 innings. But no matter who is on the mound, where the match-up is or how much history the opponent has, this is the same situation for West Virginia. Back on the road, definitely as underdogs, just where it has thrived all year. 'That's the entire mentality of this state,' Sabins said. 'It's incredibly blue collar. People value hard work, they value grit, they value overcoming adversity. So, I know our team has embodied those characteristics.' Two more road wins, and his team will get to take the ultimate trip. — Story by Alan Cole
Associated Press
30-05-2025
- General
- Associated Press
Kresser, Guzman combine for 9th inning run and West Virginia tops Kentucky 4-3 in Clemson Regional
CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Brodie Kresser doubled leading off the ninth inning and scored on a sacrifice fly by Armani Guzman to lift West Virginia to a 4-3 win over Kentucky in the Clemson Regional on Friday. Kresser advanced to third on a passed ball before Guzman sent a soft liner into center field. Griffin Cameron made a diving catch but by the time he got up and fired home, Kresser scored easily. The Mountaineers (42-14), who set a program record for wins, play No. 11 overall seed Clemson or South Carolina Upstate in a winner's game Saturday. The Wildcats (29-25) will play the loser in an elimination game. Kentucky got three runs in the fourth, but West Virginia tied it in the sixth. Both scored a pair of unearned runs on throwing errors. Reese Bassinger (7-1) got the final five outs for the win in relief of Griffin Kirn, who gave up five hits with five strikeouts. Guzman, the No. 9 hitter, had two hits. Simon Gregersen (0-6) pitched two perfect innings in relief before giving up Kresser's double and was replaced by Jackson Nove. Starter Ben Cleaver went six innings with six hits and five strikeouts. ___ AP college sports:
Dominion Post
05-05-2025
- Sport
- Dominion Post
COLUMN: WVU's steady baseball focus keeps it ready for whatever story is told
GRANVILLE — Reese Bassinger simply pulled up a corner of the box score Saturday night, as he began what seemed like a rather simple explanation. The WVU relief pitcher, who had just come off the bench cold to throw seven innings to hand the 13th-ranked Mountaineers a crucial 3-2 win against Texas Tech in the second game of a doubleheader, took a quick glance at the number 38, which signified the number of wins accumulated by WVU to that point. 'Right next to the 38, it doesn't say anywhere how we won. It says we won,' Bassinger said. 'It's kind of like I could give up six line drives in a row, if they're caught, they're outs.' Rather, it was Bassinger's intention to do so or not, the words stretched well beyond the obvious. Any one person could take that 38 — now 39 following WVU's 5-0 win against the Red Raiders on Sunday, at Frederick Family Ballpark — and analyze it 100 different ways. There's the feel-good angle, in that this regular season will soon become unlike any other in school history. With a win at Pitt on Tuesday, the Mountaineers would match the program record of 40 wins in a season … with six games remaining, then a Big 12 tournament and then a NCAA tournament. It's quite possible WVU could get to 50 wins before it's all said and done, not to mention win an outright Big 12 title and then who knows after that. In short, one way or another, this season will create history. There's also the overly worrisome angle, which is the one taken by those who bury themselves deep into the numbers provided by the RPI, strength of schedules and NCAA-tournament projections. That is a journey that tells a slightly different story. WVU is just one of two schools ranked in the top 35 of the RPI with a strength of schedule ranked higher than 100th in the nation. In terms of playing Quad 1 opponents, WVU has done it seven times to this point, anywhere between 11 and 18 fewer than the bulk of SEC schools. And so those wins, especially the ones that didn't come in convincing fashion, will get nit-picked and scrutinized. For those who are quick to hop on board to conspiracy theories about the NCAA selection committees being against WVU athletics — including our state's own Governor — you are now on deck. Depending on how the Mountaineers play out the season, it's quite possible that a team with 40-some wins and a Big 12 regular-season title, is not a regional host for the NCAA tournament. Which brings us back to Bassinger's words and what may be the beauty behind this WVU team and season. They are neither caught up in the historical aspect of their journey they've created, nor do they lose sleep at night worrying about strength of schedules. 'There are obviously things we need to work on as a team, but baseball is already hard enough. You should never critique the wins,' Bassinger continued. Never critique the wins. Never agonize too much on the defeats, even the ones against Marshall. 'We lose to Marshall and we lose the first game to Texas Tech, but going into that second game, nobody was thinking we had to win that game,' WVU second baseman Sam White said. 'No one was panicking.' It would have been easy to, without a doubt. Make no mistake, it's not like this team is oblivious to the excitement they've created. They are also very aware of what the RPI says and doesn't say about the chances of WVU hosting a regional in 2025. These players simply don't fret about any of it, a true accomplishment on their part. 'If you keep looking ahead and keep worrying about the past, it's going to eat you alive,' was how White explained it. 'Just focus on that next game and control what you can control.'
