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Dominion Post
2 days ago
- Sport
- Dominion Post
Steve Sabins' path to WVU baseball coach took patience, leap of faith
MORGANTOWN — It wasn't exactly a journey of 1,000 decisions that guided Steve Sabins to West Virginia. Rest assured, there were plenty of steps the WVU baseball coach took that ultimately brought him to Morgantown. Others were made for him. There was one instance where he was given the opportunity to back out. In a sort of leap of faith, Sabins also passed up his first opportunity to become a head coach in 2023 in order to stay with the Mountaineers as a head coach in waiting. Such is the way of life for any college assistant coach who is looking to become a head coach. It is a nomad's journey, one where families are uprooted and moved from one side of the country to the other for the next climb up the ladder. Or maybe it's more like the old TV show 'Quantum Leap,' where Sam Beckett continually traveled through time with the hope the next leap would be the leap home. Sabins' journey has now taken him to his first NCAA tournament as a head coach in what was his first season since taking over the program for longtime coach Randy Mazey. The 24th-ranked Mountaineers (41-14) will play Kentucky (29-24) at noon Friday in the opening round of the Clemson, S.C. Regional with either Clemson or USC Upstate waiting on Saturday. 'If you get in the tournament, you've got a shot,' Sabins said. 'That's all you could ever ask for in this world.' As an example of just how interesting life's twists and turns can be, Sabins' shot nearly came at a number of different schools. If you reach Sabins' coaching history, it is rather short compared to so many others. He worked his way up the assistant ranks at Oklahoma State for four years. 'I was a volunteer coach at Oklahoma State, so I was on camp money,' Sabins recalled. 'I was working in the batting cage with seven-year olds trying to pay bills. My wife floated us with a real job.' He then came to WVU as an assistant under Mazey in 2016. 'Mazey tried to scare me away from not taking the job,' Sabins said. 'He was like, 'It snows here. You and your wife are going to have babies and you're going to be pushing a stroller in the snow.' He tried to scare the hell out of me.' Turns out pushing a stroller in the snow still beats working with young campers in the batting cage. 'I told him I would take a Big 12 job if it was in Iraq,' Sabins said. 'This was a dream come true for me.' It could have been so much different. West Virginia was not the first job Sabins applied for. He admits now that he wasn't even Mazey's first choice as an assistant coach back in 2016. 'I interviewed for a job at Loyola Marymount. I interviewed for a job at Appalachian State,' Sabins said. 'Randy saw something in me, but there was another assistant at the time who turned the job down first. A million things had to happen for the job to fall to me basically.' It would be easy to say the rest is history, except Sabins could very well have been the head coach at Cincinnati this season rather than at WVU. The Bearcats gave him his first offer to be a head coach in 2023. 'That was insane,' Sabins said. 'It was the most tight, tense, high-pressured and high-leveraged situation I had ever been in,' Sabins said. 'Ultimately I was extremely thankful for Cincinnati and extremely thankful for West Virginia. Cincinnati was gracious enough to think I could lead their program. 'When you're an assistant coach and you have to provide for your family, the difference between a five-year contract and a one-year contract is very different.' Mazey had previously expressed an interest in retiring, but there were no guarantees. 'It was a mentally taxing time,' Sabins said. Mazey and WVU athletic director Wren Baker — 'Within a 24-hour period after the offer from Cincinnati,' Sabins recalled. — put together a plan that Mazey would coach the 2024 season and Sabins would take over the Mountaineers in 2025. 'For me it was great,' Sabins said. 'I tell recruits all the time and talk about delayed gratification. I wanted to be a head coach and make a good salary, but I essentially turned down a head-coaching salary to wait a year to take this one. 'That's a lot of money and a lot of risk and things can change and stuff can happen.' He felt confident in his decision, Sabins said, because of the nine years he had already spent in Morgantown building and recruiting. 'I loved this place,' Sabins said. 'I recruited the players, and I thought we could win at a high level.' WVU vs. KENTUCKY WHEN: Noon, Friday WHERE: Doug Kingsmore Stadium, Clemson, S.C. TV: ESPNU (Comcast 266, HD 853; DirecTV 208; DISH 141) RADIO: 100.9 FM WEB:
Dominion Post
5 days ago
- Sport
- Dominion Post
No. 24 WVU back in NCAA baseball tournament for third consecutive time, faces Kentucky
MORGANTOWN — West Virginia repeated baseball history Monday, earning its third consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament for just the second time in the program's lifetime. 'It's been 61 years since we've made back-to-back-to-back regionals,' WVU head coach Steve Sabins said. 'It's an honor to be the leader of the program when that happens. Coach (Randy) Mazey had a lot to do with that. To be able to continue what we started and keep winning ball games and keep making regionals, at the end of the day, however you want to slice it, it's about getting to this tournament.' The last time WVU played in three consecutive NCAA tournaments was 1961-64, when the Mountaineers made it four consecutive seasons under former coach Steve Harrick. The 24th-ranked Mountaineers (41-14) got into the tournament as the No. 2 seed in the Clemson, S.C. Regional, where the host Tigers (44-16) will be the favorite to advance. The Mountaineers will face Kentucky (29-24) out of the SEC on Friday in the opening game, while 12th-ranked Clemson will host USC Upstate. Kentucky defeated WVU 10-0 in regional competition in the 2023 NCAA tournament. The regional round is double elimination with the first-game winners playing each other, while the first-game losers play each other in an elimination game. The first team to three victories wins the regional. It is a format the Mountaineers know well, having won the Tucson, Ariz. Regional last season as the No. 3 seed to advance to the school's first-ever super regional. 'We're no slouch by any means,' WVU outfielder Kyle West said. 'People will look at the scouting reports and they'll see some of the best offensive numbers we could have. They'll look at everything and know that no team can be taken lightly at this point of the year.' Kentucky was one of a record 13 teams from the SEC to earn a spot in the NCAA field of 64, with eight of the 13 earning a regional host position, meaning one of the top 16 seeds. Clemson, which lost in the finals of the ACC tournament against North Carolina, was awarded the No. 11 overall seed. Whoever advances out of the Clemson Regional will advance to play the winner of the Baton Rouge (La.) Regional, where LSU — the No. 6 overall seed — is the host. 'You have an opportunity to do special things, once you get your foot in the door,' Sabins said. 'We've said from the very beginning our team has been built on opportunity. This is another opportunity for our team. If you get into the tournament, you've got a shot. That's all you can ask for.' By making it into the NCAA tournament, Sabins earned an automatic one-year extension, and is now signed with the Mountaineers through the 2030 season that will earn him an extra $525,000 for that season. His contract is now essentially a six-year deal worth $2.775 million. The NCAA tournament also serves as one final opportunity for the Mountaineers to reset and possibly gain back the momentum they had at the start of the season. It certainly wasn't a strong finish. WVU enters the NCAA tournament having lost nine of its last 13 games. The Mountaineers were eliminated in the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament, 12-1, by Arizona and were shut out twice by Kansas in the final three-game series of the regular season. On the plus side, WVU did win the Big 12 regular season title and finished with a program-record 41 wins. Sabins earned a $30,000 bonus for winning the regular season championship and another $25,000 bonus for making it into the NCAA regional round. 'I felt good going in that we were in the tournament,' Sabins said. 'I didn't know exactly where we were going to go, but our resumé certainly showed we were a tournament contender after winning the Big 12 regular-season title.'
Dominion Post
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Dominion Post
No. 23 WVU bows out of Big 12 tournament semifinals after 12-1 thrashing by Arizona
ARLINGTON, Texas – The WVU baseball team will hardly miss Globe Life Field, the home of MLB's Texas Rangers. In four seasons, the Mountaineers went 1-7 at the ballpark, including a 12-1 loss to Arizona in the Big 12 Conference semifinals on Friday. BOX SCORE 'We didn't play our best brand of baseball,' WVU first-year head coach Steve Sabins said. 'We've got to recoup and get ready for a regional. It was awesome being one of the final four teams, and Arizona was awesome. We've got to give them a lot of credit.' The conference tournament will be held at the Rangers' spring training field in Surprise, Arizona from 2026-2029. Just a day after setting the program record for wins in a season, the top-seeded Mountaineers (41-14) couldn't find any kind of rhythm against the fourth-seeded Wildcats (38-18). Offensively, junior Logan Sauve – a first team all-Big 12 catcher – was one of the only bright spots for the Mountaineers, going 2-for-3. Sophomore third baseman Armani Guzman went 2-for-2, and junior designated hitter Sam White went 2-for-4. The Mountaineers finished with 10 hits but couldn't muster an extra base hit. Meanwhile, the Wildcats delivered a heavy blow to WVU when Mason White belted a three-run home run off Jack Kartsonas (6-3). That prompted Sabins to replace Kartsonas with junior reliever Robby Porco. While Kartsonas struck out six and walked just two, he allowed five runs on eight hits in four innings. Seven Mountaineer relief pitchers combined to allow seven runs on nine hits. Redshirt junior outfielder Chase Swain, a Manhattan transfer, pinch hit in the seventh inning with an RBI single that kept the Mountaineers from getting run-ruled. He drove home Guzman. 'We scratched a run and showed some life,' Sabins said. The one run allowed WVU relief pitcher Reese Bassinger, a Tarleton State transfer who grew up 52 miles northeast of Globe Life Field to toss a shutout eighth inning. 'I was fired up to get Bassinger in there, and he was super successful,' Sabins said.
Dominion Post
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Dominion Post
No. 23 WVU headed for Big 12 semifinals after pounding Cincinnati
ARLINGTON, Texas – A former NCAA Division II pitcher lifted the No. 23-ranked WVU baseball team to its best season in 133 years of competition, with what Mountaineers first-year head coach Steve Sabins called 'a heroic performance' on Thursday afternoon at Globe Life Field. 'Griffin Kirn was ridiculous — he threw 129 pitches – each of them with conviction and grit,' Sabins said after the top-seeded Mountaineers' 10-3 win over No. 8 seed Cincinnati in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals. 'He's a horse. He looked like he could have thrown 150 pitches today.' Kirn (5-2) threw his first complete game of the season, allowing three runs on eight hits, while striking out nine Bearcats and walking one in his first complete game of the season. Kirn has 95 strikeouts and will have a chance to reach the 100-strikeout mark in the NCAA tournament next weekend. 'I felt like I just got better as the game went on – I wanted the ball,' said Kirn, who spent the past four years pitching for Quincy University in his hometown of Quincy, Illinois. The Mountaineers will face No. 4 seed Arizona (37-18) – a 4-1 winner over BYU on Thursday – in the Big 12 semifinals at 5 p.m. today. The Wildcats defeated the Mountaineers in two out of three games, March 21-23, in Morgantown. The opening game of that series was a 6-4 Arizona victory in 16 innings. WVU pitcher Griffin Kirn pitched a complete game and finished with nine strikeouts in the Mountaineers' 10-3 win against Cincinnati in the Big 12 tournament. (Photo by Michael Sudhalter) WVU improved to 41-13 on the season, setting a new program record for wins in a season. The Mountaineers previously reached the 40-win mark in 2023 and 1994, respectively. 'The record means a lot,' Sabins said. 'I've been with the program for 10 years, and a lot of people have worked hard for a really long time. West Virginia only has 1.8 million people. We have to recruit tough kids, develop and get them better. Every day we go to work for our state, university and community.' WVU has a chance to win a conference tournament for the first time since it won the 1996 Big East tournament in the first season of the Greg Van Zant era. It took an explosive fourth inning for the Mountaineers to erupt for five runs and thus, change the trajectory of the season after WVU lost six of their past seven games. 'We just hadn't had quality at bats the past two weeks,' Sabins said. Sabins also led the Mountaineers to their first Big 12 tournament victory at Globe Life Field after entering the game at 0-6. Sabins is a native Texan who played a year of junior college baseball in the state. All of this happened after WVU stumbled into the conference tournament with six losses in its past seven games. WVU had only scored in double figures one other time since April 26. WVU improved to 4-0 on the season against Cincinnati (32-23). The Mountaineers trailed 1-0 in the first inning, but senior left fielder Kyle West belted a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth that broke up a no hitter at the Texas Rangers' stadium. It was West's 10th home run of the season. 'It was a weight lifted off of our shoulders,' West said. 'As a team, we set the tone. We're a relentless offense.' Sophomore third baseman Spencer Barnett hit an RBI single after Bearcats pitcher Adam Buczowski loaded the bases. Senior first baseman Grant Hussey (2 for 3, with an RBI) connected on a liner that hit Buczowski, who left the game with an injury. A run scored on the play. 'The at-bats got grittier and gritter as the game went on,' Sabins said. Senior shortstop Brodie Kresser's sacrifice fly extended the lead to 4-1, and West picked up his second RBI of the game on a bases-loaded walk. The Mountaineers added some insurance runs in the sixth and seventh innings, respectively. Junior designated hitter Sam White scored Kresser and Hussey in the bottom of the sixth. Kresser hit a sacrifice fly, followed by junior center fielder Skylar King's fielder's choice for a 10-3 advantage. Kresser finished the game with three RBIs. Freshman second baseman Gavin Kelly went 2 for 4 with three runs scored. 'He's one of the best freshmen in the country,' Sabins said.
Dominion Post
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Dominion Post
No. 23 WVU looks to find new life as the top seed in Big 12 baseball tournament
MORGANTOWN — Steve Sabins' used the word 'purgatory' in a rather symbolic way. It was not meant to describe where his 23rd-ranked WVU baseball team currently resides, but rather where it was heading. Meaning the Big 12 tournament, at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, which has been a house of horrors for the Mountaineers. WVU, the No. 1 seed in the Big 12, opens the tournament in the quarterfinals at 1:30 p.m. Thursday against Cincinnati (32-23). The Bearcats held off Texas Tech, 6-5, on Wednesday. WVU STATS The Mountaineers also enter the tournament on a four-game losing streak and having lost eight of their last 11 games. 'It's this weird purgatory between playing for a championship and getting to a NCAA regional and playing for a national title,' Sabins began. 'There's no direct impact (in a conference tournament) on winning a national title, so it's this weird purgatory week where you really have to balance winning a tournament title and setting your team up to be the most successful they can be in the big tournament.' Going off WVU's history in Arlington, it's not likely to be a long stay in purgatory. Since the tournament was moved to the home of the Texas Rangers in 2022, the Mountaineers are 0-6. They've been outscored 36-19 in those games. 'I don't think we can think about the past,' WVU catcher Logan Sauve said. 'That happened. We obviously haven't had great success there.' Or as Sabins put it, when asked if he had any good memories of Arlington, 'Approximately zero,' he replied. The 2025 version of the Big 12 tournament is different in that the Mountaineers (40-13) enter as the top seed for the first time in the program's history. It's also a single-elimination tournament for the first time, meaning no more 0-2s are possible. 'I think the single elimination couldn't be better for us,' Sabins said, 'You don't want to play five games, which is what you could play if you work your way out of a loser's bracket. The last thing this team needs is to play five games before it goes to play in a regional. 'You either get hot and play a three-game series and win a tournament and feel great or you lose a game and go get rested and get ready for the Big Dance.' Sabins was a WVU assistant for those previous Big 12 tourney nightmares. He's in his first season as the head coach now with the knowledge that just about everything has already been tried to fix WVU's mojo. 'I remember after the first year, it kind of hit us,' Sabins began. 'We felt like we had to do something different. So then we practiced somewhere different the day before. We took batting practice at a different location and we went 0-2. 'The next year, we need to travel a different day and get there early. We need to hit in the cages first. We had a whole new plan and we went 0-2.' The only adjustment this year was taking a later flight to Texas on Monday. The team worked out Tuesday and Wednesday and then watched some of the first-round action, including Cincinnati's victory over Texas Tech. 'I actually feel more comfortable now, because I feel like we've exhausted all of the coach things that you can do,' Sabins said. 'Eating, flying, meals; I think at this point we just have to be comfortable that we've been there a few times.' Yes, WVU has been here before and has usually left with a bitter taste in its mouth. Going 0-2 in Arlington in 2022 likely cost the Mountaineers a shot at playing in the NCAA tournament. WVU can't be denied that honor this season, but whether or not the Mountaineers will be selected as one of the 16 regional hosts is still very much in question. 'I think we're playing for a lot,' Sabins said. 'If we won a regular season title and a conference tournament title, we're hosting. You can't keep us out of that deal, so it is really important. Hosting gives you a better chance to win the whole thing and that's the objective at the end of the day.' WVU's other objective is to somehow shake itself out of the funk. It was shut out twice by Kansas in the final series of the regular season, and over the last 11 games, the Mountaineers have been walked-off in the ninth inning three times. WVU is averaging just 5.3 runs per game over those 11 games. 'We're in as good a situation that you could ever ask for, other than the momentum thing, which some people will tell you that's fickle,' Sabins said.
