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Dominion Post
03-06-2025
- Sport
- Dominion Post
COLUMN: WVU's regional baseball title goes deeper than just a voyage into the next round
MORGANTOWN — Left for dead for three consecutive games, there may not be enough words to accurately describe the jolt of life the WVU baseball team just put into the school's overall athletic reputation. We begin with your stat of the day: The 24th-ranked Mountaineers (44-14) scored 26 runs to win the Clemson, S.C. Regional in three games. Twelve of those runs came in the eighth inning or later. All three wins were comebacks, including Sunday night's 13-12 victory against Kentucky to clinch a trip to the super regionals. WVU STATS 'I think this team has been doubted throughout the season,' WVU head coach Steve Sabins said. 'They're the most resilient bunch of kids I've had the pleasure of coaching.' Resilient is one way of putting it. There are certainly others. Clutch and heroic come to mind. Unbelievable and astonishing are others. It's here that WVU catcher Logan Sauve relayed a terrific story. Trailing Kentucky, 11-7, in the sixth inning, WVU first baseman Grant Hussey sent a ball to the wall with the bases loaded. The game should have been tied right there. Whether it was just fate or a simply a stiff breeze blowing in, Hussey's blast fell just inches shy of a grand slam and safely into Kentucky outfielder's Cole Hage's glove to end the inning. Dejection could have set in right there. Instead, Sauve turned to teammate Armani Guzman, 'I told Armani after that inning that we were going to win this game,' Sauve said. 'There was never any doubt throughout our whole team, throughout the whole game, and really the whole weekend.' The WVU athletic department needed this like a thirsty man needs water, there is no doubt about that. This 2024-25 school year has not been short of headlines, but so many of them for the wrong reasons. Football coach was fired. Men's basketball team was snubbed from the NCAA tournament and then lost its head coach to Indiana. Even this baseball team that is being celebrated today was headed down a dark path over the final month of the regular season. It lost to Marshall in a walk-off, which would have been the worst kind of gut punch, except the Mountaineers exceeded that by doing the same thing against Pitt a week later. They were shut out twice in three games against Kansas … in Morgantown … when WVU needed just one win to truly celebrate winning the Big 12 title. It got boat raced in the Big 12 tournament against Arizona. If the program was doubted, as Sabins said, it certainly earned those doubts. And fundraisers within the WVU athletic department were about to go out to potential donors with hat in hand with very little to sell. Hey, we're bringing back glory with Rich Rodriguez as the new football coach. Well, you know how well that pitch would go over for about half of the donor and fan base. Those same WVU fundraisers now have a baseball team that, for a second consecutive season, is one of only 16 teams still alive for a national championship. 'I told Armani after that inning that we were going to win this game.' Sauve's words were meant for just that one game on a June night in the state of South Carolina, but did the Mountaineers actually wind up attaining a much deeper gratification by winning the regional? As in, did Sabins — and the work done before him by former head coach Randy Mazey — just put the Mountaineers on equal footing with the sport's elite? 'I think it would be fair to say we're a top 16 program in the country, for the last two years, at least,' Sabins said. 'I think we've built something really special in Morgantown. 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.' A year ago, the Mountaineers won the Tucson, Ariz. Regional without having to play the host school. Not so this time. It not only beat Clemson in front of a raucous, hostile and sold-out atmosphere, but also took down Kentucky — from the mighty, mighty SEC, where it just means more — twice. 'More than just myself, to the whole team, it shows we all have it,' said Guzman, who was named the region's MVP after going 8 for 12 with six RBIs in three games. 'I was a guy who didn't play the last month and a half and I was here in this position. I think it's a big confidence boost for each guy.' WVU's performance was the kind of boost that commands attention. Not just from you and me in the state of West Virginia, but to the entire college baseball world. A major hurdle was cleared Sunday night. The kind that so many up-and-coming programs — in any sport — approach but only a rare few overcome. It's not a far stretch right now to say that the university that proudly boasts an alumni roster with the likes of Jerry West, Major Harris, Sam Huff, 'Hot' Rod Hundley and Da'Sean Butler is quickly developing into a baseball school. 'To say that our program is in the upper echelon and the best of the best when it comes to Division I baseball would not be an understatement,' Sabins said. 'I think that was proven this weekend.'
Dominion Post
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Dominion Post
Logan Sauve, Griffin Kirn named all-Big 12 first teamers
MORGANTOWN — Logan Sauve and Griffin Kirn led a pack of nine WVU baseball players who were selected to the all-Big 12 team Monday, as voted by the league's coaches. Cincinnati's Kerrington Cross was named the Big 12 Player of the Year after batting .414 with 12 home runs and 49 RBIs. Kansas coach Dan Fitzgerald was named the league's coach of the year after guiding the Jayhawks to the most wins in program history, as KU finished 42-14 overall. Out of the 42 wins, the 20 road wins and 20 Big 12 wins both set program records. Houston's Antoine Jean was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Year after recording the lowest opponent batting average (.162) in the Big 12, as he held batters to 36 hits in 222 at-bats in 20 appearances. He's the first reliever to be selected as the league's top pitcher. Arizona State's Matt King and Oklahoma State's Harrison Bodendorf shared co-newcomer of the year honors, while TCU's Sawyer Strosnider earned Big 12 Freshman of the Year. Sauve was named to the first team as a catcher and Kirn was named to the first team as a pitcher. It is the fourth straight season that the Mountaineers have had multiple selections on the first team. Sauve's selection to the first team is his second all-Big 12 honor, after being named an honorable mention selection as a freshman in 2023. This season, he's played in 47 games and is hitting .287 with seven home runs, six of which came against Big 12 opponents, and 33 RBIs. Kirn, who came to WVU this season as a transfer from the Division II level, finished 4-2 with a 3.36 ERA and a team-high 83 strikeouts in 77.2 innings pitched across 14 starts. Among qualified pitchers, he had the fifth-lowest ERA and the sixth-most strikeouts in the Big 12. Kirn has three double-digit strikeout games this season, including a season-high 14 against Utah. WVU, which won the Big 12 this season for the second time in program history, also placed outfielder Kyle West and pitcher Jack Kartsonas on the all-Big 12 second team, while pitchers Reese Bassinger and Chase Meyer, as well as outfielder Jace Rinehart and utility man Sam White were named honorable mention. WVU second baseman Gavin Kelly was named to the all-Freshman team. West led the Mountaineers with a .352 batting average, nine home runs, a .616 slugging percentage and a .493 on-base percentage. Against Big 12 opponents, West has been even better with a .381 batting average and six home runs. It is his second all-Big 12 selection after being an honorable mention last season. Kartsonas led all Big 12 qualified pitchers with a 2.29 ERA in 55.0 innings this season. He made 17 appearances on the mound with six starts, all of which came in conference play. He is 6-2 on the season and has 63 strikeouts against just 13 walks. Kartsonas went 5-1 against Big 12 opponents and held hitters to a .226 batting average. Kelly played in 44 games and made 38 starts at multiple positions, including catcher, second base, and the outfield. He hit .304 with a home run, 32 RBI, and 30 runs scored while stealing 14 bases. He is the first WVU player to be named to the Big 12 All-Freshman team since J.J. Wetherholt and Chris Sleeper in 2022.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Changes in grant status leaves urgent Beaufort drainage project in limbo
BEAUFORT, S.C. (WSAV) — Flooding is a threat to many coastal neighborhoods like Pigeon Point, which has several houses that line the marsh into Beaufort's waters. City officials said a federal grant has been pulled which would have helped fund research toward making sure the pigeon point neighborhood stays clear of overflowing waters 'Not being able to do the study kind of puts us back a little bit,' said Ashley Brandon with the City of Beaufort. The $162,000 federal BRIC (Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities) grant they applied for was going to fund the drainage study for the pigeon point neighborhood. Officials said it's one of the last pieces of a much larger stormwater project for the city. 'We always want to do drainage studies because you want to understand how the water flows, especially in a coastal community where you have the high tides, you have king tides, especially in this area,' said Brandon. JJ Sauve, Assistant manager with the city added on. 'A lot of the stormwater here in the City of Beaufort can be dated back to the 1800s and we want to make sure that that meets the current standards.' Sauve said many new structures have been built in the neighborhood. With those non-permeable surfaces, water can't soak into the ground. That leads to water runoff on the road, creating a potential hazard for folks living in the area. 'Any standing water or immersion of water onto a roadway is considered flooding. It only takes 1 to 3 inches to create a dangerous situation for drivers,' said Sauve. Officials said they are now looking for other ways to bring in the money, making sure to keep the neighborhood safe and the folks living in it happy. 'We want to make sure that our constituents are happy. We want to make sure their roads are not flooding. And so, we'll figure out a way to do it. And that's just what we have to do,' Brandon said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The National
15-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Singer Margaux Sauve on the emotional highs of a Ghostly Kisses show: 'You'll dance and cry'
More musicians are bringing their shows to the region, but few have gone beyond one-off concerts to craft fully integrated, multi-stop tours. One of the bands who have done just that are the brooding synth-pop group Ghostly Kisses. An act classified as indie in their native Canada, and by European promoters, they are undeniably a major draw in the Middle East. Over the past four years, they have undertaken some of the region's most expansive tours. Their latest return to the UAE, with a show at Dubai's Bla Bla, follows two sold-out dates in Cairo, a headlining slot at Saudi Arabia's Balad Beast Festival in Jeddah, and comes ahead of a performance in Bahrain on February 23. It adds to their previous stops in Beirut and AlUla, where they performed at the stunning Al Maraya Theatre. Such extensive touring has given founder and singer Margaux Sauve an insight into the nuances of their growing regional fan base. 'The crowd in Saudi Arabia and Dubai has always been so warm, attentive, and lovely,' she tells The National from the Balad Beast. 'In Cairo, they're very expressive and so happy that we made the effort to come all the way there to play a concert. It feels just as special for us as it does for them, and they sing along to every lyric. 'In Beirut, it's different. The audience stays quiet during the show, but afterward they'll wait in line for hours just to get an autograph. They're incredibly grateful that we came.' Beyond the painstaking effort to build a devoted fan base, another reason for their consistently strong crowds is the personal bond fans share with the group's music. Formed in Quebec City in 2016 as a solo project by Sauve, a classically trained violinist, Ghostly Kisses evolved into a duo two years later with the addition of multi-instrumentalist Louis-Etienne Santais. Together, they crafted a signature sound, blending ethereal, languid melodies with cinematic production and unflinchingly emotive lyricism. Their work, particularly the 2019 EP Alone Together and the 2022 album Heaven, Wait, became a soundtrack for a new legion of fans retreating and re-emerging in the wake of the pandemic. 'It's always evolving,' notes Sauve. 'It's hard to pinpoint – did the pandemic help? In terms of our online presence, yes. But I also think it's because our music asks questions. It reflects the experiences our fans have been through and how they're processing them.' It's an approach Ghostly Kisses take even further on their 2023 album, Dark Room. With lyrics exploring broken and healed bonds and the search for euphoria amid turmoil, the record feels like a collective therapy session – because, in many ways, it was. In the lead-up to recording to Dark Room, the group launched The Box of Secrets, an initiative inviting fans to anonymously share their worries through online entries. Sauve promised to read each of them in full. 'The purpose was mainly to offer a space where they could express something in secret, because we felt that many people wanted to connect with us but didn't know how,' she recalls. 'What we found were recurring themes from people all over the world – most of them going through similar break-ups, questioning their lives, feeling lost, or dealing with grief. I thought it was interesting to bring those universal subjects into our songs because, in the end, no matter who we are, we're all more connected than we sometimes realise.' The intensity of the lyrics is balanced by Ghostly Kisses' most dynamic songwriting to date. While the signature melancholy and Sauve's whispery vocals – reminiscent of Canadian chanteuse Sarah McLachlan – remain, they are now paired with more upbeat tracks, all driven by an underlying mission to make listeners move. This shift is notable in songs like Golden Eyes and Oceans, which feature assertive basslines and percussive elements rarely heard in the band's earlier work. Santais explains that the evolution was partly inspired by their shows in the region. 'Once we started touring in the Middle East, especially, we felt such a deep connection to the crowds,' he says. 'It was more instinctive, more emotional – more physical, even – because, suddenly, we were in packed rooms, feeling the energy of the audience. That made us think, 'OK, we've explored all the ways we can connect emotionally and intellectually. Now, let's tap into the physical beats.'' That doesn't mean the group is shifting into full-on EDM sound. While their Dubai show is sure to have the audience dancing, it won't come at the expense of experiencing the 'feel' required at Ghostly Kisses gig. 'When we play live, we want to tell a story with ups and downs, highs and lows,' Sauve says. 'There will be moments of surprise and moments of calm. We'll take you on a journey – one where you'll dance and cry.' Ghostly Kisses perform in Bla Bla, Dubai on Sunday. Doors open 7pm. Tickets start at Dh239
