Mountaineers' ascent to CWS started after fortuitous decision to keep program after entry to Big 12

It's been apparent for years Luck made the right choice but never more than now with the Mountaineers set to play in the College World Series for the first time. They will face Troy, also making its CWS debut, on Friday.

For West Virginia, the trip to Omaha is the realization of the vision Randy Mazey had when he was hired as coach in June 2012, the summer before his team's first Big 12 season. Relying on players from traditional recruiting areas in and around the state, as the Mountaineers continue to do, those early teams were surprisingly competitive.

The Mountaineers in 2017 earned their first NCAA Tournament bid in 21 years, hosted a regional in 2019 and were on the road for regionals in 2023. They reached their first super regional in 2024, and after Mazey retired and handed off the program to longtime assistant Steve Sabins, they made supers again in 2025 and 2026.

“Looking back, the 14-year timeline based on where the program was, on the brink of extinction, that’s probably the timeline that should have taken place,” Mazey said.

This year's Mountaineers (45-15) set a school record for wins and their style of play fits well at Schwab Field. Teams that can take advantage of the gaps in the cavernous outfield are rewarded, and West Virginia ranks among the national leaders in doubles and, with over 100 steals, can take the extra base. Maxx Yehl (9-2, 2.10 ERA) and Chansen Cole (10-1, 2.81) lead a pitching staff that has a 3.76 ERA, best among the eight CWS teams.

“I said about halfway through this season that this team not only can go to Omaha but this is a team that can win it,” Mazey said.

Jedd Gyorko has seen the worst and the best of the program's history. He was the Mountaineers' star shortstop from 2008-10, played eight years in the major leagues and is now special assistant to Sabins.

It's 980 miles from Morgantown to Omaha but, from a baseball perspective, the distance was far greater for Gyorko and his teammates.

“It was more of a pipe dream back then,” Gyorko said. “You thought about it and you wanted to make it happen. When you look at what it takes, we were pretty far away from being there back then.”

Until 2015, the Mountaineers played at the dilapidated Hawley Field. Bad bounces on the infield were common — “Hawley hops,” they called them — and there was no clubhouse. If a coach or player needed to use the restroom during a game, they would use the same one as the few fans who showed up. The Mountaineers had to play their 2013 home conference series more than 150 miles away, in Charleston or Beckley, because Hawley Field didn't meet Big 12 standards.

“We used to change into our uniforms in the parking lot behind right field right next to the tennis courts,” Gyorko said. “That was our clubhouse back in the day. We wanted to play ball, and that’s what was most important.”

Now the Mountaineers have some of the best baseball facilities in the country. The Kendrick Family Ballpark, originally Monongalia County Ballpark, opened in 2015 and a state-of-the-art baseball biomechanics center used by Paul Skenes of the nearby Pittsburgh Pirates, among others, opened a year ago.

Luck, who lives in Colorado, planned to drive to Omaha to join the thousands of Mountaineers fans who have jumped on the team's bandwagon. Luck signed off on West Virginia's commitment to baseball 15 years ago, but he said it took Mazey, Sabins and a host of others to make the Omaha dream come true.

“It's a great thing not just for the university community but the entire state,” he said. "The Mountaineers are the flagship school and there are no professional teams in the state. When WVU plays the major sports, the entire state rallies around it. As you can imagine, I'm over the moon.”

This version corrects the spelling of Monongalia County Ballpark.

AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports