Baseball update
by Jim Buzzerd
The West Virginia University Baseball Team is currently 28-18 and 10-8 in the Big 12 Conference. That record is good enough for a current RPI of 39. After a Tuesday game with Pitt in Morgantown the Mountaineers have a three-game series at Oklahoma this weekend and complete the regular season hosting Kansas State for three games next weekend. WVU is currently projected to make the NCAA Tournament, but will likely need to close the regular season winning at least four of the seven remaining games.
West Virginia lost two of three games to Texas over the weekend, which didn’t help their post season chances. The Mountaineers lost the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader with Texas 11-0. Afterwards manager Randy Mazey said. “We’ve got to challenge their pride and their competitiveness. Their backs are against the wall again. We’ll see how they come out. It’s just a pride thing at this point.”
WVU salvaged an 8-6 win over the Longhorns in Sunday’s finale with a come from behind effort. Mazey was happy with the effort. “It’s pretty obvious how we responded, especially when they throw up three in the first inning,” Mazey said. “An average team or a team without leadership would just roll over right there and be like, ‘Oh, here we go again.’ But we find a way. We kept scratching and clawing. So many guys had so many great games. There were a ton of heroes in gold jerseys.”
“We went into this game saying, ‘We’re just like they were. We’ve got an unbelievable opportunity to knock off one of the top 10 teams in the United States. In order to do that, we’ve got to play a good game.’ Our guys brought energy, and we played a great game.”
WVU actually jumped No. 22 Texas in the standings because the 10-8 record in conference play is better than an 11-10 mark. Texas Tech and Oklahoma are both 11-7 and tied for third place. As mentioned, WVU plays a three-game series this weekend on the road against the Sooners, who just won two of three on the road against TCU, which started the weekend in first place and is now in second behind Oklahoma State. WVU’s final Big 12 series is next weekend against Kansas State, which is 1-8 on the road in the Big 12 and 6-13 in all road games.
All of West Virginia’s remaining games are scheduled to be shown on ESPN+.