This season represented the last for WVU head coach Randy Mazey. However, on Sunday night, after a long list of firsts he has delivered to Morgantown, he delivered yet another, as West Virginia baseball advanced to their first Super Regional in program history.
“For you guys that don’t know much about West Virginia and our program, winning here means a lot to a lot of people. We’re not blessed with pro teams in our state, we don’t have NHL, NBA, Major League Baseball. It’s us and Marshall are the only two Division-I schools, and we probably capture 90 percent of the fans in our state,” Mazey said. “To win a regional like this, we represent a ton of people. Not just our university and our community, but 1.8 million people in the state of West Virginia that are really, really, proud of all of these guys right now and what they accomplished.”
West Virginia went down to Tucson, Arizona, this weekend, and it started on Friday when Derek Clark gave the Mountaineers a complete game as they began the regional 1-0. While they got a little help on Friday night as Grand Canyon upset host Arizona, the Mountaineers then turned their attention to the Lopes.
They hung on for a dramatic win on Saturday night, propelling them to the regional final on Sunday. Win once before you lose twice was the mission for West Virginia. They would win on Sunday with game one starter Derek Clark slamming the door with two strikeouts to end the night as WVU advanced to their first-ever upper regional.
“I’ve been to Super Regionals, I’ve been to Omaha a bunch – they haven’t,” Mazey said. “This is in no, way, shape, or form about me and how good I feel about doing it. I feel good because they’re getting to experience something they’ve never experienced.
“Next weekend, wherever we go, we don’t know where we’re going yet, but I’m going to try as hard as I can to win the Super Regional, so they can experience the College World Series because you can’t put into words what that feeling is like. They’ll remember it the rest of their lives. They sit up here and say they’re motivated by me. I’m motivated by them because I want to win a Super Regional for these guys.”
While Mazey’s focus is on his players, it’s the reverse focus for his team.
Before the season started, his team knew this would be their head coach’s last season, and they all wanted to do something special for him after he had given them so much.
“I know these two guys next to me and the other 37 guys next to me, it means the world that we’re able to do what we’re doing right now. To do another first in program history, which it seems like we’ve done every year since I’ve been here, it’s incredible. To be able to send him out on this note, I know we’re not done, but no matter what the end is for us, to send him out on a note of what West Virginia’s never done, it means the world to all of us,” West Virginia pitcher Aidan Major said.
Major came into the game in the first inning with two runs having already scored for Grand Canyon, and the bases loaded with no outs. Only one more run came in to score as Major settled WVU into the game as their bats stayed hot.
JJ Wetherholt who is most likely headed to be a top-10 pick in the MLB Draft this summer is also carrying a selfless mindset about Mazey’s last year. He uses it as motivation to try and give everything he’s got for his coach and his team.
“I knew from the start of this year we had the chance to do something special and all of us had come together and we’ve used it as a reason to motivate us. When we don’t feel well, we can remember this is coach’s last year, it doesn’t matter how we feel, we got to go out and do something cool for him,” Wetherholt said.
Since the end of the regular season, it would be postseason play no matter what for the Mountaineers starting with the Big 12 Tournament.
While things did not go their way as they had yet another 0-2 showing in Arlington, they were able to reset and do something that had never been done just a week and a half later.
Catcher Logan Sauve who finished the regional hitting 6-for-13 with six RBIs, said they had talked all year about doing something cool for Mazey, but now they were able to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.
“We haven’t really talked about it much this year and we’ve just gone out and played. We all talk about it and it’s like, let’s do it for Maze. That’s kind of what we’ve been saying these last couple weeks is let’s do something for Maze and this is pretty cool,” Sauve said.
As Mazey gets another guaranteed week with this group, this regional victory is another mark of how far he has turned around the West Virginia baseball program.
His focus now is trying to do something special for everyone who has played, cheered, or watched West Virginia.
Mazey said his desire to win isn’t because of himself, it’s because of his players, the fans, and the WVU community.
“I want it so bad for guys that have never experienced it before. I try not to talk about that much, I try to keep that to myself, but you have no idea how bad I want these guys to experience that. When I make a bad call or call the wrong pitch or bunt when we’re not supposed to bunt, that’s why it bothers me so much because I want it for these guys and the entire university, community, and state. I want it so bad for everybody. That’s why it’s so stressful when it doesn’t go well every day. That’s why it hurts so bad because it means so much.”
*******
West Virginia now moves on to Chapel Hill, NC for the Super Regional against UNC.
The Mountaineers and Tar Heels will play at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, and then at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, if necessary.
All three games will be televised on ESPN2.
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