Between now and the end of the weekend, West Virginia will either have their 2025 season come to an end or be heading to the second Super Regional in as many seasons. Either way, their focus is to have fun and let their play do the talking.
41 wins is uncharted territory for any West Virginia baseball team, but three more wins this weekend, and it would be back to the Super Regionals. In order to do so, the Mountaineers have their focus on the thing they were taught when they first started playing baseball — how to have fun.
"These guys have had their heads down and just worked and accomplished and done things that have never been done in program history before, so I think it was time for them to recognize how special they’ve been. But they’re grinders and they’re workers and over the course of 60 games, it’s not football, where you get up for a couple hours and you rah rah for that time, it’s just a long, long season. I think oftentimes, the teams in the postseason, when you watch enough baseball, you start seeing the guys that are loose and have fun, and enjoy each other, they really are a team, those are the teams that go far," West Virginia head coach Steve Sabins said.
West Virginia is in a familiar position to where they were this time last year. Flashback a year ago, WVU was heading into a regional on a little bit of a slide, and they were hitting the road to do so. Prior to playing, they saw the Planet of the Apes movie, and that prompted a baseball team to sound like a zoo, but more importantly, they were having fun.
"We loved each other's company. We acted like monkeys. We all went and, like our team, we watched one of the Planet of the Apes movies and just carried the fun we had with each other off the field, onto the field," West Virginia outfielder Kyle West said.
Sabins understands the seriousness of what this weekend brings, but also wants his team to be relaxed and not feel like they have to press or change how they approach the game, just because it's a bigger stage.
"We learned that a lot last year. Best season in program history, we had guys acting like monkeys in the outfield and having fun and playing loose. So I’ve really challenged our guys. You wouldn’t think with 18-24 year-olds, you challenge them to have fun, but I feel like that’s mandatory for this team. Our coaching staff is serious, and we prepare harder than anybody in the nation, and because of that, I think sometimes it can be serious. For us, we made a conscious effort as a staff and as players to go do it. This is your opportunity, you guys have got us here now go have fun with the boys, enjoy it and try to go win some ballgames," Sabins said.
West Virginia's team understands it's important to have fun this weekend if they want to be able to have a chance at winning the Clemson Regional.
Skylar King said it's been a player-led movement, trying to ignite the guys in the locker room.
"That’s more the players pushing it on the coaches than the coaches relaying it back to the players," King said of trying to promote the idea of having fun.
Spencer Barnett was also on WVU's team last year, and he said the biggest reason for their success was the fun they had.
"Just keep having fun, that’s the biggest thing. Last year, our regional team that won, we just had fun the whole time messing around, and if we can just do that I think we’re going to be pretty successful," Barnett said.
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