West Virginia's 2024 baseball season ended in their first ever Super Regional appearance.
The Mountaineers lost two games to North Carolina, both coming down to the final pitch of the game. The first was a walk-off home run in game one, before game two ended with WVU stranding the bases loaded.
Out of the nine in the starting lineup in those two games, only two of them are set to not be back this season, something that new head coach Steve Sabins sees as a positive.
When the Mountaineers take the field for the first time this season, they will no longer be headlined by JJ Wetherholt. The No. 7 overall draft pick departed WVU, but in steps catcher Logan Sauve who has had his type of success in the big moments.
In WVU's Regional and Super Regional games last year, Sauve went 7-for-23 with a home run, five runs scored, and six RBIs.
Sabins points to Sauve as someone who he hopes the rest of his lineup takes after due to his ability to stay calm during the biggest of moments.
"I think the heart rate is probably the most important thing when we're talking about young guys in the season," Sabins said. "Usually by the end of the season, they're adjusted, but these aren't professional players yet and whoever can handle their emotions consistently wins and that's part of the reason Logan [Sauve] is such a star. It's just there's no peaks and valleys, there's no heart rate, and so those at bats and those big moments sometimes can make other moments not feel like a big deal.
Because if you've had an at-bat with the season on the line, with your head coach's career on the line in the biggest games in program history, in the best season in program history, sometimes the bases loaded at-bat doesn't feel quite as big of a deal. And baseball, if you can relax and let your skills take over, you have a good chance of being successful."
West Virginia returns 77 percent of their total at-bats from a year ago, 76.5 percent of their hits, 72 percent of their runs batted in, and 70 percent of their home run production from a season ago.
Familiar names such as Grant Hussey, Kyle West, Brodie Kresser, Skylar King, and Sam White among others, are all back after another offseason of development with the Mountaineers.
"Logan Saave is a flat out rock star. He's a preseason All-Big 12 player... Sam White has been excellent for us. He's a grinder and a winner, and he's going to be playing a lot of second base for us this year. Skylar King is a returner. He played center field for us in the Super Regional. He's done an incredible job. Brodie Kresser was at second base alongside JJ Wetherholt, and we've slid him over to shortstop. He's ready to make that jump," Sabins said.
In the Super Regional last year, Sauve batted second, White third, Kresser sixth, and King ninth. Add in Kyle West who had four hits, five RBIs, and two home runs in the Super Regional as well as Grant Hussey who is the all-time home run leader at WVU and the Mountaineers are set to make some serious noise at the plate.
"We have seven of nine returning position players, so we're very excited about those guys," Sabins said.
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