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Saturday’s regular season finale couldn’t have gone any more perfect according to West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey.
The Mountaineers not only routed George Washington by a score of 13-2 and ended the regular season on a four-game win streak, but also sent their four seniors out with a win in what could’ve been their last game at Monongalia County Ballpark.
Darius Hill, Ivan Gonzalez, Andrew Zitel and Zach Reid were all recognized on Senior Day and all made positive contributions during the win.
Hill racked up a game-high five RBIs during the win as Zitel and Gonzalez each came up with an RBI of their own. Reid, a left-handed pitcher, entered the game in relief to start off the eighth and pitched a scoreless inning.
“That was pretty special,” Hill said. “Maybe the last time we ever play on this field. I’ve been here four years, grinding every day. What better ending could you want?”
Even though these four seniors exited to a standing ovation prior to the top of the ninth inning, they very well could find themselves back at Monongalia County Ballpark soon.
With the fourth-seeded Mountaineers now shifting its focus to this week’s Big 12 Tournament matchup against fifth-seeded Kansas (a team West Virginia took two out of three games from in April at home) at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City Wednesday, the Mountaineers are hoping to further enhance their chances for an NCAA regional host bid.
West Virginia currently sits at No. 15 in the RPI and is projected by D1Baseball.com to be the No. 2 seed in the Raleigh regional where NC State, the host school, would be the top seed.
The Mountaineers have had success in the Big 12 Tournament since playing its first season in the conference in 2013, advancing to the tournament semifinals in each of the last three seasons including a championship game appearance in 2016.
For the fourth time in the last six Big 12 Conference Tournaments, West Virginia will open things up with a 9 a.m. CT first pitch. Although the early start isn’t ideal, Mazey is certain the Mountaineers will rise up to the challenge.
“I couldn’t be more confident in our group right now than I am right now. It’s not going to be easy,” Mazey said. “Every time these guys have been challenged to do something, they’ve responded pretty well and I don’t see why this will be any different.”
This tournament though will have a bit of a different feel for West Virginia with the Mountaineers having a spot in the regional all but locked up at this point.
With that brings a little less pressure heading into Oklahoma City, but the opportunity to host a regional may still be there for the Mountaineers if the team can achieve some success in the tournament which they’ve proven to be capable of.
“It takes the pressure off of us” Hill said. “We can just play, I don’t wanna say carefree baseball, but without any kind of pressure on us or any type of worries that we have something at stake. We’re obviously trying to host, but at the end of the day, we just need to go down to Oklahoma City and play ball.”
According to Mazey, the team is playing its best baseball at the perfect time with West Virginia’s usually inconsistent offense building up some momentum late in the season and the team’s starting pitching continuing to dominate.
West Virginia won seven of its last eight games to end the regular season, batted over .400 in three of the final four games of the regular season and scored 39 runs on 61 hits in the final four games combined.
Whether or not the Mountaineers can continue to keep up their momentum in the Big 12 Tournament remains to be seen, but the team remains confident in their abilities heading into the conference and NCAA Tournaments.
“We’re playing well at the right time,” Hill said. “Whether we get sent (to Monongalia County Ballpark) or somewhere else, I think we’re feeling pretty confident about how we can play.”
Big 12 Tournament Starting Pitchers for West Virginia:
Wednesday - Junior LHP Nick Snyder (1.95 ERA)
Thursday - Junior RHP Alek Manoah (1.91 ERA)
Friday - Junior RHP Kade Strowd (4.64 ERA)
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