No. 23 WVU looks to find new life as the top seed in Big 12 baseball tournament
MORGANTOWN — Steve Sabins' used the word 'purgatory' in a rather symbolic way.
It was not meant to describe where his 23rd-ranked WVU baseball team currently resides, but rather where it was heading.
Meaning the Big 12 tournament, at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, which has been a house of horrors for the Mountaineers.
WVU, the No. 1 seed in the Big 12, opens the tournament in the quarterfinals at 1:30 p.m. Thursday against Cincinnati (32-23). The Bearcats held off Texas Tech, 6-5, on Wednesday.
WVU STATS
The Mountaineers also enter the tournament on a four-game losing streak and having lost eight of their last 11 games.
'It's this weird purgatory between playing for a championship and getting to a NCAA regional and playing for a national title,' Sabins began. 'There's no direct impact (in a conference tournament) on winning a national title, so it's this weird purgatory week where you really have to balance winning a tournament title and setting your team up to be the most successful they can be in the big tournament.'
Going off WVU's history in Arlington, it's not likely to be a long stay in purgatory. Since the tournament was moved to the home of the Texas Rangers in 2022, the Mountaineers are 0-6.
They've been outscored 36-19 in those games.
'I don't think we can think about the past,' WVU catcher Logan Sauve said. 'That happened. We obviously haven't had great success there.'
Or as Sabins put it, when asked if he had any good memories of Arlington, 'Approximately zero,' he replied.
The 2025 version of the Big 12 tournament is different in that the Mountaineers (40-13) enter as the top seed for the first time in the program's history.
It's also a single-elimination tournament for the first time, meaning no more 0-2s are possible.
'I think the single elimination couldn't be better for us,' Sabins said, 'You don't want to play five games, which is what you could play if you work your way out of a loser's bracket. The last thing this team needs is to play five games before it goes to play in a regional.
'You either get hot and play a three-game series and win a tournament and feel great or you lose a game and go get rested and get ready for the Big Dance.'
Sabins was a WVU assistant for those previous Big 12 tourney nightmares. He's in his first season as the head coach now with the knowledge that just about everything has already been tried to fix WVU's mojo.
'I remember after the first year, it kind of hit us,' Sabins began. 'We felt like we had to do something different. So then we practiced somewhere different the day before. We took batting practice at a different location and we went 0-2.
'The next year, we need to travel a different day and get there early. We need to hit in the cages first. We had a whole new plan and we went 0-2.'
The only adjustment this year was taking a later flight to Texas on Monday. The team worked out Tuesday and Wednesday and then watched some of the first-round action, including Cincinnati's victory over Texas Tech.
'I actually feel more comfortable now, because I feel like we've exhausted all of the coach things that you can do,' Sabins said. 'Eating, flying, meals; I think at this point we just have to be comfortable that we've been there a few times.'
Yes, WVU has been here before and has usually left with a bitter taste in its mouth.
Going 0-2 in Arlington in 2022 likely cost the Mountaineers a shot at playing in the NCAA tournament.
WVU can't be denied that honor this season, but whether or not the Mountaineers will be selected as one of the 16 regional hosts is still very much in question.
'I think we're playing for a lot,' Sabins said. 'If we won a regular season title and a conference tournament title, we're hosting. You can't keep us out of that deal, so it is really important. Hosting gives you a better chance to win the whole thing and that's the objective at the end of the day.'
WVU's other objective is to somehow shake itself out of the funk. It was shut out twice by Kansas in the final series of the regular season, and over the last 11 games, the Mountaineers have been walked-off in the ninth inning three times.
WVU is averaging just 5.3 runs per game over those 11 games.
'We're in as good a situation that you could ever ask for, other than the momentum thing, which some people will tell you that's fickle,' Sabins said.
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