MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — With West Virginia’s season at stake, Chad Donato relishes a chance to face one of the programs that overlooked him coming out of Cypress, Texas, two years ago.
The Mountaineers (25-24, 7-12) can secure a Big 12 conference tournament bid by winning two of three against Texas Tech (29-20, 12-9) at the Monongalia County Ballpark. Anything less could subject West Virginia to a last-place finish that would spell the end of the season.
Game 1 option Donato (6-5, 2.83) owns the best ERA of any starter on the staff, as well as one of the biggest grudges. After harboring hopes of being recruited by the Red Raiders, Donato recalled the coaches losing interest.
“They said I was too small. But hey, they tell me I’m too small, well now I’m going to be pitching against them,” he said. “Just want to show them what I’ve got and give them a reason to regret what they said.”
West Virginia’s other three primary starters—junior Ross Vance and freshmen BJ Myers and Connor Dotson—also grew up in Texas and went unrecruited by their home state’s prominent schools. In fact, with 14 Lone Star natives on the roster, West Virginia carries extra incentive into several conference matchups. But this season’s record against the Big 12 Texas schools is only 2-7, a big reason the Mountaineers are scrapping to stay afloat.
“If we don’t win the series this weekend we’re not in the conference tournament, and if we don’t win the series we don’t deserve to be in the conference tournament,” said coach Randy Mazey, whose team sits only a half-game ahead of last-place Kansas.
Mere percentage points ahead are Baylor and Kansas State, tied for sixth place. WVU owns the tiebreaker against K-State, but dropped two of three to the Bears and Jayhawks. One of those four teams won’t make it to the Big 12 tournament in Tulsa next week.
Mazey trusts Donato, whose listed height of 6 feet may be a stretch. Yet the sophomore has allowed just 12 extra-base hits despite ranking fourth in the conference in innings (82 2/3). He’s tied for seventh in wins and is holding batters to a .240 average.
“One thing you know about Chad Donato is he’s going to be locked in, that’s for sure,” Mazey said. “We’ve got the right guy on the mound Thursday.”
The series opener is set for 6 p.m. Thursday, same as Friday’s middle game. The regular-season finale is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday.
“It’s the biggest week of our whole season,” said Kyle Davis, who’s batting .355 and the only regular hitting above .300. “We’ll see what we’re made of right here.”