COMMENTARY
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Under healthier circumstances, West Virginia could have been the team in the driver’s seat Sunday night, instead of flailing to keep pace with Wake Forest.
While Demon Deacons coach Tom Walter likened the 12-8 regional-clinching win to a “prize fight of punch-and-counterpunch,” the Mountaineers clearly were punching with the proverbial arm behind their back.
Actually, two of them.
Michael Grove watched the NCAA regional from the bleachers, wearing a cyborg-style brace after recent Tommy John surgery. Connor Dotson remained unavailable with one of college baseball’s weirdest injuries — an arm bone that snapped during warmups two months ago.
Injuries are forever the X-factor in athletics, and losing two-thirds of a rotation in this pitcher-dominated sport would have X’d out most teams.
Yet there were the irrepressible Mountaineers, scrapping and swinging their way to a regional final against the fully loaded host.
“I don’t think we played a team this year that was tougher than they were,” said Wake’s coach. “They just kept coming and coming and coming.”
West Virginia had advanced this far twice before. Never in a league so unforgiving as the Big 12. Never with such key players reduced to onlookers.
“This team will probably go down in history as one of the best ever at West Virginia,” Mazey said from an interview tent behind the left-field bullpen. Then came his addendum: “It’s incredible we got as far as we did.”
After 21 mostly sleepy years away from the NCAA tournament, we presumed West Virginia’s only hope of a postseason breakthrough was for circumstances to align perfectly. Only this year’s alignment was completely fouled up — not merely by the absence of two starting pitchers, but also the shredded knee of DH Marques Inman, who was sidelined after 16 games while slugging .544.
Three freshmen pitchers started regional games for West Virginia this weekend. A fourth was in line to do so, Mazey said, before junior BJ Myers “tried to fight me for the ball.”
Myers (5-5) proved valiant but ineffective, pitching on two days’ rest because WVU faced elimination. Pending next week’s MLB draft, Myers could give the NCAAs another turn next year.
Grove likely faces a redshirt season during 2018, and Dotson’s status remains murky. Still, optimism percolates because of returnees preparing to emerge as larger stakeholders and West Virginia’s elevated recruiting efforts.
The most important recruit might be Mazey himself. He’s scheduled to earn $275,000 next year, about $200,000 less than Tennessee expects to pay Dave Serrano’s replacement. The Vols are reportedly interested in interviewing Mazey, who was the pitching coach on their College World Series team in 2001.
After Sunday’s season-ending loss, he sounded committed to WVU.
“This is a statement about our program, where it’s going and the direction it’s headed,” Mazey said. “This isn’t the end. This is the beginning of an outstanding baseball program.
“Watch out for the Mountaineers in the future, because I think we’re here to stay.”