West Virginia’s baseball season demands a resuscitative performance in Oklahoma City.
Win the Big 12 tournament, and the Mountaineers are headed back to an NCAA regional. Anything less and it’s time to pack up the uniforms.
West Virginia (27-25), seeded No. 7 among the eight teams at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, faces No. 2 seed Oklahoma State (29-22-1) at 5 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday as the double-elimination format begins.
“We’ve always played well in Oklahoma City,” Mountaineers coach Randy Mazey said. “I don’t see any reason why we wouldn’t do the same thing again. We’ve just got to take all the days that we played well during the (regular season) and try to roll them together and win four or five in a row.”
West Virginia is 8-8 all-time at the tourney and lost in the 2016 final to TCU 11-10 in extra innings.
Here are a handful of reasons for optimism or gloom this week:
Why the Mountaineers can do it
1. — The matchups aren’t as bad as they appear: While the Mountaineers went 3-6 against teams on their half of the bracket, this is a new week. Oklahoma State has lost eight of its last 10 games, TCU is riddled with injuries, and Texas Tech was handed its only shutout of the season by WVU.
2. — Because longshots have precedent: A year ago Oklahoma State limped into OKC as the final team to qualify for the tournament and wound up winning it as a No. 8 seed.
Tournament underdogs have lived it up with other Big 12 championships earned by No. 4 seeds Texas A&M (2010) and Oklahoma (2013), No. 5 seeds Texas A&M (2007) and Texas (2015 and 2008), and No. 6 seeds Kansas (2006) and Missouri (2012).
3. — WVU is battle-tested: While facing the nation’s 21st-toughest schedule, West Virginia saw its share of quality opposition. Among the highlight was taking two of three games against regular-season champion Texas.
Why WVU’s goose is likely cooked
1. — Pitching problems: A title demands at least four wins in five days, which by proxy demands starters who can eat innings. West Virginia’s starters have pitched into the seventh inning only four times in 52 games (and reached the sixth inning on only 12 occasions).
2. — Fielding flubs: Defense has been a liability for the Mountaineers this season with a league-worst .961 fielding percentage leading to 61 unearned runs.
3. — Runs shortage: West Virginia ranks fourth in the Big 12 in team batting (.277) but next to last in runs (295). Only Kansas State, which failed to reach OKC, scored fewer.