MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Not until early Tuesday morning, when LSU wrapped up a 10-6 victory against Arkansas at Little Rock to finish off the last of 16 four-team regionals, did West Virginia officially discover the Tigers would be its opponent for an upcoming Super Regional series.
While the Mountaineers (44-14) are set to play on this stage for the second consecutive season and second time in program history, this marks the 17th time LSU (46-15) has advanced to a Super Regional after the format was adopted in 1999.
Still, the No. 6 national seed was significantly challenged in regional play after opening with consecutive shutout wins against Little Rock and Dallas Baptist.
The Tigers lost to the Spartans 10-4 Sunday night, forcing a winner-take-all matchup Monday night, and the Ohio Vally Conference Champion led 5-1 before suffering its 34th loss this season.
If nothing else, it showed LSU, which won its seventh National Championship in 2023, can be vulnerable despite seemingly fielding one of the nation’s top program annually.
“By now, when you’re one of the final 16 teams playing in the nation, you’re not trying to convince guys that you can beat somebody,” first-year WVU head coach Steve Sabins said. “If you’re still trying to convince your team that you can win a game, you probably aren’t playing any longer. These guys know they can beat anybody in the country and they match up with anybody in the country. It’s just whether they do on that particular day or if they execute at a high level on that particular day. Little Rock is certainly proof, and psychologically for LSU, they’ll figure out how strong they are mentally and if losing a game to Little Rock or having a tight game affects them mentally or their confidence. That’s always a challenge for every team.”
Plenty of challenges await West Virginia at Alex Box Stadium when it opposes one of the more talented teams in all of college baseball. In Saturday’s 2 p.m. series opener, the Mountaineers figure to face either Anthony Eyanson or Kade Anderson, two of the most productive pitchers in college baseball and a pair of highly-regarded pro prospects.
Anderson, a draft-eligible sophomore almost certain to be selected among the first few picks come July, is 9-1 with a 3.28 ERA and a nation’s best 156 strikeouts over 96 innings. The left-hander has 10 outings with 10 or more strikeouts, including 11 in Saturday’s 12-0 victory against Dallas Baptist when Anderson threw seven shutout frames and scattered four hits.
Eyanson, also regarded as a top 100 draft prospect, is a UC San Diego transfer who has enjoyed his junior campaign with LSU to the tune of a 10-2 record and a 2.50 ERA. Eyanson’s 135 strikeouts are No. 3 nationally and have come across 93 2/3 innings. He did not allow a run over 9 1/3 innings and two appearances against Little Rock in regional play.
“It’ll be a challenge in every area,” Sabins said. “They are a top program in the nation and have been that way for 100 years. They have the best resources, the most NIL, the biggest scholarships, the biggest fan base, the biggest TV deals, awesome network coverage, great coaching staffs and on and on and on. Whether it’s the pitching staff, offense or base-running, you just have to prepare accordingly and you go in knowing these are all 18-to-24-year-old kids that grew up playing on the same baseball circuit and they have have similar skill sets. They chose those players to play at LSU and I chose my dudes to play for West Virginia.
“The fun part is all that extra stuff, like whatever LSU did last year, the previous year or their history or accolades, none of that staff matters once you get in between the lines. It’s literally who can execute pitches, win pitches and have great at bats.”
The Mountaineers will be playing in one of the more daunting environments in all of college baseball at a venue with a capacity of approximately 12,000. Last year, WVU dropped a pair of competitive contests in a Super Regional at North Carolina, though those were played at a venue with less than half the capacity of LSU.
More recently, in between West Virginia’s two wins over Kentucky in the Clemson Regional, the Mountaineers got a taste of a tough away environment during their 9-6 victory over the host and No. 11 seed Tigers.
WVU battled back from a one-run deficit late, broke a 5-all tie with a four-run ninth inning and then escaped a bases loaded jam when Clemson brought the winning run to the plate in the home half of the ninth.
“We’re in an awesome situation going to LSU and I was thankful we played at Clemson, because that environment at Clemson was loud and pretty raucous,” Sabins said. “You had those kids in the bullpen that were like touching our guys warming up. It was a mess, but as far as environments, our home environment is so good now, the Clemson environment was great. Our guys will be prepared on that avenue. I haven’t looked at those particular starters, but we’ll build a game plan, have an approach and try to figure out how to beat those guys. That’s what we do with every pitcher.”
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Sabins provided an update on the status of Sam White and shortstop Brodie Kresser, a pair of regulars among the lineup that were both hit by a pitch during the Mountaineers’ six-run fourth inning Sunday in their 13-12 victory against Kentucky.
“Both those guys are not broken and extremely tough,” Sabins said.
White and Kresser remained in the game after being hit and had pivotal plate appearances during a six-run eighth that allowed WVU to overcome a five-run deficit and advance. White worked a walk with the bases loaded for the first run of the frame, while Kresser, running in noticeable pain, legged out an infield single with the game tied at 12 to set the stage for Armani Guzman to drive in the winning run.
Sabins described White as having “the nastiest bruise I’ve ever seen” on his ribs, one comparative in size to a softball.
“We were concerned his ribs were broken. I don’t know how his ribs aren’t broken,” Sabins said. “It’s as swollen and nasty as it can get. The kid is an animal. He was a hockey goalie in Canada growing up. He was drafted into [the Ontario Hockey League] out of high school and could’ve started playing professional hockey. He’s tough as nails. He’s a dirtbag and kind of enjoys a little bit of that pain. Kresser was blasted in the kneecap with a 95 mile per hour fastball. He kept playing. They’re not feeling good today. I can assure you of that, but they’re not broken to my knowledge.”
Sabins indicated the team will follow a similar protocol to aid in recovery as to what the Mountaineers did before leaving for Clemson.
“Before we left for the regional, we got everybody in hot tubs and ice tubs and we call it tubs for dubs,” he said. “Tubs for dubs was successful so we’re going to have to run that back with all these dudes that got annihilated over the weekend.”
West Virginia-LSU Super Regional Series Schedule
Note: All games at Alex Box Stadium — Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Game 1: Saturday, June 7 at 2 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Game 2: Sunday, June 8 at 6 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
Game 3: Monday, June 9 (if necessary), TBD (TBD)