MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Fall Ball season is complete for the WVU baseball team as head coach Steve Sabins continues the lengthy process of building his second team as head coach of the Mountaineers. Freshmen and transfers filtered into Morgantown throughout the summer while returning veterans arrived back on campus in mid-August after competing in various summer leagues across the country.
During the fall season, the Mountaineers played scrimmage games against Kentucky and Wake Forest and they hosted the club’s annual intrasquad World Series.
“We just got to see a ton of growth from our guys from the very beginning, starting in summer bridge with a lot of those freshmen and transfers starting to trickle in from the summer to individuals we were able to train and work. Then we had a 45-day window for team practice, concluding with Wake. We had a ton of at bats and a lot of games,” said Sabins.
“We put a ton of emphasis on our scrimmages that we play. You try to create it as game-like as possible. The best way to evaluate and understand players is to put them in a game setting. We have ‘Friday Night Lights’ that we created where you play on Friday nights under the lights and you put fans in to try to create an environment. We had a three-game series to emulate what the season is going to be like. We play a fall World Series, where the teams stay the same and we don’t have scripted pitchers coming out of the bullpen because we want them to know what it is like to get their name called in a big moment.”
In his first season leading the Mountaineers, Sabins guided the team to a 44-16 record, the Big 12 regular season championship and a spot in the NCAA Super Regional round. Five Mountaineers (Logan Sauve, Kyle West, Robby Porco, Griffin Kirn and Skylar King) were selected in the MLB Draft. Jack Kartsonas and Sam White signed MLB free agent deals. WVU’s all-time home run leader, Grant Hussey, and Jace Rinehart graduated.
Armani Guzman (.327), Gavin Kelly (.299, 37 RBI) and Brodie Kresser (2.78, 41 RBI) are returning starters in the field, while Reese Bassinger (30 appearances), Chase Meyer, Carson Estridge and Ben McDougal return to the pitching staff.
With Sauve moving on to the A’s organization, WVU is in need of a new starting catcher. Kelly and Ohio State transfer Matthew Graveline are both in the mix to step in behind the plate.
“[Kelly] is a superstar player. But he is probably not going to catch every game. That would be unrealistic to plan for that. [Matthew] Graveline has been incredible. He was our best offensive player this fall, bar none. He had the most power, on base the most, the most 90’s. He had an incredible fall and performed against Wake and was certainly the best player on the field between those two teams offensively that day. That being said, Graveline is going to catch as well. When he does that, you are not going to DH Kelly because Kelly is arguably the best defensive player at any position on our team.”
Junior southpaw Max Yehl is working his way back after missing the 2025 season due to injury. As a sophomore, he led WVU with 24 appearances.
“He is on the mend and he is doing great. About two weeks ago, he threw his first breaking balls in a bullpen. His velocity is there. So he is throwing what is supposed to be effortless, smooth bullpens. He has been up to 93 in those sessions. His arm is healthy. Now it is about developing pitches and endurance and being able to bounce back.”
West Virginia has enjoyed great success with recruiting Division II transfers in recent years. Seton Hill transfer and 2025 NCBWA, ABCA, and D2CCA Division II National Pitcher of the Year Ian Korn hopes to be the next high-profile transfer from that level.
“Ian Korn is a super-high floor guy. I don’t think we have seen his best version. He was great this fall. He was one of our best pitchers. He was 91-94. He throws five pitches for strikes and works fast. He is an old veteran and can really pitch.”
Two in-state recruits are featured in the recruiting class from 2025. Morgantown High School graduate Weston Mazey hit a home run in the fall game against Kentucky. Mazey grew up in the WVU program. His father, Randy, was head coach of the Mountaineers from 2013-2024.
“Weston Mazey is incredible. That guy was a bat boy ten years ago as an eight-year-old for us. We just got to see him grow up on the field and then he made a huge jump. In general, it is probably opposite of what a lot of people would think. He doesn’t have the benefit of the doubt because of his last name. Everything that guy does, he has to earn in the locker room and with the team.
“He was actually our second-highest player in on base percentage this fall. He had an incredible fall. What Weston Mazey does is essentially control every controllable. Anything you can do well from a mentality side, from a mental game side, from a preparation side, he is elite at.”
Hurricane High School graduate Weston Smith won the John Lowery Award as the top high school player in West Virginia in 2025. Smith led the Redskins to the Class AAAA state championship.
“Weston Smith has done great. The summer bridge piece was really big for him. Weston Smith went from being really good in his first outing to not good basically the whole fall, to really good in his last outing. That is relatively standard for a freshman that is learning and going through all those things.
“He is mature and confident. He is an awesome kid and we are really excited about him.”
Eight of the 14 Big 12 conference teams advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2025. WVU won the Clemson Regional while Arizona advanced to the College World Series.
“The depth is crazy. When you add teams like Arizona, Arizona State, UCF, Houston in these major markets with incredible recruiting bases, you are just going to have really high-quality teams. I don’t think it is a stretch, when you start looking at those teams and how college sports in general is trending, Big 12 teams are going to have the resources needed to compete at a high level. I think in the future, having ten Big 12 teams [in the NCAA Tournament] is not a stretch.”
West Virginia and Marshall have renewed their three-game schedule setup for the 2026 season. Each team will host one game and the teams will meet at GoMart Ballpark in Charleston. WVU also has a similar agreement with Penn State. The neutral site game will be played at Meritus Park in Hagerstown, Md.
“It is exactly between both of us and it is not in either one of our home states, which is pretty cool. They believe they were going to be able to market that and sell that game out. They think it is going to be a really big deal.”