OMAHA, Neb. — When Steve Sabins was recognized Friday morning as the 2026 Mike Martin National Coach of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers’ Association, the second-year WVU head coach made it more about the Mountaineer program as a whole.
“It’s obviously a team award,” Sabins said. “You’re not awarded these kind of things unless the team has a lot of success, the assistants are working harder than anybody in the country and your players believe in what you’re doing.”
Among those assistants is Logan native Justin Oney, who is in his fourth year under his third different title on the WVU staff.
A 2012 graduate of Logan High School who went on to play at WVU Tech and then Glenville State, Oney presently finds himself on college baseball’s biggest stage having helped guide one of the sport’s most successful pitching staffs in 2026. The Mountaineers’ earned-run average of 3.84 is seventh nationally.
“What we’ve done on the mound couldn’t be done without [WVU’s Baseball Biomechanics and Performance Center] and all those people,” Oney said. “[Biomechanist] Courtney Semkewyc, Director of Analytics Nathaniel Rorie, [Director of Pitching and Pitching Personnel] Chris Reilly and I work hand in hand with everything. That has been a huge piece that helps a ton with recruiting and it also helps a ton with our guys when they get on campus. It’s kind of one of those things that you use it throughout the year and in the fall, and as the spring comes, you start doing it less and less, because our biggest thing is keeping the main thing the main thing. Nothing matters other than getting outs.”
As the Director of Player Development in 2023 and Pitching Coordinator in 2024, Oney worked closely with former WVU head coach Randy Mazey and the team’s pitchers.
Shortly after Steve Sabins replaced Mazey as head coach at the conclusion of the 2024 season, Oney was promoted to Assistant Coach — a role he’s served in last season and this season while continuing his primary focus on pitching.
For someone whose coaching journey includes stops at Glenville, Oklahoma Wesleyan and then four years as pitching coach at Eastern Oklahoma State College, being on staff for four straight NCAA Tournament-qualifying teams and now at the Men’s College World Series is surreal, though Oney does his best to avoid getting caught up in the moment.
“So much time right now spent on scouting reports and the portal, so I probably haven’t had the right amount of time to take it in,” Oney said. “But for me, we kind of took it in whenever we won the Super Regional. Singing “Country Roads” with all the fans, being from Logan, that kind of thing gives me tons of chills doing something that had never been done before. It was awesome. Now it’s kind of back to business for me. I’m not the big media guy. I don’t love all that. I’m prepare and work and work and work, and be where my feet are.”
That’s a similar mentality to much of the Mountaineer staff and roster, with Sabins and players alike often raving about selflessness and what it’s meant to the storybook season. For WVU, that season is assured of continuing at least two more games following Friday’s 7-5 win against Troy in its first MCWS appearance.
The Mountaineers (46-15) next face North Carolina (51-12-1) at 6 p.m. (CST) Sunday.
“For our guys, one of our biggest things is don’t take credit for success and don’t lay blame for defeats,” Oney said. “Being the center of attention is kind of out of their comfort zone, because they don’t want it to be about them. Gavin Kelly got the regional MVP and his first response was it’s a team MVP. That’s kind of everybody’s mentality, so anytime there’s a super focus on one person, we’re not in on it, because it’s just not who we are as a team and culture.”