Regardless of what happens in Omaha, the 2026 West Virginia baseball team injected a serious amount of optimism and energy into the Mountaineer fanbase.
It’s been a rough decade across all sports at the state’s flagship university, with arguably the worst seven-year stretch of football, the way the Bob Huggins situation unfolded, and then losing his eventual replacement, Darian DeVries, after one season.
The state has been starving for a winner and something to be excited about, and since the turn of the calendar, things have started to trend in the right direction across the entire athletic department.
Football and basketball signed their best recruiting class ever, Ross Hodge led the Mountaineers to a College Basketball Crown championship, Mark Kellogg led the women’s basketball team to a Big 12 title and hosted in the NCAA Tournament, and then this incredible drama-filled run the baseball team has been on.
What has been really neat to see is how much national attention Mountaineer Nation has received throughout the tournament.
From the moment that ESPN decided to air the singing of Country Roads, this has become America’s Team. It’s easy to get behind a team who has a passionate fanbase that loves its school and state as much as WVU. This means everything to West Virginians, and they are hoping that this is the group that brings home that first national title in a spectator sport.
“There is zero doubt that Mountaineer Nation will be in full force here in Omaha,” WVU head coach Steve Sabins said. “I think damn near every politician and representation from the athletic department, fan, supporter, and alumni will be here. That’s one of the most special things about West Virginia is that there’s a deep passion for the university. It’s been a blast just saying, ‘Yeah, we got to get a couple rooms for the governor and the senator and everybody else.’ But they’ve been along for the ride. A lot of these folks aren’t new to the program, where it’s like all of a sudden you get to Omaha, and you hear a lot of new names. That’s what makes it so unique to West Virginia is that there’s no pro sports teams and there’s no other major university in that state. We really are the main show. We just have an unusual amount of support for a smaller state.”
Soak it in. That’s basically the message I’m conveying to you today, hours ahead of first pitch. Today, you will get to witness history, not just because it’s the first time WVU has played in the College World Series.
Think about it globally. How many times has a West Virginia team been in the final grouping of its respective sport?
In my lifetime, it’s only happened three times: this, the 2016 women’s soccer team, and the 2010 men’s basketball Final Four team.
Some of you were around in 1988 to see the football team play Notre Dame for the national championship. And there’s only a small percentage of Mountaineer fans who were around to witness Jerry West and Co. play for it all in 1959.
Only five times has a WVU team been in the final stage, and who knows when No. 6 will take place. Enjoy every moment of it.
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