Senior Day for No. 9 WVU Baseball is coming up on Saturday, with plenty at stake for the Mountaineers. It marks the end of the regular season at home, but there is a chance WVU hosts an NCAA Regional if the right dominos fall. MLB Draft League play for the West Virginia Black Bears is not far behind, either. Action at Kendrick Family Ballpark doesn’t end with Senior Day.
The odds are stacked against WVU to make a late stab at winning the Big 12 Regular Season Championship, but the sweep at Kansas kept the chances alive.
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If the Mountaineers manage to nab the title outright, or even get a share, postseason baseball in Morgantown is possible again.
A lot on the line
The selection show for the NCAA Tournament is less than two weeks away, but conference tournaments come first. WVU has never played its best ball in the tourney, but the 2026 Mountaineers seem built to overcome the hump.
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There is no exact formula for earning the chance to host a regional, other than winning the conference tournament. That said, a sweep against TCU, a few Jayhawk blunders, and a solid showing in the tourney sweetens the deal.
If it all works out, Kendrick Family Ballpark would be home to a historic Morgantown Regional.
The importance of home field
KFB has been the safe haven for WVU since it opened in 2015. The past five years, though, the Mountaineers have been extremely tough to conquer.
WVU is 83-30 (.735) at home since the start of the 2022 season. When you compare the true road record from the timespan (88-53, .624), the success rate is much higher for WVU when nestled in the Monongahela River Valley. It is no small feat to be that successful on the road, but imagine the scene of a sold-out crowd in Morgantown for postseason baseball.
If a hosting spot is earned, it would be the first NCAA Regional at the venue since 2019, when Duke came out of the four-team group victorious. It was the first Morgantown Regional since 1955.
Action rolls on after collegiate play
Best of all for baseball fans in the area, the ballpark is home to the reigning MLB Draft League champs, the West Virginia Black Bears. It is not a team WV Sports Nation reports for on a game-by-game basis, but it is still wildly entertaining.
There are typically a handful of players from WVU’s roster who keep their talents in town for summer ball, too.
For now, all eyes are set on the Mountaineers trying to secure a coveted hosting bid.
What’s next
The quest to earn that bid picks back up with the final series against the Horned Frogs. First pitch for both Thursday and Friday is set for 6:30 p.m.
Senior Day on Saturday is slated for 1 p.m. to wrap it all up.
Tune in to all three games on 100.9 FM The Torch or any of its nine affiliate stations across the John Fredericks Media Network for play-by-play coverage. ESPN+ carries the TV broadcast.
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