Morgantown was announced as a hosting site for an NCAA Regional for the first time since 2019 and the third time in program history. Hosting sites were announced on Friday night, May 24, and Selection Sunday was the following day. The top-16 seeds host three other teams in the NCAA Regionals, and WVU earned a 16-seed, so they were the final team granted a hosting spot. The Mountaineers will host Binghamton, Kentucky, and Wake Forest at Kendrick Family Ballpark. Read more: Morgantown set to host Kentucky, Wake Forest, and Binghamton.
Binghamton
West Virginia opens up with a matchup against Binghamton on Friday, May 29 at 5 p.m. ET, airing on ESPN+. The Bearcats won the America East Conference Tournament for the second consecutive season, owning a 31-20 overall record. Binghamton’s strength of schedule is not great, but WVU should not underestimate them. They did enough to earn a spot after winning the America East Conference regular season and tournament titles.
Related: WVU Baseball to host NCAA Tournament Regional for first time since 2019
The Bearcats finished the season with an overall team batting average of .269. Binghamton hit 48 home runs as a team, while stealing 43 bases on 53 attempts. The pitching staff posted a combined ERA of 6.18 and a 1.56 WHIP. Second baseman Matt Bolton led the team with a .349 average and is one of three players with six home runs. Tommy Popoff and Grant Hunter lead the team with seven home runs apiece, and Popoff is second on the team with a .291 average.
Kentucky
Kentucky plays Wake Forest in its first game in Morgantown. That game takes place at noon ET on Friday and airs on ESPN2. The Wildcats finished the season with a 31-21 record, with a 13-17 record in the SEC. They enter on a three-game losing streak after losing to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament. They won only two of 10 weekend series in the SEC, but had a stellar strength of schedule to bolster their resume.
Tyler Bell led the team with a .352 average, and was closely followed by Jayce Tharnish (.350) and Luke Lawrence (.342). Ethan Hindle leads the team with 11 home runs, while Bell has seven. The team had a .285 average and hit 55 total home runs. The Wildcats’ pitching staff had an ERA of 5.42 and a WHIP of 1.50.
Wake Forest
Wake Forest squares off with Kentucky in the Morgantown Regional. They lost to Pittsburgh in their first game in the ACC Tournament and hold an overall record of 38-19. They had a 16-14 record in the ACC. The Demon Deacons boasted a 25-5 home record but were 9-11 on the road and 4-3 on neutral courts.
The team had a combined batting average of .297 and hit 90 home runs. Wake Forest was in the top 30 in home runs hit and tied for 26th with Florida and Campbell. Luke Costello and Dalton Wentz have 17 home runs apiece, which leads the team. Kade Lewis leads the team with an average of .362 and has hit 13 home runs. The team has a combined ERA of 4.65 and a WHIP of 1.41.
Looking ahead
The bracket is double elimination style, so each team can lose one game and still have a chance. The winners of the first two games on Friday will play each other on Saturday, and the losers will face off in an elimination game. The winner of the winner’s bracket matchup advances to the finals and will have two chances to beat the loser’s bracket game winner.
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