Surprise, AZ — No. 2 WVU Baseball plays its second game of the 2026 Big 12 Baseball Tournament today at 8 p.m. MT/11 p.m. ET. Read more: Mountaineer fans showing out at the Big 12 tournament.
The Big 12 tournament is taking place in Surprise, more than 2,100 miles away from the country roads many West Virginia University fans call home in West Virginia. In fact, it’s 2,122 miles from Morgantown to Surprise.
That makes for a laborious drive, and even a long, grueling flight when you take into account the drastic time zone differences. That could make it difficult for WVU fans to travel out and support the team in the tournament.
Related: No. 2 seed WVU starts Big 12 tourney run, set to face Kansas State
But as the first day unfolded in Surprise, Mountaineers seemed to be around every corner.
Always a Mountaineer
As I’m currently in Surprise covering the tournament in person, once I got to the ballpark on Thursday, I started to randomly look for WVU fans at different times.
I didn’t exactly know what to expect in terms of the number of people I would see with the Flying WV on their hats or shirts. For the first couple of innings of the first game, I didn’t see any at all.
Flash forward to the fifth inning, and I spotted a couple flashing their West Virginia gear with pride. I immediately walked up to them and sparked up a conversation.
Come to find out, the wife is originally from Clarksburg, West Virginia, but they have been living here in the area for years now.
I was honestly surprised to hear that. For one, Clarksburg, and any place in West Virginia for that matter, is a far cry from Arizona. As they talked about, the summers are brutal, and many times facing droughts due to little to no rain.
West Virginians just don’t experience the type of heat and environmental factors that Arizonans deal with most of the year. That alone makes a move from West Virginia to Arizona shocking.
The other part that surprised me is that the husband said nothing about being a WVU fan prior to meeting his wife. It seemed like he transitioned into a fan later in his life, likely because of his wife.
That aspect of the interaction I had with them was just as special as the wife still supporting her team from thousands of miles away.
One was a lifelong fan who grew up in the state. The other became a fan later in life. Either way, there they both were, donning their WVU gear hours before the Mountaineers took the field.
Hope for WVU
They also had a few things to say about WVU’s chances in its first game of the tournament.
“Of course, high hopes,” the husband said. “But it’s anyone’s tournament really with some of the upsets that have already happened.”
We also talked about how shocked they were to recently see catcher/second baseman Gavin Kelly be ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the 2027 MLB class.
Related: No. 2 seed WVU preps for explosive Hairston, Sun Devil offense
With all that being said, as a fellow West Virginian who is a long way from home this week, it was fascinating to see school colors I’m used to seeing on two people over 2,000 miles away.
It just goes to show that no matter where you go, West Virginia fans will always know how to support the old gold and blue.
Out in bunches
While that interaction I had with that pair of Mountaineer fans was hours before WVU took the field, there were plenty of fans that showed up to support the team as the game got closer to starting.
Even though Surprise Stadium sits far from the hills of West Virginia, dozens of fans poured in as WVU opened Big 12 tournament play. I couldn’t get a specific count, highlighting the amount of fans there, but it was enough to make an impact.
The Mountaineer fans were cheering from the very first pitch Maxx Yehl threw, all the way to the end when they were celebrating as the team looked out towards them.
Something that stood out was the age ranges in the crowd. One might expect an older crowd made up of mostly retirees that might’ve moved southwest for better weather.
That would make sense because it’s common for a lot of West Virginians to move to warmer states once they retire. However, that wasn’t the case at all as there were plenty of young kids and young adults in the stands.
In fact, a child, presumably no older than three, started the “Let’s go Mountaineers” chant during the middle innings. With a smile that resembled a kid waking up on Christmas morning, he shouted “Let’s go,” while the rest of the crowd answered with “Mountaineers.”
That chant must’ve gone on for what felt like an entire inning. At one point, the young fan was even put on the jumbotron at Surprise Stadium.
The fan’s impact
While that infamous chant was happening, you could feel the momentum shift all across the stadium. While the quiet Kansas State section was just sitting in a state of shock, the Mountaineer fans were willing their team to victory.
Even though I was in the press box while this was happening, I could still feel the energy those fans were releasing in the air. A reporter next to me who writes for Arizona State even asked me, “Is that something they do every time?”
And of course, I replied back with “Oh yes, no matter what team, event, or game is being played, Mountaineer fans know how to support their school.”
As someone who has been here at the Big 12 tournament all week covering each game, I also have been able to see all the different fan bases and how they react.
I can honestly say that WVU’s fan section was one of the loudest across all the teams. When you factor in that West Virginia is the furthest from Surprise, Arizona to any other team in the tournament, that fact just holds even more weight to it.
WVU fans prove it doesn’t matter how far the team has to travel. Even when the trip takes the Mountaineers across the country like it did this week, one thing always remains true.
No matter where they are, West Virginia fans will support their team as loudly and proudly as possible because it’s what they have done their whole lives.
WVU has the best fan base in America!