MORGANTOWN – Spring is always a busy time among the Mazey household.
Since 1985, when he was a player at Clemson University through 2024, when he coached his final season of his career, former WVU head baseball coach Randy Mazey has been directly involved in a baseball season at some level.
With two kids, Weston and Sierra, who are both involved in sports during the spring, it’s evident that Coach Mazey had to miss many games and practices that the two participated in.
Weston is a recent graduate of Morgantown High School, looking to cap off his senior season on the diamond with a state championship as MHS prepares for the state semifinals this weekend in Charleston.
While his senior season hasn’t looked much different than his previous three seasons, there has been one outstanding difference for Weston and his father, as Coach Mazey’s retirement allowed him to do something he’s never been able to do consistently: watch his son play baseball night in and night out.
“The primary purpose of my early retirement was to be able to watch his senior year of high school baseball and also my daughter playing her hockey season,” Coach Mazey said. “There’s no amount of money in the world that I would take to pass up what I’ve been able to do this year. I’ve seen nearly every inning unless I was at a hockey game. It’s been amazing.”
Weston echoed his father’s words.
“Usually, I would come home at night, and I would explain every detail of the game to him,” Weston said. “But now, when we go home, we can talk about the details together, and he can tell me what he sees through his perspective. It’s also just great having him there in the stands every night.”
Weston has been a key piece of the MHS puzzle on all sides of the ball this season on the road back to Charleston.
The senior shortstop is batting .353 with an on-base percentage of .496. He’s tallied 30 hits (six for extra bases) with 19 RBI and has scored 33 runs, stealing 16 bases and drawing 20 walks.
He also boasts a .939 fielding percentage with just eight errors in 131 chances and 13 double plays.
While Weston certainly has the talent for the game on the field, he’s also had to step into a leadership role with a younger MHS roster this season. In his father’s eyes, his leadership may be his best quality.
“I think that’s his greatest strength as a player; he’s had so many days in the dugout with me learning the game,” Coach Mazey said. “From when he was about ten years old, he would ask me what I was planning to do in certain situations of the game. Come to think of it, two years ago, when we played Indiana in the Kentucky regional, one of their players missed the plate when he was coming home, and Weston was the only person who saw it from the dugout and told us to ask for a replay. The call got overturned, and it saved the run.”
Weston says some of his favorite and earliest memories with his dad were taking batting practice when they first arrived in Morgantown from Fort Worth, Texas, where coach Mazey was an assistant before he took the head coaching position at WVU.
One of the most rewarding aspects of Coach Mazey’s career has been watching his children build relationships with the players he has coached over the years.
“That’s what I love most about my players,” he said. “Not their batting average or how many strikeouts they’ve had; it’s how they’ve treated my kids and family. I mean, Weston still talks to J.J. (Wetherholt) and Alek Manoah and guys that have come through our program that have made an impact on him every week. Whether it’s Matt Carpenter holding Weston in his arms as a child during the National Anthem, or Manoah coming to play catch with him in the front yard, or watching him take infield with J.J. before the Super Regional last year, those are the memories that stick with me.”
From Hawley Field to Kendrick Family Ballpark to Dale Miller Field, the memories the Mazey’s have made together on and off the field will be remembered for years to come, but possibly none more special than the spring of 2025.
