MORGANTOWN — West Virginia’s pitching is the best in the Big 12 this season, but Steve Sabins and his staff are already planning for next season. Marietta College pitcher Austin Ziance announced he’s transferring to the Mountaineers, according to his social media. Marietta College is a Division III program and wrapped up its season on May 2 with a 13-20 record.
Ziance was a bright spot on the team and has been since he stepped on campus in 2024. The Highland Heights, Ohio, native had a 6-4 record this season with a 1.91 ERA, which was the second best in the Ohio Athletic Conference. The right-hander also had 68 strikeouts in his 10 starts. His performance on the mound this season earned him OAC first team. This is the second-year in a row that he’s made the first team. He was the OAC Player of the Week for the first week in May after pitching a complete game, where he had one earned run and struck out eight.
Sabins has had a lot of success finding gems at the lower divisions. Just his season, three of WVU’s top pitchers, Chansen Cole, Dawson Montesa and Ian Korn were all Division II transfers.
Sabins adds a lot of lower-level pitchers for a couple of reasons. They get a lot of reps because those lower divisions don’t have strong bullpens like in Division I, so they have to go the distance. Ziance has pitched in 29 games and 191 innings over three seasons at Marietta. He’s a weathered pitcher.
“They just get to mature,” Sabins said. “Whereas at our level, there’s pressure to put like somebody else in the game or try something else. That’s why I think those kids develop at a very fast rate, sometimes at the lower levels.”
Ziance has been dealing at the Division III level, but it’ll be a big jump up to Division I when he joins the team in the fall.
