MORGANTOWN — North Carolina outfielder Carter French caught the ball and put an end to the 2026 West Virginia baseball season. It wrapped up a historic and exciting season. It was a season that had it all.
The season that saw a record amount of wins for the Mountaineers, the first super regional host for Morgantown and the first regional host in five-plus years. And, of course, the first College World Series berth in program history. And even better, WVU was one of the final four teams standing.
With all the memories and accomplishments, it made WVU a focal point of the college sports world. It’s a feeling worth repeating.
After just a couple of days removed, it makes fans wonder how close Steve Sabins and the Mountaineers are to getting back to that point.
The Mountaineers could return a bulk of their team. The transfer portal is open, so it’s too early to say who’d be officially back, and a lot of the top players are eligible to be drafted into the MLB, but if most stay after a historic season, WVU should be in the driver’s seat.
The Mountaineers’ best player, Gavin Kelly, will be back because even though he’s a top MLB Draft prospect, he’s not eligible yet. Kelly led the team with 19 home runs and a batting average of .382. He’s a premier hitter in college baseball even as a sophomore. The challenge becomes getting him to stay after another team waves a lot of NIL money in his face.
To pair with Kelly, there are a couple of top hitters that could also come back. Armani Guzman, who batted leadoff and stole 42 bases, is just a junior, so he has another year left, but he’s in a prime position to land on a professional team. If he comes back, the one-two punch of Guzman and Kelly at the top of the lineup will return. Matt Ineich should also be back playing shortstop as a sophomore, and third baseman Tyrus Hall, who had a strong postseason, will also resume his position if he doesn’t go to the pros.
There are some younger players, like Zahir Barjam, who are coming up the pipeline as well. Matthew Robaugh and Weston Mazey also saw action throughout the season. WVU has over 10 high school players coming in, too, including Morgantown High School star pitcher Slade Barton, who was named West Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year for his dominance.
WVU could return some of its pitching. Chansen Cole, who helped a lot during the postseason, is just a sophomore, so barring a transfer, he’ll be back. Dawson Montesa is just a junior, but he has a chance to be drafted. Montesa didn’t pitch well towards the end of the regular season, but answered the call multiple times in the NCAA tournament. Maxx Yehl could also return as a redshirt junior this season, but he’ll likely head to the upper level.
If some of them return, WVU will still need to find some replacements for relief arms like Ian Korn, Reese Bassinger and potentially Ben McDougal, though. All of them will probably be gone.
The transfer portal will be where Sabins fills a lot of the gaps in the lineup and in the pitching staff. Sabins hit on a lot of transfers this offseason, adding names like Cole, Montesa, Korn, Matthew Graveline, Sean Smith and a lot more. Most of WVU’s lineup this year was transfers.
WVU’s high school recruiting class can also help in some capacity.
And with all the hype around the Mountaineers right now, it’s easy to recruit. “Country Roads” received a lot of publicity and had millions of impressions on social media. It garnered the attention of the “Pat McAfee Show” and even appeared on “NBC Nightly News.” Game 2 of the super regional broke the record for the most attended WVU baseball game in program history.
“So we’re sitting in Omaha,” Sabins said. “So it’s a pretty good marketing tool for us to begin with.”
WVU has already landed a couple of transfers while being at the College World Series, including some pitching help. Austin Ziance is a nice right-hander from Division III, and Sabins picked up a catcher/outfielder in Tennessee transfer Cash Williams. There’s still some time to add some more players to the 2027 roster as well.
Sabins said he’s been doing Zoom calls with recruits in his hotel room, preparing for next season.
His pitch to players is a lot easier than when he first started 10-plus years ago or even two years ago when he first became the head coach. Even if WVU hadn’t made it to the College World Series and was still stuck trying to get out of the super regional, Sabins would be doing everything in his power to make it out. Now, the pitch becomes let’s win a national championship, and he has the proof that it’s possible at WVU. Sabins said this is how the “rich get richer.”
The Mountaineers might not have won the CWS this time around, but with all the accomplishments throughout the season and potential returning players, they should be in a strong position to have another shot at it next season.
“My job’s always been to try to figure out how to put our university and our program in the best position it can possibly be,” Sabins said. “I’m pretty sure we’re going to capitalize on going to Omaha and recruit the hell out of that.”
