Steve Sabins knows he has a path to build on WVU's baseball success
MORGANTOWN — After a second consecutive trip to a super regional, WVU baseball coach Steve Sabins stresses his recruiting pitch to recruits hasn't changed.
Other than the length of the pitch itself.
'When you're talking about going after guys who maybe have 15 different options with some high-level schools, I'd usually find a way to sneak myself into those conversations,' Sabins said. 'Usually, those conversations were much shorter than they are now.'
That's maybe the biggest impact of the Mountaineers' baseball success, which included a program-record 44 wins, a Big 12 regular-season title and three comeback victories to win the Clemson Regional to open the NCAA tournament in Sabins' first season as head coach.
Recruiting doors are opening. That's the good news, because Sabins now faces an immediate question: What the heck does he do for an encore?
He doesn't hesitate to answer the question.
'We're in a better part of the conversation now,' said Sabins, who was named the 2025 ABCA East Region Coach of the Year on Wednesday. 'More people appreciate our program. More recruits recognize our program.
'It doesn't just stay that way. You have to go out and keep proving it by doing it over and over again. You have to keep beating down the doors. You have to keep earning it.'
The talk of recruiting rankings is not a favorite for Sabins, who refers to the notion as a joke.
It's relayed to him that Sabins' incoming class of high school prospects and transfer portal additions is ranked right along some of the elite schools in the country.
'It's still a joke,' he fires back. 'Baseball recruiting is so unlike the other sports where you can rank guys by their size or 40-yard dash times or being able to leap out of the gym.
'There's more complexities to recruiting baseball and there's just no way to be accurate in projecting how 500 guys are going to perform at the next level.'
Joke or not, Sabins' incoming class will be asked to not only fill a lot of holes, but continue to build on WVU's level of success.
It's with that in mind, Sabins says he's found a niche by searching in places maybe other schools don't.
WVU's incoming class includes three Division II pitchers. One of them, Ian Korn, was the NCBWA Division II National Pitcher of the Year after going 11-2 with a 1.81 ERA at Seton Hill (Pa.).
Dawson Montesa, out of Adelphi University (Garden City, N.Y.) was a DII All-American and Chansen Cole went 7-5 with a 3.39 ERA as a freshman at DII Newberry State (S.C.)
This class comes on the heels of Griffin Kirn making the same jump from Division II to WVU's top starter this season and Derek Clark doing the same in 2024.
'That's something we can sell to these guys,' Sabins said. 'We have a track record now where we can tell them that we can take their potential and develop them into top-notch DI pitchers. We believe we have found a niche.'
On paper, WVU may have to replace its entire outfield, or at least two-thirds of it.
His top two starting pitchers are out of eligibility. The school's all-time home run leader is gone. The three-year starting catcher is likely gone, as it's expected Logan Sauve will be drafted high enough next month for him to bypass his senior season.
'That's the thing about rankings,' Sabins said. 'I've seen where we may be ranked as high as 13th in the nation, well, we have to replace half of our team next season.'
Since the invention of the transfer portal, that situation has become an expected reality across college sports.
Still, Sabins believes the cupboard is not bare.
After hitting .361 this season, Sam White had surgery on his injured shoulder. That may change how pro teams evaluate him for next month's draft.
'Every pro team will look at his medicals and they'll have to make that decision,' Sabins said. 'It could affect his draft status, or some teams may also see what he's accomplished to this point and still like him.'
Shortstop Brodie Kresser also had surgery and has the option of returning for one more college season.
There are utility men Armani Guzman and Gavin Kelly.
'They are superstars,' Sabins said. 'They are definitely two pieces you can build a program around. They are the future of the program.'
It's also quite possible Chase Meyer could develop into one of the top pitchers in the Big 12 after going 9-2 with a 3.94 ERA this season.
'Chase needs to lead the charge for us,' Sabins said. 'He's got to be one of those guys who goes out there with a chance to be dominant each and every time.'
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Dominion Post
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COLUMN: Manipulating the RPI is the next step for WVU baseball coach Steve Sabins
MORGANTOWN — My first venture into studying the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) came in 2007, after a WVU men's basketball team that had gone 22-9 through the end of the Big East tournament with wins against UConn and UCLA had been left out of the NCAA tournament. And you thought the Mountaineers were snubbed last season. Anyway, in the years that have followed, two things truly stand out about the RPI: ** There really isn't a better tool to gauge a team's strength of schedule. ** It can also be manipulated like silly putty. WVU baseball coach Steve Sabins has got to find a way to become a master manipulator. It's not exactly an easy thing to do as a college baseball coach in the part of the country where the state of West Virginia resides. Still, if the WVU program is headed where it seems to be headed — a perennial Top 25 program and super-regional contender — Sabins' ability to schedule games is going to become just as critical as any recruit he signs out of high school or the transfer portal. Because talent wins games, true, but it's that strength of schedule that determines a team's ultimate fate between always being a regional host or always heading out on the road for the NCAA tournament. First, let's get into some basic numbers. WVU's nonconference RPI strength of schedule this season was 176th in the nation. That's out of 307 Division I teams, which doesn't exactly look great on the surface. OK, but here's where a little more research comes in. LSU, which just won the national title, had a nonconference strength of schedule of 124. Texas — the No. 2 overall seed heading into the NCAA tourney — was at 152. Tennessee, the 2024 national champ, was at 179. WVU took a beating from the so-called experts of college baseball, because the theme was the Mountaineers didn't play anybody in the nonconference. You didn't hear that about LSU, though. It wasn't a story told about Texas or Tennessee. Why? Because once SEC play began, the overall strength of schedules for those schools shot up like a rocket. All three schools finished with an overall strength of schedule no higher than 22nd in the nation. WVU finished with the 78th toughest overall schedule, which included the Clemson Regional games and the super regional against LSU. 'I think that's why I have a difficult time discussing the RPI and some of those factors,' Sabins said. 'There is really only so much you can do and it's an uneven system.' Meanwhile, the Big 12 season isn't exactly a stroll in the park, but WVU and Arizona were the only Big 12 schools to finish the season ranked in the Top 25. The SEC had seven of the top 15 and 11 of the top 30, so of course SEC coaches know they have the conference season to fall back on. They essentially don't have to schedule anyone other than cupcakes in the nonconference and then hope for the best once conference play begins. No one else — not even ACC coaches — have that luxury. So, is it an 'uneven' system, as Sabins suggested? You bet your baseballs it is. This is where Sabins' ability to manipulate the system is crucial. The problem: 'It comes down to you only having four weeks of nonconference games to start the season,' Sabins said. 'It's not like it's 10 weeks. And then, oh by the way, it's still snowing in West Virginia for three of those weeks, so you have to travel south. You can't play midweek games in West Virginia then, either, so you end up asking for a four-game series.' That is the unfortunate geography mismatch that exists in college baseball, where every school north of Nashville, Tenn. is at a disadvantage in an outdoor sport that begins play on Valentine's Day. 'You don't want to fill your schedule with cupcakes,' Sabins continued. 'But the truth of it is, everybody is playing then. It's not like there are a bunch of good teams searching for games. You kind of get stuck with playing who is willing to play.' Here is where the RPI can be easily manipulated, and we offer up Hawaii's nonconference schedule as the perfect example. Hawaii played the second-toughest nonconference schedule in the country this season, so you'd believe that schedule was filled with multiple Top 25 teams and maybe even a couple of series against teams from the American League East, right? Far from it. Hawaii played just one four-game series against a Top 25-ranked team (No. 4 Oregon State), while the rest of its nonconference schedule was Marshall, Wichita State, a mid-major darling in Northeastern and then one game against USC. Now, that doesn't exactly look like a gauntlet, but you don't need a gauntlet to manipulate the RPI. It's really not so much about which schools you can get to agree to play you more than understanding which schools to avoid playing. WVU played 13 nonconference games last season against schools ranked 201st or higher in the RPI. Hawaii played none, that's the difference. So, how can Sabins approach future scheduling? He believes playing true road games is a boost to an RPI rating, which is true to a point. To that end, WVU was a stellar 24-7 in true road games this season. But, if it becomes a question of playing a four-game road series against a team ranked 214th in the RPI or playing a neutral-site game against a team in the top 75, the neutral-site game is the way to go. This is where early-season college baseball tournaments come into play. To my surprise, there are literally two dozen of them to choose from. One of them is actually played in Surprise (Ariz.), the site of the 2026 Big 12 tournament. You don't hear much about them, because they are played at the height of the college basketball seasons and only a week, or so after the Super Bowl. But each one can offer three or four solid RPI matchups against other Power Conference schools who otherwise would never even consider playing the Mountaineers. WVU traditionally hasn't played in them and hasn't done so since J.J. Wetherholt was a freshman. 'Getting in some of those tournaments is something I think we have to look at for the future,' Sabins said. It would go a long way toward eliminating the theme of WVU not playing anyone. It could also be the next evolutionary step for Sabins' coaching career, because he's already proven to be ideal otherwise. Recruiting, developing players, winning — Sabins is right there. Learning to manipulate the RPI has got to be next on his list.
Dominion Post
3 days ago
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Steve Sabins knows he has a path to build on WVU's baseball success
MORGANTOWN — After a second consecutive trip to a super regional, WVU baseball coach Steve Sabins stresses his recruiting pitch to recruits hasn't changed. Other than the length of the pitch itself. 'When you're talking about going after guys who maybe have 15 different options with some high-level schools, I'd usually find a way to sneak myself into those conversations,' Sabins said. 'Usually, those conversations were much shorter than they are now.' That's maybe the biggest impact of the Mountaineers' baseball success, which included a program-record 44 wins, a Big 12 regular-season title and three comeback victories to win the Clemson Regional to open the NCAA tournament in Sabins' first season as head coach. Recruiting doors are opening. That's the good news, because Sabins now faces an immediate question: What the heck does he do for an encore? He doesn't hesitate to answer the question. 'We're in a better part of the conversation now,' said Sabins, who was named the 2025 ABCA East Region Coach of the Year on Wednesday. 'More people appreciate our program. More recruits recognize our program. 'It doesn't just stay that way. You have to go out and keep proving it by doing it over and over again. You have to keep beating down the doors. You have to keep earning it.' The talk of recruiting rankings is not a favorite for Sabins, who refers to the notion as a joke. It's relayed to him that Sabins' incoming class of high school prospects and transfer portal additions is ranked right along some of the elite schools in the country. 'It's still a joke,' he fires back. 'Baseball recruiting is so unlike the other sports where you can rank guys by their size or 40-yard dash times or being able to leap out of the gym. 'There's more complexities to recruiting baseball and there's just no way to be accurate in projecting how 500 guys are going to perform at the next level.' Joke or not, Sabins' incoming class will be asked to not only fill a lot of holes, but continue to build on WVU's level of success. It's with that in mind, Sabins says he's found a niche by searching in places maybe other schools don't. WVU's incoming class includes three Division II pitchers. One of them, Ian Korn, was the NCBWA Division II National Pitcher of the Year after going 11-2 with a 1.81 ERA at Seton Hill (Pa.). Dawson Montesa, out of Adelphi University (Garden City, N.Y.) was a DII All-American and Chansen Cole went 7-5 with a 3.39 ERA as a freshman at DII Newberry State (S.C.) This class comes on the heels of Griffin Kirn making the same jump from Division II to WVU's top starter this season and Derek Clark doing the same in 2024. 'That's something we can sell to these guys,' Sabins said. 'We have a track record now where we can tell them that we can take their potential and develop them into top-notch DI pitchers. We believe we have found a niche.' On paper, WVU may have to replace its entire outfield, or at least two-thirds of it. His top two starting pitchers are out of eligibility. The school's all-time home run leader is gone. The three-year starting catcher is likely gone, as it's expected Logan Sauve will be drafted high enough next month for him to bypass his senior season. 'That's the thing about rankings,' Sabins said. 'I've seen where we may be ranked as high as 13th in the nation, well, we have to replace half of our team next season.' Since the invention of the transfer portal, that situation has become an expected reality across college sports. Still, Sabins believes the cupboard is not bare. After hitting .361 this season, Sam White had surgery on his injured shoulder. That may change how pro teams evaluate him for next month's draft. 'Every pro team will look at his medicals and they'll have to make that decision,' Sabins said. 'It could affect his draft status, or some teams may also see what he's accomplished to this point and still like him.' Shortstop Brodie Kresser also had surgery and has the option of returning for one more college season. There are utility men Armani Guzman and Gavin Kelly. 'They are superstars,' Sabins said. 'They are definitely two pieces you can build a program around. They are the future of the program.' It's also quite possible Chase Meyer could develop into one of the top pitchers in the Big 12 after going 9-2 with a 3.94 ERA this season. 'Chase needs to lead the charge for us,' Sabins said. 'He's got to be one of those guys who goes out there with a chance to be dominant each and every time.'
Dominion Post
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Best Virginia awarded No. 3 seed in Charleston Regional for 2025 TBT
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