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Dominion Post
13 hours ago
- Sport
- Dominion Post
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
- Sport
- Dominion Post
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
11-06-2025
- Sport
- Dominion Post
Questions still remain, but WVU baseball has interesting potential for 2026
MORGANTOWN — Three years ago, Logan Sauve enrolled at West Virginia as the top-ranked prep catcher from Pennsylvania. Sam White actually turned down the opportunity at a professional hockey career in Canada to play college baseball. The most successful season in WVU baseball history did not begin with a 4-2 win against Jacksonville on Valentine's Day in 2025. Instead, WVU's Steve Sabins, who wrapped up his first season as head coach with a 44-16 record and a trip to the super regionals, said it was a process. WVU FINAL STATS 'What we were able to do this season was a compilation of effort, for me, over the last decade,' Sabins said. 'The snapshot of the last two years, for me, is not accurate, although they've been the most successful two years in program history. It's been a lot of work by a lot of great people over the course of 10 to 15 years.' What did that process involve? In short, it was a collection of having things spin the right way over a long period of time, whether that was through recruiting battles, the transfer portal, the MLB draft and the development of WVU's players. 'I would say that I want us to be remembered as a great group of young men who worked every day to become the best players we could become,' Sauve said. 'I think that translates to the performance we put on the field this year. Playing in back-to-back super regionals is something I never envisioned happening in this program.' The obvious question is what's next, a difficult one to answer in the moments following the Mountaineers' 12-5 loss to LSU, which eliminated WVU from the NCAA tournament in the round of 16 for a second consecutive season. Still, Sabins took a stab at it. 'There's been more exponential growth over the last 10 years, maybe more so than any program in the nation,' he said. In other words, there are no expectations this was the end of an era for the Mountaineers. The steps taken toward the 2026 season begins a month from now, when the MLB draft begins July 13. As of now, there is no WVU player ranked among the top 200 prospects for the draft, which constitutes enough players to cover the first five rounds and compensation selections. The draft does stretch 20 rounds over the course of three days, and it will be the totality of the draft that will provide the first clues as to what the 2026 roster will look like. Players like White, Sauve and Skylar King could all be selected in the later rounds, but all would have the option of returning for their senior season. Then there are some hard-throwing pitchers such as Carson Estridge and Robby Porco, who would have the same options. It's possible WVU could have all or none of those players returning next season. Pitchers Griffin Kirn and Jack Kartsonas are out of eligibility. Kirn and Kartsonas were the top two starters by the end of the season. Weekend starter Gavin Van Kempen announced he was entering the transfer portal on Tuesday. The school's all-time home run leader, Grant Hussey, as well as outfielders Kyle West and Jace Rineart are also out of eligibility. That's a combined 27 home runs and 126 RBIs that needs replacing for next season. Senior shortstop Brodie Kresser has a season of eligibility remaining. He did not walk during the team's Senior Day festivities, but there's been no word if he will return to college. He was third on the team with 41 RBIs this season. Then there are underclassmen such as Armani Guzman and Gavin Kelly, who may be the foundation of the team's offense next season. Kelly was an all-Big 12 freshman after hitting .299 with 37 RBIs. Guzman was named the MVP of the Clemson Regional and batted .327 with 22 RBIs. On the mound, sophomore Chase Meyer and his blazing 97 miles-per-hour fastball makes him a top returner. He finished 9-2 this season with a 3.94 ERA. Lefty Maxx Yehl is also expected to return next season after sitting out this season following Tommy John surgery. He was 2-0 with a 3.99 ERA in 2024. What also is known is WVU's 2025 recruiting class is ranked 36th in the nation by Perfect Game — fourth among Big 12 schools — and includes a healthy dose of high school pitchers and infielders. Canadian pitcher Ben Goodacre, Michigan pitcher Wyatt Mosley and South Carolina shortstop Zahir Barjam will be some of the incoming freshmen to keep an eye on for next season.
USA Today
08-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Who is Steve Sabins? West Virginia coach has Mountaineers in NCAA super regionals
Who is Steve Sabins? West Virginia coach has Mountaineers in NCAA super regionals Show Caption Hide Caption 5 men's NCAA baseball tournament players to watch The Mongomery Advertiser's Adam Cole and The Tennesseean's Aria Gerson break down the top players to watch in the men's NCAA baseball tournament. The super regional round of the 2025 NCAA baseball tournament is filled with familiar faces in the dugout, stalwart coaches who have come to define the sport over the course of their respective careers. There's 64-year-old Dave Van Horn, who has been the coach at Arkansas for two decades and has the Razorbacks well-positioned for their 10th College World Series appearance under his watch. There's Tony Vitello, the unapologetically brash Tennessee coach who's a year removed from leading the Vols to their first-ever national title. There's Jay Johnson, the LSU coach who guided the Tigers to a CWS championship in 2023 and had Arizona within a game of doing the same in 2016. Among those still in the hunt to take their teams to Omaha, Nebraska for the 2025 CWS are greener, lesser-known figures. REQUIRED READING: NCAA baseball tournament bracket: Super regional matchups, schedule, pairings for CWS West Virginia is in the super regionals for just the second time in program history, with this run coming under the watch of coach Steve Sabins. The fresh-faced Sabins is in his first season as the Mountaineers' coach, but has quickly made his impact felt, leading them to a Big 12 regular-season championship and an NCAA tournament regional title. Though they dropped the first game of their Baton Rouge Super Regional series against No. 6 LSU on June 7, falling 16-9, they can make the CWS for the first time in program history with two wins against Johnson's squad. As West Virginia goes for that historical feat, here's a closer look at Sabins and his background: Steve Sabins West Virginia Sabins isn't just in his first season as West Virginia's head coach. He's in his first season as a college baseball head coach, period. He was hired into the role in June 2024, taking over for the retiring Randy Mazey. Mazey's career ended on a high note, with the Mountaineers advancing to the super regional round for the first time ever before being eliminated by No. 4 North Carolina. Sabins has successfully picked up where his former boss left off. Entering its June 8 game against LSU, West Virginia is 44-15 and won an outright conference regular-season championship for only the second time since 1997, making it through Big 12 play with a 19-9 record. Though Sabins is in his first season as head coach, he wasn't a stranger to the Mountaineers' program. He was an assistant at West Virginia for the previous nine seasons, from 2016-24, first as an assistant coach and later as the associate head coach. He was also recruiting coordinator from 2021-23. As an assistant, Sabins helped bring in some of the most prolific recruiting classes in program history. In 2018 and 2019, West Virginia signed back-to-back top-25 classes, the first time it had ever done so. Prior to West Virginia, Sabins spent four seasons in various roles at Oklahoma State, serving as a graduate assistant, volunteer assistant and player development coordinator. The Austin, Texas native graduated in 2011 from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, where he played his final two college seasons after previous stops at Oklahoma State (2009), Daytona State College (2008) and Angelina College (2007). REQUIRED READING: LSU baseball vs West Virginia prediction for Game 2 of Baton Rouge Super Regional Steve Sabins coaching career Here's a look at Sabins' resume over his college baseball coaching career: 2025-present : West Virginia head coach : West Virginia head coach 2022-24: West Virginia associate head coach West Virginia associate head coach 2018-23 : West Virginia recruiting coordinator : West Virginia recruiting coordinator 2016-21 : West Virginia assistant coach : West Virginia assistant coach 2015 : Oklahoma State volunteer assistant : Oklahoma State volunteer assistant 2014 : Oklahoma State player development coordinator : Oklahoma State player development coordinator 2012-13: Oklahoma State graduate assistant Steve Sabins record In his first season as a head coach, Sabins has led West Virginia to a 44-15 record heading into its June 8 game against LSU in the Baton Rouge Super Regional. Steve Sabins age Born on May, 11, 1987, Sabins is 38 years old.
Dominion Post
08-06-2025
- Sport
- Dominion Post
LSU routs WVU 16-9 in Game 1 of super regional
BATON ROUGE, La. — Even on a day with a heat index of 103 degrees, it snowballed quickly for the 24th-ranked West Virginia baseball team. The Mountaineers led 1-0 in the fourth inning of Game 1 of the Baton Rouge Super Regional, but seven runs in the span of as many batters turned the series opener into a 16-9 LSU rout. BOX SCORE LSU (47-15) scored three runs in the fourth and seven in the fifth to take a 1-0 lead in the series, forcing WVU (44-15) to win the next two days if it is to reach its first College World Series in program history. 'We played competitive baseball,' WVU head coach Steve Sabins said. 'The game slipped away from us out of the bullpen. We asked a lot of guys to compete at a high level, quite a few kids that hadn't been in a scenario like that before.' WVU starter Griffin Kirn battled through the first three innings and even had a 1-0 lead thanks to Jace Rinehart's second inning RBI single, but the warning signs were there. Kirn hit a batter and fell behind 3-0 in another count in the second, walked the lead-off man in the third and hit two of the first three batters in the fourth. Finally, the bill came due for his command issues. LSU freshman Derek Curiel served a three-run homer out to left field, igniting the 12,093 strong home crowd and starting West Virginia's rapid unraveling. 'I didn't think Kirn was quite as sharp,' Sabins said. 'And it probably had something to do with the fact that he threw twice in a week for the first time all season last weekend. He started game one of the regional and closed out the regional, and then obviously the conditions today being so hot, so humid, a little bit shorter rest for him, he wasn't quite as crisp.' Kirn made it through the fourth inning without further damage, but allowed a lead-off single in the fifth. The single came around to score, and a combination of three relievers — JJ Glasscock, Cole Fehrman and Tyler Hutson — allowed six more runs in the inning as the Tigers put the game out of reach. Back-to-back walks set the table for shortstop Steven Milam, who shot a grand slam out to right field. 'We have a really good team,' Sabins said. 'It takes our depth and it takes everybody if we're going to win at the highest levels. We didn't think that he [Kirn] was the best option there.' Milam's slam was actually the first of two on the day for the Tigers. One inning later, another procession of walks teed up Josh Pearson for a grand slam of his own with all three runners in front of him reaching on free passes. West Virginia pitchers issued a season-high tying 13 free bases between eight walks and five hit batters, and LSU scored 10 of them in. All of it laid waste to the only real positive of the day for the Mountaineers, a strong offensive outing against Kade Anderson. The Mountaineers pounded out seven runs on nine hits against the likely top-10 overall pick in next month's MLB Draft, Anderson's career-high allowed in both departments. Skylar King and Chase Swain provided the biggest blows of a four-run sixth inning, and Gavin Kelly hit West Virginia's first home run of the game, a two-run shot in the seventh. Kyle West added a towering two-run homer of his own off LSU reliever William Schmidt in the ninth, giving the Mountaineers their third consecutive game with at least nine runs. 'Working a pitch count is one thing,' designated hitter Sam White said about the approach against Anderson. 'But if he gives you something to hit you're not trying to foul it off, you're trying to hit it.' The score looked a little closer at the end, but the reality of the day was one of the nation's most talented teams overwhelmed West Virginia. The only positive for the Mountaineers is unlike a regional where a loss in game one requires you to win four straight elimination games to survive, this is a standard three-game series. West Virginia had two series this season, BYU and Texas Tech, where it lost game one and responded to win the next two. This challenge will be much greater, but the mentality is the same. 'They could have beat us 40-0 and tomorrow it's going to be 0-0 at one pitch,' White said. 'There's nothing to it. It's a series.' Game 2 of the series is set for 6 p.m. Sunday. Neither side confirmed a starting pitcher, but it will almost certainly be West Virginia's Jack Kartsonas to the mound for the against LSU's Anthony Eyanson. — Story by Alan Cole
