Cal Poly will play its first-ever athletic event in the state of West Virginia this weekend, as Coach Larry Lee’s Mustangs face the West Virginia Mountaineers in their inaugural NCAA Division I Super Regional. The best-of-three baseball series begins Friday at Wagener Field inside Kendrick Family Ballpark, with a spot in the Men’s College World Series on the line.
The games are scheduled for 9 a.m. on both Friday and Saturday at the Monongalia County Baseball Complex, which seats 3,500 and opened in 2015. If necessary, a third game will be played Sunday. ESPN2 will televise all games with Roxy Bernstein and Jensen Lewis announcing; ESPN Radio (1280 AM and 101.7 FM) will also carry live coverage with Chris Sylvester, Max Kelton, and Eric Burdick providing commentary.
Cal Poly (39-22), ranked No. 18 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, enters after winning 12 of its last 13 games and sweeping through the Los Angeles Regional by defeating Virginia Tech once and Saint Mary’s twice. West Virginia (43-15), seeded No. 16 nationally, won four of five games to capture its own Morgantown Regional and is making its third consecutive Super Regional appearance but has yet to reach a College World Series.
Coach Larry Lee said during Sunday’s postgame press conference, “It’s very difficult out west being in a mid-major conference. Over the last 15 years or so, teams out west have kind of taken a backseat. It’s very difficult to get a high RPI.” He added, “We always play a really tough schedule but you have to win those games.” Lee also commented on recent offensive improvements: “No real reason for the slight uptick in home runs… The past two teams have collectively put up much better offensive numbers on a national level,” he said.
Key players include Cal Poly catcher Ryan Tayman (.362 average, 18 home runs) who was named Big West Co-Field Player of the Year after earning most outstanding player honors at regionals; West Virginia’s Gavin Kelly leads his team with a .381 average and strong defensive statistics behind the plate as well as starts at second base. Probable starting pitchers are Griffin Naess for Cal Poly (8-4 record) and Maxx Yehl for West Virginia (8-2 record).
The winner advances to Omaha for the Men’s College World Series beginning June 12.