MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It’s easy to find a sports team that claims “no one believes in us.” It’s harder to find one with the statistical evidence to back it up.
West Virginia can at least say “very few people believe in us” with a strong degree of accuracy. A poll on the official NCAA Baseball Twitter account finds that 62 percent of fans believe Texas A&M will win the Morgantown Regional. In D1Baseball.com’s bracket challenge, 75 percent of contestants have taken the Aggies.
So even though it’s the host, WVU is approaching this weekend’s regional with an underdog mentality.
“It’s not an approach we have to take,” said Mountaineers ace Alek Manoah. “It’s an approach that we’re given. You look at polls on Twitter and stuff and Texas A&M is still projected to win this regional even though it’s our regional.”
That suits the Mountaineers just fine. It’s what has allowed them to compete against the natural advantages of its southern brethren in the Big 12.
“We’re blue-collar,” Manoah said. “That’s the entire state of West Virginia. We work hard. We know how good we are. If we take care of business and play our game, all those Twitter polls will be wrong.”
A video of Texas A&M watching the NCAA selection show has captured Manoah’s attention in particular. In it, the Aggies share a team-wide laugh when the ESPNU announcing crew mentions that Morgantown is hosting a regional for the first time since 1955. Moments later, they learn that they’ll be sent to West Virginia. There’s no more chuckles, but it’s too late to put the bulletin-board material back in the bottle.
“I enjoyed it,” Manoah said with a wry grin. “Hopefully they beat Duke first.”
Coach Randy Mazey went on a lengthy diatribe about West Virginia’s general sense of disrespect across all sports.
“When Texas A&M or Duke or whomever draws West Virginia in a regional and has to come to Morgantown, don’t think they’re not happy about it,” Mazey said. “Because they could get sent somewhere where someone has four or five trips to the College World Series or who has hosted regionals before. They’re all excited to be here.
“That’s what we fight in all sports here at West Virginia. When Neal Brown conducted his press conference and someone said West Virginia is the 14th-winningest football program of all-time in Division I, well who knew that? And we are.
“You look across the board — our soccer program, our rifle program has won national championships. Almost all of our sports are top-25 caliber. And it just seems we don’t get the recognition we deserve. When we play the University of Texas, we could be 56-0 and they could be 0-56, and they’re going to be favored to win the game because they’re Texas. We’re always going to be fighting that.”
Mazey also made it clear that he’s not actually complaining about this status.
“It’s great because it’s easier to coach and motivate guys as the underdog,” Mazey said. “I believe that will always be the case, at least for my career.”
BRONX BUNTERS
First-round opponent Fordham leads the country with 177 stolen bases and is ninth nationally with 49 sacrifice bunts.
“They have 100-percent freedom to go,” Rams coach Kevin Leighton said of the running game. “Half the time, the guys are running and I’m saying, ‘Oh no.’ Then, they’re safe and you’re saying, ‘Oh yes.’ It’s one of those things where you’re going to get burned by it every once in a while, but it’s what we do, and I think we’re really good at it.”
Leighton was happy with how quick the turf at Mon County Ballpark plays after the Rams practiced there on Thursday.
“This turf seems to be extremely fast,” Leighton said. “I like this park. It suits us well. If we can run and keep the ball on the ground we can make some things happen.”
COMING OUT GUNNING
WVU catcher Ivan Gonzalez recognizes the challenge Fordham will present, which makes him thankful he dealt with West Virginia’s own aggressive base-running throughout fall practice.
“I’m definitely used to this because our team runs a lot too,” Gonzalez said. “During fall, you’ve got [Austin Davis] and [Tevin Tucker] trying to steal bags all the time. It definitely puts pressure on me, because as an older guy I need to step up and make plays.”
FIRST-TIMERS
Texas A&M is the first SEC baseball team to play at Mon County Ballpark – or to play at West Virginia, period.
Though his team was hoping to host, Aggies coach Rob Childress believes his team are welcome guests.
“Everyone that we’ve come into contact with thus far has been over-the-top gracious and welcoming,” Childress said. “The park is beautiful, it’s got great character.”
A&M is playing in a regional outside the state of Texas for the first time since 2013.
“You have to look at it as a blessing,” Childress said. “There will certainly be some parents here, but it’s all about you, and it’s about the 27 players and coaches and staff that you have together. It’s all about galvanizing together and going and playing your best.”
MASS FANNING
None of this weekend’s home plate umpires should need a fan to keep cool. All four pitching staffs in the regional rank in the top 20 nationally in strikeouts. They have combined for 2,335 strikeouts this season.
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