MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — There is, in some odd, twisted, painful way, a connection we all have here in West Virginia with Ray Liotta, the movie star and a central character in perhaps the greatest baseball movie ever made, “Field of Dreams.” Liotta died on Thursday, just as did the Mountaineers’ dreams of a Big 12 championship in Arlington, Texas.
While it’s a long way from Mudville for this West Virginia team that overachieved through the long season, there certainly was no joy in the post-game locker room after Kansas State prevailed, 8-5, over the Mountaineers.
Sometimes, you see, it isn’t whether you win or lose, or even how you play the game. Instead, it is often when you play.
The Mountaineers closed out their regular season over the last weekend at home by sweeping this same Kansas State team that eliminated them from the double-elimination Big 12 Championships on Thursday.
WVU not only swept Kansas State then. It ran over, through and around them, outscoring the Wildcats, 35-9, in the three games. The Mountaineers hit for power, stole bases whenever they wanted to, played defense and pitched.
It would seem to have been the perfect tune up for the conference tournament, where they figured they could — no, make that would — win at least a game or two to tighten up what already was a strong resume for NCAA consideration.
But, no, for like the mighty Casey, they struck out.
They dropped the opener to Oklahoma, falling behind 6-0 early and then rallying late but coming up short.
How could they not? You do not walk 11 batters in the postseason and survive.
But supposedly they were geared up for K-State. They had their best pitcher, Ben Hampton, on the mound, owning eight victories. It seems the team thrives with him pitching, being confident with him out there and on their toes defensively because he works fast and throws strikes.
But it was evident that something wasn’t right as he gave up two in the first and one in the third, falling behind in counts and just struggling. To his credit, he kept WVU in the game, stranding Wildcat base runners inning by inning.
Not that coach Randy Mazey was thinking of giving up on him.
“Hampton is battling now like he has all season,” he said in a mid-game dugout ESPN+ interview. “He’ll mix in an occasional 85. He knows how to pitch. He knows how to adjust to what the hitters are doing.”
And he tried to adjust.
“They were hitting curve balls early, so he stopped throwing them,” Mazey said.
WVU drew even with three clutch two-out RBI singles in the third inning to tie the game, but from that point forward Kansas State did all it had to do to creep ahead, then sit on the lead until Victor Scott, who owned the Mountaineers’ only extra base hit of the game, struck out to end it.
So it was that they gathered up the ball bags and the bats, the equipment and took one look back into the stadium that houses the American League’s Texas Rangers, then headed off to take a much-needed break to let the pressure that has been building all year escape. That won’t totally dissipate, as they will have to go through the torture of waiting for a decision on whether or not they will make the NCAA Tournament.
They had a good season; 14 Big 12 wins being more than they ever before recorded. They own a 33-22 record in a league that believes it should have six representatives in the NCAAs.
“It’s not reflected in the RPI,” Mazey stressed. “I don’t think we have anybody in the top 10 but any of the top six could go to Omaha. We’ve been good this year. We haven’t lost three in a row. We’ve managed to win some really big games in the league.”
They have stood with their backs against the wall on numerous occasions, having lost one or two games of a series to a ranked opponent only to find a way to scratch out a win and keep it from becoming a losing streak.
“As you know with a 60-game schedule it’s hard not to go into a little slump at some point. Every time our backs have been against the wall, we win. I think our record is 15-5.”
The loss to Kansas State makes it 15-6 now, but they are hoping they get one more chance to keep it from growing into a three-game losing streak rather than just knowing the seasons slipped away from them before they could remedy two losses in the last two games.
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May 27, 2022 at 05:00PM
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