The West Virginia Mountaineers are fighting for their lives in the Morgantown Regional of the NCAA Tournament, and staying alive against Wake Forest on Sunday came in large part due to a player that has struggled multiple times this season on the mound.
Dawson Montesa was a Division 2 All-American before transferring into West Virginia this season, but he hasn't always looked sharp this season, allowing 60 hits and 44 runs in 63.9 innings pitched entering Sunday afternoon's matchup against the Demon Deacons. But with the Mountaineers needing a win to keep their season moving forward, Montesa stepped up in a massive way – going 7.1 innings for West Virginia and posting seven strikeouts and allowing just four hits against Wake while tossing 122 pitches.
The Demon Deacons did score five runs off Montesa, but it was enough for the Mountaineers to get their offense going and pull away to a comfortable lead which their opponent would not recover from. And in doing so, Montesa did not just keep his team's season going, but he proved he was worth the investment for the Mountaineers.
Dawson Montesa showed up when WVU needed it most. He had his best outing of the season to send WVU to the regional final tonight.
— Spencer Ripchik (@RipchikSpencer) May 31, 2026
Montesa: "Usually don't blow my load before I go out there for another inning, but I guess the moment was pretty big."https://t.co/sYlodSA2uc
“The dude to the left of me just put the team on his back,” head coach Steve Sabins said while sitting next to Montesa. “Absolutely carried this thing, had his best outing of the season in the biggest moment. Pretty fun. What postseason baseball is about.”
“Usually I’m poised and usually don’t blow my load before I go out there for another inning, but I guess the moment was pretty big,” Montesa said. “I couldn’t hold it in. It’s pretty fun.”
And that's important because Montesa has one more season of eligibility remaining, and while he is draft eligible, his overall body of work hasn't built an impressive prospect resume yet. So if Montesa is looking to bet on himself, similar to what Maxx Yehl did by returning to West Virginia this season, he has now shown that he can provide a clutch performance in a big game atmosphere, which is refreshing to see from the junior pitcher.
There's no doubt that the Mountaineers will take one of their weekend starters back if he wants to return, so that wasn't a question. But what was a question was whether or not Montesa could pull off a performance like the one he had against Wake Forest. And with that happening on Sunday, fans can be a little bit more assured in the pitcher's future.
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