Never count out the West Virginia Mountaineers in the NCAA Baseball Tournament.
The Mountaineers looked to be facing a hopeless challenge after ace pitcher Maxx Yehl left Saturday's game in the Morgantown Regional winner's bracket against Kentucky with injury, and the Wildcats proceeded to win the contest. But with their backs against the wall, the Mountaineers persisted to win back-to-back elimination games on Sunday against Wake Forest and Kentucky, forcing a third rubber match with the Wildcats to determine the regional champion.
And now, the Mountaineers are hopeful Yehl will return for Monday's game, and Chansen Cole, who is arguably the team's second-best starter, hasn't pitched since Friday; another top option, Ian Korn, last pitched Saturday. And if the Mountaineers can win on Monday, they will be bringing Super Regional action to Morgantown.
UCLA eliminated in Los Angeles Regional of NCAA Tournament to open path for Morgantown Super Regional
The UCLA Bruin entered the week as the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, and the Mountaineers were the 16th overall 1-seed. That means the winners of those regionals will play in the Super Regional to determine who advances to the College World Series. And with UCLA the higher-ranked seed, the Bruins needed to lose so the Morgantown Regional winner could host.
But the Bruins were 51-6 on the season entering the tournament, and surely seemed destined for a trip to Omaha after an early postseason exit in 2025. But then the Bruins dropped lost to No. 4 seed St. Mary's (CA) to open the weekend. They then knocked off No. 2 seed Virginia Tech in an elimination game on Saturday, but were defeated for a second consecutive time by the Gaels on Sunday to eliminate them from postseason contention.
The Gaels and No. 3 seed Cal Poly will play to advance to the Super Regional round, which means that No. 1 seed West Virginia is destined to host next weekend if they can pull out the win in the Morgantown Regional. So with one more do-or-die elimination game to plat on Monday, program history hangs in the balance.
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