This season marks the last for West Virginia head baseball coach Randy Mazey, who announced he’ll be retiring following 12 years with the Mountaineers.
Mazey has made a major impact on the baseball program during his tenure in Morgantown, leading West Virginia to a Big 12 regular season title just last season and helping restore the culture of the program. But he’s also done an outstanding job in adjusting to the nuance of the game off the field. Excelling in the transfer portal and seeing production out of the team’s new additions. Which he spoke about on ESPN’s broadcast during West Virginia’s Big 12 Tournament matchup with Kansas State on Wednesday.
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“When the whole portal thing came about we went into it saying man if you don’t win the portal, you don’t win the games,” Mazey said. “That’s just the world we live in right now, so we committed to it and the funny thing about our program is the kids we get out of the portal end up having better years for us than they had at their previous school. And that’s a tribute to our culture, and our resources, and our system of development.”
“When guys can do that, that tells you a lot more about the program and the way we do things than anything else,” Mazey added. “Like Kyle West, the guy that just hit the ball to the fence, he’s a Division II kid that’s had a good year for us. Derek Clark, our entire outfield last year I think where portal guys that had good years.
“So we’ve dang sure won the portal the last couple of years.”
Along with seeing production from his transfer players, Mazey has also found newfound production during the season from some more inexperienced players as well. A key to postseason success as the Mountaineers will look to make a strong push in the Big 12 and NCAA Tournaments.
“This time of the year you’ve gotta have somebody step up that you’re not expecting to. Somebody’s gonna have to be a hero that you’re not counting on when play so many games in a short amount of time. You have to use guys that you haven’t used before and that’s how you find guys,” Mazey said.
“I remember, I think it was last year’s tournament when (Texas) Tech ran that (Kyle) Robinson boy out there. He had an unbelievable start in the tournament last year and all of a sudden he’s a weekend guy for them. So it’s amazing what kids can do when given the opportunity to shine,” Mazey explaiend. “You never really know how good they can be if they’re over here in the dugout the whole time.”
Mazey is hoping that some unsung heroes, familiar faces, and players who are new to the program can all play their part this postseason in what will be his last with West Virginia.
The post Randy Mazey credits culture for aiding West Virginia transfer success on the field appeared first on On3.