The West Virginia University baseball team has something to prove in 2017.
Coming off their best season since joining the Big 12 Conference and in the Randy Mazey era, the Mountaineers came agonizingly close to making the NCAA Tournament in 2016 for the first time since 1996.
The Mountaineers went 36-22, reached their first-ever Big 12 championship game, and finished the year as one of the nation’s hottest teams, winning 17 of their last 21. However, WVU was listed as one of the first four teams out when the NCAA Tournament field was announced.
The mindset of playing with an edge and proving doubters wrong began on May 30, 2016, after the 64-team NCAA Tournament field was revealed and just three Big 12 teams were invited.