West Virginia

West Virginia puts recent late-game woes to rest in walk-off win on Friday

Published

7 months ago

May 31, 2025

West Virginia puts recent late-game woes to rest in walk-off win on Friday

West Virginia put their recent late-game struggles to bed on Friday against Kentucky in the first game of the Clemson Regional.

The Mountaineers trailed 3-0 early on, before they tied the game in the sixth, and then ended up walking off the Wildcats on a sacrifice-fly from Armani Guzman, as WVU won 4-3.

Entering this weekend, the Mountaineers had gone 2-7 in their last nine games, with many of those losses coming on late-inning collapses. West Virginia reversed that fortune, as they didn’t allow a run after the fourth inning, and held on in the ninth, despite an error to start the inning.

“The last three weeks have been choppy. We had played okay baseball down the stretch, so to come into this environment on the biggest stage and possibly play our best game in the biggest moment and also get our first walk-off of the season on the road is really special. I think we have the most road wins in the country, and so it’s fitting for this team to come on the road and to be able to get their first walk-off,” West Virginia head coach Steve Sabins said.

Sabins changed around WVU’s lineup on Friday, with one of the moves being the change of Armani Guzman to start at third base. This was only his third start since April 4th, but he came up big for Sabins and company as he went 2-for-3 and had the game-winning at-bat.

The adversity WVU has gone through recently prepared them for this moment, Sabins said. WVU blew leads to Pitt and Kansas State on the road, before getting swept by Kansas in the final weekend of the season.

“They’ve been this way. They’ve been resilient. There’s certain moments throughout the season where you can see growth and and without some struggle or adversity, you don’t ever have that opportunity to see that, and so we’ve won very consistently for a really, really long time,” Sabins said.

The reason WVU isn’t a host this weekend is because of their late-season losses, but Sabins says those lessons learned helped his team learn the importance of winning, something that paid dividends on Friday.

“I think we were three-quarters of the way through the season, and we had the best winning percentage in the country, and so although that was wonderful and allowed us to play here today, it probably didn’t allow for a lot of growth throughout the season of battling back and me needing to be creative with some lineups and change some things and feel in the heat.

“Over the course of the last two or three weeks, I think we had been a little bit stale, and so I think that staleness resulted in a little bit of a fire in our guys and from me to try to make sure that we’re getting the right players in the right positions to be successful because ultimately, that’s my responsibility. So I think through those hard times, you have an opportunity to do something special, and so for these kids to show up here on this day and to have the walk-off win is certainly special for our program, and hopefully that’s kind of the next chapter of our season,” Sabins said.

West Virginia looks to have their magical moment propel them through the regional as they play in the 1-0 game on Saturday night.

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West Virginia

Man dies in southern W.Va. mining incident

Published

7 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Press Room

Man dies in southern W.Va. mining incident

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – A miner died Thursday after an incident at a coal mine in Wyoming County, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said.

The governor said it happened at the Lower War Eagle mine.

Morrisey released the following statement on Thursday evening:

“Denise and I were deeply saddened by the tragic loss of a coal miner today at the Lower War Eagle mine in Wyoming County. Our hearts go out to his family, loved ones, and coworkers during this sorrowful time.

“The West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety, and Training responded immediately and is conducting a full investigation.

“Each day, West Virginia miners perform difficult and demanding tasks. They do this to provide for their families, to build the communities, and to forge a better future for the next generation of West Virginians. It is that work, their strength, and their dedication that defines our state and our nation.

“I ask that all West Virginians lift this miner’s family, friends, and community up in your prayers and keep them in your thoughts through the difficult days ahead.”

The victim’s name has not been released.

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West Virginia

Biggest Surprises and Disappointments from West Virginia’s 2025 Portal Class

Published

19 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Press Room

The transfer portal officially opens here in a couple of weeks, so before the madness begins, we’re going to take a look back at last year’s West Virginia portal class, highlighting some of the biggest surprises and disappointments.

Biggest surprises

West Virginia University offensive lineman Donovan Haslam | Christopher Hall – West Virginia on SI

For this group, we’re keeping it all positive. These are players who rose above expectations and turned out to be pretty solid players.

OL Donovan Haslam (Austin Peay) – He’s far from a finished product, but he helped West Virginia get through some of its issues toward the end of the season when he replaced Walter Young Bear in the starting lineup. WVU will bring in competition for him, but he’s at least a capable option, just needs more development. That play he had dragging Diore Hubbard for a first down may have been a penalty, but it may have been the most determination we saw from a lineman all year.

BAN Devin Grant (Incarnate Word) – The stats may not show his impact, and sometimes that happens with a role player. His playmaking was very timely. Every time the Mountaineers desperately needed a sack, tackle for loss, or turnover, Grant delivered. He’s someone the staff would love to have for another year.

LB Ben Bogle (Southern Illinois) – Although he didn’t start, Bogle was the Mountaineers’ best run defender in the second level, and it really wasn’t close. As a matter of fact, he graded out as the best run stopper on the entire team. He’ll be in contention to start at the MIKE spot in 2026.

Biggest disappointments

West Virginia University Bandit Jimmori Robinson | Christopher Hall – West Virginia on SI

Before I get started here, I’m not including offensive linemen Walter Young Bear and Kimo Makane’ole, simply because they did not come to WVU with big expectations. Yes, they played poorly, but this category is for players who didn’t live up to expectations, in one way or another.

RB Tye Edwards (Northern Iowa) – Obviously, this isn’t a performance-based performance as Edwards injured his hip in the Backyard Brawl and was eventually lost for the season. Not having his physicality really hurt WVU’s offense and its ability to run the football. Had he been healthy, perhaps they could have won another game or two.

RB Jaylan Knighton (SMU) – Who? Yeah, Jaylan Knighton, the guy who never played a down for the Mountaineers. The SMU transfer was expected to be the No. 2 to Jahiem White, which would have formed a pretty strong duo, albeit behind a bad offensive line. He had some academic issues that led to his dismissal in fall camp.

BAN Jimmori Robinson (UTSA) – Without question, the biggest disappointment of all. Robinson was expected to be an elite pass rusher for WVU and an all-league caliber player. I wouldn’t throw all of the blame at his feet, though. Some of it can be attributed to the late start with the NCAA, taking forever with his eligibility, which ended up going to court. Some of it could be the fit in the defense as well. Regardless, Robinson fell well short of expectations, finishing with just 0.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss one year after recording 17 TFLs and 10.5 sacks at UTSA.

West Virginia

WV Lottery excited about Powerball drawing, sixth largest jackpot ever – WV MetroNews

Published

1 day ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

WV Lottery excited about Powerball drawing, sixth largest jackpot ever – WV MetroNews

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Lottery is one of the millions around the nation that will have their eye on tonight’s Powerball drawing.

The Powerball jackpot sits at $1.25 billion, an estimated cash value of $572.1 million. That marks the sixth largest jackpot in the game’s history, and it is just the second time where the game has seen back-to-back jackpots over a billion dollars.

The drawing will be at 10:59 p.m.

“It’s exciting for the lottery and it’s exciting for our players,” said West Virginia Lottery acting director David Bradley. “As excited as we are for our players and for the state and the revenue it generates, we always encourage our players to play responsible.”

Bradley says even if that billion-dollar ticket get hit elsewhere, there will be other big tickets to look out for tonight.

“We’re excited too about the other levels that win. People are excited when they win $5, $20, and $100, and we’re grateful for our players and our retailers and the people that support the lottery,” he said.

Bradley announced Tuesday morning during a lottery commission meeting that two other large tickets had been hit in the state in recent weeks.

A $500,000 ticket was purchased at Martinsburg Wal-Mart, and a $50,000 ticket was sold at the GoMart in Sophia.

In 2025 alone, four different million-dollar tickets were sold in the state. The most recent came a month ago from rural Hardy County at the Misty Valley Grocery in Mathias. Bradley said today that the ticket has not yet been claimed.

Earlier in the year, million-dollar tickets were sold at the Par Mar #17 in Hurricane and the Mardi Gras Casino in Nitro. Neither ticket was claimed.

“When you buy a ticket, make sure you sign the back of it. We encourage all of our players to be sure to check those tickets because you never know. We tell them to look in their car seats, under the car seats, in their book bags, in their purses, gym bags, and jackets.”

WV Lottery financial successes:

The lottery is coming off a strong month of November, where revenues totaled $109,626,000, which is about $14 million ahead of projections.

Total traditional sales for the fiscal year are up six percent — an increase of $31 million from fiscal year 2025. As of the end of November, the Lottery is nearly 13 percent ahead of revenue projections for the year.

So far this year, the Lottery has transferred nearly $300 million to the state for proceeds helping veterans and seniors, the state’s tourism department, the state School Building Authority, and the Promise Scholarship.

“At the Lottery, we do an awful lot of good and we’re important to the state budget. To do good for those programs out there, that’s what makes us happy. I want to make sure people know that when they play, it goes for a good cause.”

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