WVU drops first Big 12 series before Backyard Brawl – The Gold and Blue Nation Podcast

After a pair of strong weekends to open the league slate, WVU suffered its first loss in a three-game clash to the fifth-ranked team in the nation, Oklahoma State, two games to one. The series was competitive, as WVU held the Cowboys to two runs in the first two games. Now, WVU turns its attention to PNC Park, where they will face Pitt in the second edition of this year’s Backyard Brawl series before returning to the Lone Star State for another tough series against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. GBN’s Ryan Decker and Sam Coniglio come to you right from Wagener Field at Monongalia County Ballpark to discuss what they saw over the weekend, then they look forward to what is in store for WVU in its next four games. Gold and Blue Nation is the local leader for Mountaineer sports news, producing comprehensive coverage on TV and online. Download the free Gold and Blue Nation app via your preferred app store so you’re never more than a touch away from our WVU sports reporting, highlights and archived shows. 

West Virginia baseball finally achieved a goal towards which it has been blistering all season — the single-season stolen base record.

Victor Scott II actually double-dipped in WVU’s 5-2 win over No. 5 Oklahoma State on Saturday. He was the lucky (and fitting) man to do the honors when he dashed unopposed to second base in the seventh inning, raising the team total to 115 on the season, the most in program history. Scott II also set an individual record, grabbing his 30th bag of the season.

The 115th steal breaks a program record that has stood since 1986.

“I love when those guys run,” said WVU coach Randy Mazey. “I love watching them, they’re dynamic players and I’d love nothing more than for both [Scott II and right fielder Austin Davis] to break that record, and then chase each other’s record.”

“That record” to which Mazey refers, in fact, is not the WVU record, but the “Randy Mazey record.” WVU’s skipper was a speedster on the base path in his college days at Clemson, and stole 34 bases in 66 games in 1988. That tally holds the fifth spot in the Tigers’ record book to this day.

For now, that record is safe, but both Mountaineers are both well on their way to breaking the Mazey record. WVU has played 33 games, which puts them just over the halfway point of the season. Scott II’s 30 steals are just four shy of his’ skipper’s total, while Davis’s 23 put him 11 shy.

“I’ll be the first guy to present those guys with the base when they break that record,” Mazey said. “I haven’t stolen a base in 40 years.”

To dig even deeper into the record books, both Davis and Scott are chasing after WVU’s career steals record as well. Bill Marovic set that tally in 1965, snagging 74 bags between 1963 and 1965.

Davis upped his career total to 54 in four years with a steal on Saturday, putting him one shy of Braden Zarbnisky for the fourth spot all-time. Scott still has a ways to go as he sits with 49 in three seasons with the Mountaineers, slotting him in behind Davis at No. 6 all-time.