NCAA Baseball notebook: Travel tales, retirement regrets, lesser-known powers and stars to watch in Tucson Regional

By hosting an NCAA Tournament regional, Arizona got to go through all its normal practice routines this week and also slept in their own beds each night. Grand Canyon, just up the road in Phoenix, drove into Tucson on Thursday morning and walked straight from the bus into Hi Corbett Field for practice.

It was a different story for Dallas Baptist and West Virginia, the other teams in the Tucson Regional. Both were hit with travel delays, mostly weather-related, prompting a change to the original practice schedule.

“It’s never smooth sailing, and it never will be smooth sailing,” West Virginia coach Randy Mazey joked.

DBU had to split up over two planes on Thursday, arriving in town about an half and a hour before its re-scheduled practice time. But after completing that workout, coach Dan Heefner put things in perspective.

“I think right now it’s better to have travel issues and get to keep playing,” he said. “There’s a lot of people that would we’d love to have that problem.”

DBU, which plays West Virginia at 12 p.m. PT Friday in the regional opener, has the least experience at Hi Corbett in terms of how it plays. The only member of the Patriots to participate in a game here is infielder Ethan Mann, who came with New Mexico State in 2021.

“When we first found out we were coming to Tucson I told the guys the gaps are huge,” said Mann, who was 1 for 7 with an RBI in two games at Hi Corbett.

West Virginia played three games—winning two—against Arizona in February 2023, while GCU has been here twice this season and seven times in the past four years. But Antelopes coach Greg Wallis thinks the proximity to home will be a bigger advantage for it than familiarity with the field’s dimensions.

“The fact that we just had to hop on a bus and come down here this morning, our families get to come down here, I think that’s probably the biggest plus for us,” he said. “We’re having a little family barbecue at (1^st baseman) Zach Yorke’s house tonight for the team and their parents. So I think that’s the best part of staying local here.”

Last dance for Mazey

Mazey, in his 12^th season coaching West Virginia, announced a year ago this would be his final go-around with the Mountaineers. It’s not a decision he regrets, even though he acknowledges that doing so means “ you’re basically telling everybody that you don’t want to coach anymore.”

Last year he led the Mountaineers to a Big 12 Conference regular season title, and 2024 marks the program’s first back-to-back regional appearances since the 1960s.

“I made a decision a year ago, and you never know how you’re gonna feel a year later after you make that decision,” he said. “I told these guys the other day, a year ago I didn’t want to coach anymore, but as I sit here today, I want to coach these guys absolutely, positively as long as I’m allowed to do so.”

Not your average household names

For college baseball fans outside of Arizona—and plenty within the state, particularly after a UA loss to it—Grand Canyon probably sounds like a directional school that is only in the NCAA tourney because every conference gets at least one bid. But this is the ‘Lopes’ third postseason trip in the last four years.

Dallas Baptist is an even more extreme example of success in the sport, despite not having much brand recognition. That’s partly because baseball is the only sport the Patriots play at the Division I level, and since moving up in 2004 they’ve made 13 regionals and two Super Regionals.

“Coach Heef tells us all the time that at DBU the baseball program is kind of like the football program,” infielder Miguel Santos said. “Football programs at other schools are usually the programs that get funded the most and get the most attention. So we have to hold ourselves to a higher standard because people look at us differently.”

West Virginia’s Maxey, who faced DBU quite often when he was an assistant coach at TCU, said the Patriots and GCU shouldn’t be overlooked by anyone.

“Dallas Baptist is the Grand Canyon of Texas,” he said.

Regional star power

Baseball America released its latest list of the 500 top college prospects for the 2024 MLB Draft, and eight of them are playing in Tucson.

Topping the list is West Virginia shortstop JJ Wetherholt, who is ranked 4^th overall and is a surefire 1^st round pick. Arizona noticed that last season when he went 7 for 13 with with three doubles, two home runs, four RBI and five stolen bases (including a game-winning steal of home in the 11^th inning of the series opener) when the Mountaineers played at Hi Corbett.

He’s one of five Mountaineers in the top 500, along with right-handed pitchers Aidan Major (No. 88) and David Hageman (175), 1^st baseman Grant Hussey (372) and lefty Derek Clark (500). Clark is starting West Virginia’s first game against Dallas Baptist, which is starting righty Dallas Johnson, the No. 48 overall prospect who struck out 14 over 6.2 innings against Arizona at the Frisco Classic in March.

Grand Canyon’s lone representative is righty Daniel Avitia (246), while lefty Jackson Kent (191) is its only current Wildcat on the list. Two members of the 2024 signing class are on their in lefty Mason Russell (92) and righty Smith Bailey (286) while former UA pitchers Aiden May (Oregon State, 112) and Josh Randall (San Diego, 218) are also ranked.