The West Virginia Mountaineers appear to be making the most of their first College World Series appearance in school history.
West Virginia made their debut in the tournament on Friday against Troy, and wasted little time in getting on the board in wild fashion. Outfielder Armani Guzman opened the bottom of the first by reaching second base on an error, then took third on an ensuing strikeout. With two down, Guzman took matters into his own hands and scored the Mountaineers’ first run on a straight steal of home plate.
STOLE HOME IN WEST VIRGINIA'S FIRST-EVER MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES GAME‼️ pic.twitter.com/oT7wIvez32
— ESPN (@espn) June 12, 2026
The program has had plenty of success in baseball historically, but this is their first trip to the College World Series. They fell at the Super Regional stage in each of the last two seasons, but were able to break through this time with consecutive blowout wins over Cal Poly.
Guzman had 38 stolen bases in 41 attempts on the season before swiping home Friday. The steal wasn’t a surprise, but the boldness certainly caught Troy off guard.
The run wound up being quite crucial, as the Mountaineers went on to win 7-5.
