Exclusive: WVU Baseball Faithful, Randy Mazey Discuss ‘Randy’s Ridge’ Taking the Nation By Storm

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – WVU Baseball and their fans took the nation by storm during their Morgantown Regional win to open the 2026 NCAA Tournament. Not only did they sing “Country Roads” in raucous fashion after each of their four wins; Mountaineer fans who weren’t able to secure a seat in Kendrick Family Ballpark packed the ridge behind the stadium, staking down every available spot in the WVU Medicine University Town Centre parking lot to tailgate and take the game in from above.

The crowd grew larger with each successive win, eventually dubbed “Randy’s Ridge” in honor of former WVU Baseball head coach Randy Mazey, widely seen as the architect of the program.

Mountaineers fan Robby Pauley was ready at 9 a.m. Saturday to secure a spot atop the ridge. He took part in the mad dash as the gates opened. The last time he had to run that fast?

“Probably boot camp,” Pauley said. “The experience has been awesome. I mean, it don’t matter. Waiting in line, rushing, it’s all to see the Mountaineers play.”

Tyler Payne arrived moments before the sprint for a spot. “It was chaotic,” Payne said. “Everyone was running for the hill, people falling on the hill.”

Payne added that he preferred the tailgate atmosphere to the stadium experience.

“I think the ridge is more fun, honestly. We’re all cheering and having a good time. The stadium is a good time, and it’s cool to experience that, but we’ve got a great view up here.”

The Dark Side of Fame

With Randy’s Ridge getting a full week of attention from national media — and the Super Regional get-in price drifting into triple figures after selling out — West Virginia University stepped in to sanction the tailgates and provide crowd control.

Speaking ahead of Friday’s 12-2 win, Tammy Crooks described the downside of being a part of history. After showing up at 5:30 a.m. to secure a spot on the ridge, she and other spectators faced a barrage of contradictory instructions.

“I first got up here, I was hoping I could set up our little campsite somewhere: was told no, they weren’t letting anybody in till nine,” Crooks said. “Then they were letting people in — but not to park… so I hauled everything over here.” Crooks and her family later dealt with another run-around when the lot opened for parking at 9 a.m.

Nevertheless, she took the historic moment in stride.

WVU baseball fans sit on the hill near Kendrick Family Ballpark to watch West Virginia in the 2026 NCAA Morgantown Regional. (WVSN photo by Kelsie LeRose)

“We’ll survive, right? I would say it’s all part of the experience,” Crooks said. “This is a historical event for the university, so I get that there’s a lot of people that want to be here… I also understand that it’s a first for them [WVU] also, that things change.”

Upping the Stakes

Teddy Robinson made his Randy’s Ridge debut on Monday, June 1, watching West Virginia’s walk-off win against Kentucky to secure their first trip to a home Super Regional in program history.

“Amazing. Couldn’t have been a better atmosphere,” Robinson said of Armani Guzman’s series-clinching single. “Even up here, it was equally electric.”

Speaking an hour before first pitch in Game 2 of the Super Regional, Robinson compared the atmosphere to last weekend’s clincher.

“Oh, it’s tenfold. Tenfold,” Robinson said. “We got here maybe 30 minutes before the game started on Monday, and we were able to get a pretty nice spot. And then yesterday we were way down there [overlooking the parking lot]. Today we were here at 8 a.m., and we’re kind of second level. So it’s amazing.”

Robinson provided the bright side to University sanction and the added regulations that came along. “The fans are great. More fans is a good thing for the program, right? And hopefully that turns into more season tickets next year and more support for the program.”

“1.8 Million Watching Behind Them”

Nickolaus Drennen came to Game 1 of the Super Regional on Friday, June 5 wearing an Iowa State softball shirt, a callback to the ‘Cycloneers’ viral fan mashup during the 2023 season. Drennen said he attended every game the following season, but he and his wife moved to Charleston after that.

“I wanted to be up here last weekend, but work didn’t work out. This weekend is my birthday, so I had everything called off,” Drennen said. “I said ‘alright, I’m gonna come up by myself.’ This is the first time it’s ever happened in Morgantown history, so this is important to me. I love this team, I love the state, so why not be here?”

Drennen gave the atmosphere on Randy’s Ridge perhaps the highest praise possible from a Mountaineers fan.

“When I showed up at 10 a.m. and I saw the bodies, I called my wife and I said ‘it literally looks like it’s a football game. This looks like a Backyard Brawl-esque tailgate. There’s just so many people here,” Drennen said. “It’s just, it’s insane, especially Friday at noon. A lot of these people called off work to be here. That’s how you know it means something.

Pauley, however, pointed out an important distinction between Blue Lot tailgates and Randy’s Ridge. Football is not free. This is free.”

Even basking in the atmosphere, Drennen said it didn’t surprise him.

“It’s just the Mountaineers. This is what we do,” Drennen said. “We live and breathe WVU… any sport, if the sport’s doing great, we’ll be there to support them. We’re die-hards. This is our pro team… the state shows out. You might have 5,000 people here today, but you have 1.8 million watching behind them.”

Mazey Makes an Appearance

University sanction also meant that Randy Mazey appeared atop the ridge now (unofficially) bearing his name, handing out pepperoni rolls to fans well before Friday’s game started. Describing himself as a man of the people, Mazey milled amongst the crowd ahead of both of the first two games of the Super Regional.

“It’s a spectacle, is the best way to put it. Who would’ve ever thought? But this is the thing that creates atmospheres in college athletics,” Mazey said. “We’re getting national attention for what we’re doing now that adds to the enrollment of the university. It’s just everything.”

In the 14 years since Mazey took the job in Morgantown, WVU Baseball has six NCAA Tournament appearances — for comparison, they managed 11 in the century prior — and three straight trips to the Super Regional, the only appearances in program history.

His handpicked successor, Steve Sabins, has the Mountaineers on the cusp of their first-ever trip to Omaha for the College World Series. Surveying his kingdom from the ridge above, however, Mazey said he isn’t the type to rest on his laurels.

“Not my style to pat myself on the back. There were people at WVU Baseball a hundred years before I got here that laid this foundation,” Mazey said. “I just got the right people in place and let them do what they do, and this is the result.”

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