WVU Baseball Receiving Mixed National Respect Ahead of 2026 Season

The 206 WVU baseball season will be here in just a few weeks, which means it’s time to check in on the national perception of the this year’s Mountaineers.

On one hand, Baseball America including West Virginia inside their latest preseason top 25. They rank Steve Sabins’ team at No. 21, as promoted by the program on Monday.

Entering the season at #️⃣2️⃣1️⃣#HailWV | @BaseballAmerica pic.twitter.com/2FYouTIFyI

— WVU Baseball (@WVUBaseball) January 19, 2026

However, this news came after another prominent outlet snubbed WVU. Perfect Game is not as high on West Virginia, placing them well outside an actual ranking and barely within even the top 40 teams in the country at No. 39.

WVU baseball will open the season on Feb. 13 with the first game of a four-game series at Georgia Southern. West Virgin’s home opener is set for Tuesday, Feb. 24 against Canisius.

No matter where they rank going into the season, the recent standard of excellence and the immense success of 2025 has created big expectations for 2026 and beyond.

Courtesy of WVU Athletics

In his debut season as head coach, Sabins led the Mountaineers to a record win total, the first-ever outright regular season conference title and another appearance in the NCAA Super Regional stage.

Find the full WVU baseball 2026 schedule and complete coverage at WV Sports Now.