Mazey, Manoah Headline WVU’s Big 12 Awards

WVU Baseball’s fantastic regular season resulted in two Mountaineers being named the best at their job in the Big 12 Conference.

Coach Randy Mazey, who is in his 7th year at WVU, was honored as the Coach of the Year after leading the Mountaineers to a 34-18 (13-11) regular season record. This is the first time in program history that a WVU coach has won Coach of the Year, and further solidifies the case for Mazey to get a significant pay raise this coming offseason. Mazey is 223-172 in his tenure at West Virginia, and hopes to build on that this week at the Big 12 Tournament.

Alek Manoah, WVU’s star pitcher and soon-to-be 1st round pick, was named as the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, as well as to the All-Big 12 1st Team after his unbelievable 2019 campaign. Manoah (8-3, 1.91 ERA) threw 94.1 innings, limiting opponents to a .189 batting average, struck out a WVU-record 125 batters and walked just 22 men all season. This is the 2nd time in program history that a WVU hurler has won this award, after Harrison Musgrave won it in 2013.

5 other Mountaineers were named to the All-Big 12 2nd Team on Monday:

• Ivan Gonzalez (Sr., C) was a stalwart behind the plate in 2019, helping this pitching staff dominate the Big 12. He also hit .286 with 3 HR’s and 26 RBI’s.
• Darius Hill (Sr., RF) has been a constant for this program over the past 4 years, finally taking the school-record for career doubles (76) on Saturday vs. George Washington. He hit .308, 6 HR’s, with a team-leading 22 doubles and 38 RBI’s.
• Marques Inman (R. Jr., 1B) provided an unbelievably clutch bat seemingly all season long, coming up with game-winning hits multiple times during conference play. He finished the regular season with a .274 average, 9 HR’s and 37 RBI’s.
• Sam Kessler (Jr., CP) held down the back-end of WVU’s bullpen, finishing with 8 saves and a 2.64 ERA.
• Paul McIntosh (So., DH) provided a big bat and much needed catching relief in 2019, hitting .282 with 9 HR’s and 28 RBI’s.

Finally, 3 Mountaineers earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention awards:

• Nick Snyder (Jr., LHP) dominated midweek opponents all season long. I’m actually surprised Snyder (8-1, 1.95 ERA) didn’t win something more prestigious than Honorable Mention, because without him, WVU wouldn’t be making the NCAA Tournament, nor feeling so good about their chances in it. He was amazing this year, throwing 55.1 innings, allowing batters to hit just .159 (ridiculous), while striking out 86 and walking 25.
• Brandon White (Jr., CF) has patrolled center field for the Mountaineers for 3 years now, and he has been so important to this team over the years, but especially this year. He led the team with 23 stolen bases, hit .276 and drove in 21 runs.
• Tyler Doanes (So., 2B) played extremely well at 2nd this year for the Mountaineers, serving as the leadoff man and doing it at a very high level. This position was really deep in the Big 12 this season, otherwise he’d have been 1st or 2nd team. Expect him to be even better in 2020. He hit .308 with 19 doubles, 3 triples, 5 HR’s, 28 RBI’s and 17 stolen bases. Stud.