It was quite a day for West Virginia University baseball coach Steve Sabins on Friday.

First, Sabins was named the 2026 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Mike Martin National Coach of the Year.

Then his Mountaineers (46-15) defeated Troy, 7-5, in the first trip to the NCAA College World Series in program history.

In just his second season as coach, Sabins has guided WVU to an 89-31 record with back-to-back seasons of at least 44 wins.

The Mountaineers also qualified for a Super Regional last year in his debut season.

West Virginia was the No. 16 national seed and hosted an NCAA Regional for the third time. After an opening-round win over Binghamton, the Mountaineers dropped a back-and-forth affair to Kentucky, 11-9.

West Virginia stormed back to win the regional with a victory over Wake Forest and a pair of wins over Kentucky, including a walk-off 10-inning victory in the decisive Game 7.

WVU dominated Cal Poly in the Morgantown Super Regional, winning by scores of 12-2 and 17-1 to clinch its first berth to the College World Series.

Sabins has now helped the Mountaineers to a program record for wins in back-to-back seasons.

“Steve Sabins accomplished what some might have thought impossible 30-40 years ago by qualifying West Virginia for the World Series,” NCBWA Executive Director Bo Carter said.

“He helped the Mountaineers win their first Super Regional. The entire membership sends congratulations to Steve Sabins.”

West Virginia has featured a balanced attack all season, ranking in the top 30 nationally in batting average (.307), ERA (3.79) and fielding percentage (.979).

The Mountaineers had the top defense and pitching staff in the Big 12, anchored by dual aces Maxx Yehl (9-2, 2.10 ERA, 105 Ks) and Chansen Cole (10-1, 2.85 ERA, 106 Ks).

The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Coach of the Year Award, introduced in 2008, is voted on by the NCBWA Board of Directors, which is chosen from a list that includes all Division I conference coaches of the year and the coaches of the eight NCAA College World Series teams.

In 2020, the NCBWA board of directors voted unanimously to name the annual award after Mike Martin, the winningest head coach in NCAA Division I baseball history after he retired at Florida State in 2019 with a 2,029-736-4 mark over 40 seasons in leading the FSU program from 1980-2019. Martin died in February 2024 at age 79.