WVU’s baseball team went 2-1 in the Big East/Big Ten Challenge over the weekend — and probably feels like it should have won Saturday to be 3-0 this morning. Sunday’s win was a good one, though, in that the Mountaineers recovered from letting another lead slip away late and that it went this way in the bottom of the ninth: walk, sacrifice bunt, two-out single, 5-4 win.

The weekend’s scores? Try 5-0, 3-2 and 5-4. Not exactly what you think of when you do take time to think about college baseball. Might want to get used to it, though. The NCAA is mandating new, deadened bats this season and it’s going to change the game.

In explaining the new standards in August, the NCAA pointed to the rise in offensive numbers. Home runs rose from 0.64 per game in 2007 to 0.84, 0.96 and 0.94 the following three seasons. Runs per game went from 6.1 in 2007 to 6.57, 6.88 and 6.98.

“We may have to recruit different,” Van Zant said. “Speed is at a premium. That would probably be the biggest thing for position players. Hawley Field used to be a small ballpark and then we backed it up, but we have these new bats.

“When we had the live bats, we went through what everyone called ‘Gorilla Ball’ in college baseball. The ball flew off the bat and we tried to recruit bashers.

“If you’ve got the 6-foot-5, 240-pound guy who crushes it and it’s not a home run, then you might just go with a smaller guy.”