Remember the guys with the hijinx from last season? (http://t.co/3tJIXAKW2n) They’re back! pic.twitter.com/KH6alOgh54

— Mike Casazza (@mikecasazza) April 10, 2015

A season ago, we swooned for dugout shenanigans, inverted sloths and WWE cheers and maneuvers. Bubble gum hats, rally caps and this weird thing where someone gets an extra-base hit and some guys on the bench demand the base-runner’s attention just to say “Hi!” are in this season. It’s understated, but maybe WVU had bigger matters to tend to over the weekend.

And what a weekend it was…

The debut series at work-in-progress/only-going-to-get better Monongalia County Ballpark was a swinging success. The Mountaineers won all three games and did so in what I would consider suggestive style. The first game was highly entertaining, but WVU was also anxious and unsure on the mound, at the plate and in the field and needed 13 innings for a walk-off win. The next two days were easier: 8-0 and 12-4 wins that let Randy Mazey get a lot of players in on the action.

By Sunday, with a reconfigured lineup, the Mountaineers really looked at home. Opening night hero Justin Fox cranked a leadoff homer off the damn ticket office in left center in the first and finally healthy/suddenly unstoppable K.C. Huth went over the same wall with a three-run homer in the third for a 7-0 lead on the way to an 11-run edge.

Huth, by the way, was 9-for-13 in the series with three runs, two doubles, a home run and six RBI. He was 15-for-74 with two doubles, one home run and 11 RBI this season before the series. His average jumped 73 points to .276!

There were 22 extra-base hits in the series, and WVU had 15, including five home runs of which not one was cheap. Most notable: The story was not offense.

Butler, a fairly good offensive outfit that entered the series with a .291 average, lost eight points off its average and went 20 innings without scoring, which is either more than two ordinary games or 1 1-2 Friday games.

The occasion seemed to inspire the pitchers. B.J. Myers threw 7 2-3 innings and 113 pitches in relief Friday and struck out seven while allowing two (unearned) runs. Starter Ross Vance, who picked up 18 outs by ground balls in his previous start at Kansas State, got 15 outs on grounders in eight shutout innings Saturday. Starter Chad Donato struck out 10 in six innings and 98 pitches Sunday.

The big number, though, was the attendance: 3,110 Friday, 2,211 Saturday and 1,647 Sunday, making it the most attended weekend series in program history. Penn State is the next guest Tuesday before a three-game weekend series against Oklahoma.