Key keywords: West Virginia Mountaineers baseball, Binghamton Bearcats, 2024 Morgantown NCAA Regional, NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, college baseball postseason, Monongalia County Ballpark, Big 12 baseball, America East Conference baseball The 2024 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship is set to kick off its regional round this weekend, with host West Virginia Mountaineers set to face the Binghamton Bearcats in the Morgantown Regional opener at 6 p.m. ET Friday at Monongalia County Ballpark. As the No. 1 seed in the Morgantown Regional and the No. 12 overall national seed in this year’s tournament, the Mountaineers enter the postseason on a high note, finishing the regular season with a 39-16 overall record and a 15-9 mark in Big 12 play, good for third place in one of the toughest college baseball conferences in the country. West Virginia has been nearly unbeatable at home this season, posting a 27-5 record at Monongalia County Ballpark, and the team is riding momentum from a deep run in the Big 12 Tournament, where they fell to eventual champion Texas in the semifinal round. Led by consensus All-American infielder JJ Wetherholt, who leads the team with a .411 batting average, 16 home runs and 60 runs batted in, and ace starting pitcher Ben Hampton, who owns a 3.24 ERA and 112 strikeouts across 94 innings pitched this season, the Mountaineers are aiming to advance past the regional round for the first time since 2019, and ultimately secure their first ever berth in the Men’s College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. The Binghamton Bearcats, meanwhile, earned their spot in the NCAA Tournament by winning the America East Conference Tournament last weekend, defeating UMBC 9-4 in the championship game to claim the conference’s automatic bid. The No. 4 seed in the Morgantown Regional, the Bearcats enter the matchup with a 32-21 overall record, and are led by senior outfielder Kevin Gsell, who hit .368 with 12 home runs and 49 RBI during the regular season, and junior starting pitcher Nick Roselli, who posted a 2.98 ERA across 13 starts this year. Binghamton is making its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in program history, and first since 2022, and the team has embraced its underdog status leading up to the opener, with head coach Tim Sinicki noting that his team has nothing to lose and will play loose and aggressive against the heavily favored Mountaineers. The Morgantown Regional also features No. 2 seed Duke and No. 3 seed UNC Wilmington, with the winner of the four-team, double-elimination tournament advancing to the super regional round to face the winner of the Charlottesville Regional. Ticket sales for the opening round matchup have already surpassed 90% capacity, with event organizers anticipating a sellout crowd of over 3,500 fans, the vast majority of whom will be cheering for the host Mountaineers. West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey told reporters earlier this week that his team is not overlooking Binghamton, noting that every team in the NCAA Tournament has earned their spot, and that the Mountaineers will need to play their best baseball to come away with a win in the opener.