There aren’t a lot of eyes on Adelphi baseball. It’s a Division II program that plays in the jampacked Long Island, just a couple of miles east of Brooklyn. It especially doesn’t attract a lot of attention during the winter.

There was an attraction last February. It was snowing, and Adelphi still had practice because there aren’t a lot of options in New York in the winter. One of their pitchers had the tough challenge of getting on the bump to throw through the storm. That was Dawson Montesa.

The snow didn’t bother him. Montesa was reportedly clocked at pitching around 95 miles per hour through the snow. There’s no video of it, but there were rumors. West Virginia baseball coach Steve Sabins heard about him through some regional scouts.

“It was like the legend of Dawson Montesa,” Sabins said.

Still, there was no documentation of him hitting mid-90s through the snowflakes, but Sabins had him on his radar. Months later, Montesa played summer ball in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, so he could finally see if the legend of Dawson Montesa was true.

In his first outing, Montesa made an instant impression on the staff, throwing that reported 95 miles per hour with strikeout stuff.

“No doubt about it, he’s a superstar,” Sabins said.

On Friday, Feb. 13, WVU starts its season against Georgia Southern. If you look out your window, it might not seem like it, but the opening pitch is soon.

Who throws the first strike for the Mountaineers? That’s a tough question, given it’s been almost 250 days since WVU’s last pitch against LSU in the NCAA Tournament. Since then, Sabins has completely rebuilt his pitching staff, and a couple of the key additions have been from Division II transfers like Montesa.

Finding a diamond in the rough, or in this scenario, from the Division II, has been a staple for Sabins. Sabins found Derek Clark and Griffin Kirn at Division II schools, and both of them were recently drafted in the MLB after great success with the Mountaineers.

Along with Montesa, Sabins added Division II National Pitcher of the Year, Ian Korn, from Seaton Hill and Chansen Cole from Newberry. All three should have a big impact for the 2026 season, and Cole, who is the youngest of the group, is expected to get the start against Georgia Southern to open the season.

“Sometimes when a player is coming from a lower-level they kind of put their toe in the water and figure out like ‘Hey, I’m I meant to be here?'” Sabins said. “He’s just come in with such conviction and clarity that he’s capable. He’s been a pleasant surprise.”

Sabins doesn’t rely on the eye test when finding starters at the lower level. There are certain metrics that need to be met to be up for consideration. The pitchers need to have pitched 80-110 innings, while staying healthy and being consistent.

Sabins likes how most of the Division II pitchers are more weathered because they’re relied on more. They don’t have the luxury of going straight to the bullpen to bring in a stud reliever after a jam in the second inning. The Division II starters have to battle through it. All three of them fit that mold.

“They just get to mature,” Sabins said. “Whereas at our level, there’s pressure to put like somebody else in the game or try something else. That’s why I think those kids develop at a very fast rate, sometimes at the lower levels.”

Sabins last two Division II players have been major additions for the Mountaineers. But the three newest additions could be different. Like Sabins said, you never truly know if they are ready until a player steps on the mound to face higher-level competition.

But, based on what Sabins saw from recruiting, they look promising.

“We just happened to probably get the three best Division II pitchers in the country to come to WVU,” Sabins said. “That’s truly a story. We’ll see. In 15 or 20 games, please tell me if you guys see more success out of Division II pitchers somewhere else. I just don’t think that will be the case. I think we will probably have the best Division II transfer in the country.