Benjamin Powell MAKING AN IMPACT — WVU outfielder Paul Schoenfeld is one of the D2 transfers helping WVU.

By Paul Schoenfeld’s own admission, the moment first hit him last fall. It was the sudden realization that baseball isn’t some universal game where stepping into the batter’s box at one level was the same at another level.

“The fall was a really big learning curve for me,” the WVU outfielder said. “We played Wake Forest, and I was 0 for 7 with four strikeouts.”

All of a sudden it hit Schoenfeld he was no longer at Colorado Mesa any longer, the Division II school where he once dominated the game.

Seven at-bats with four strikeouts against one of the traditional powers of Division I college baseball had shown him that. It now became a question of what’s next for Schoenfeld. Either he could have accepted his fate that day as a guy who wasn’t ready to make a giant leap from the small-school ranks or he could get to work.

“I remember getting on the bus and telling my dad that I’ve got to go to work,” Schoenfeld said. “I’ve got to really grind it out in the winter time. I wanted to start for (WVU) and I had to put in the work and get better.”

Small-ball stars

WVU head coach Steve Sabins is no stranger to recruiting players out of Division II. To some degree, it’s a calling card for him, as he’s become known as the coach who builds his rosters by looking for talent where a lot of other big-time Division I schools don’t even bother to look.

Pitcher Derek Clark led the Mountaineers to a 2024 super regional as the team’s ace after pitching three years at Northwood University in Michigan. A year later, Griffin Kirn led WVU back to a super regional as the team’s top starter after starring at Quincy University in Illinois.

When the 15th-ranked Mountaineers (31-12) head to Charleston’s GoMart Ballpark faced in-state rival Marshall, they did so with three former Division II pitchers – Ian Korn, Chansen Cole and Dawson Montesa – making a major impact on the season.

The spotlight shines differently on Schoenfeld, though. He’s no pitcher. He’s out there every game chasing down balls and crashing into the wall out in center field. And he has to hit.

When Sabins evaluates a Division II pitcher, he said he’s looking at how they will project at the next level. Not so for hitters.

“The hitter better have elite numbers and elite stuff,” Sabins said. “The pitching level (in Division II) is just not comparable. It’s not even close, so the trajectory of a hitter going from there to here would be a massive decrease in production.”

As far as elite numbers at Colorado Mesa, Schoenfeld matched up. He batted .420 with nine home runs and 55 RBIs last season. The year before that, he hit .412.

After putting in the work after that tough day against Wake Forest, Schoenfeld has matched up at the Division I level, too. He enters the Marshall game fourth in the Big 12 with a .384 batting average. His OPS (on-base plus slugging) stands at 1.054.

“Paul is probably hitting as good in the Big 12 as he was at Colorado Mesa, which is unheard of,” Sabins said. “It takes a special mentality to be like, ‘Yeah, I’m the man. It doesn’t matter, put me on the Yankees, the Mountaineers or Colorado Mesa.’ For him to have that confidence and belief and to step in here and be our three-hole hitter and be the guy driving in the runs, it’s kind of freakish.”

Always overlooked

Coming out of Wichita, Kan., Schoenfeld ended up at Colorado Mesa after being the guy who was never given much of a look by the bigger colleges.

“I’ve played with a chip on my shoulder my whole life,” he admits. “I’ve never been that big guy or the standout guy. When I was younger, everyone overlooked me. Now, I can just be myself.”

He attended Butler (Kan.) Community College for a year and then enrolled at Colorado Mesa, where life as a baseball standout isn’t exactly what he’s experiencing now at WVU.

“Colorado Mesa was the best three years of my life, but you do eat a lot of soggy sandwiches and stuff,” he said. “The bus rides were always to Denver, so it was always a four-hour trip every other weekend. Going through the mountains was a little sketchy sometimes.”

All of it came with the hope that one day he would get noticed, given that one chance to showcase his abilities at the top level. That opportunity came at WVU, and as far as being overlooked, that’s not the case any longer.

“The guy who selects the teams for USA baseball, Eric Hamble, told me that every time he turns on one of our games that Paul Schoenfeld is the best hitter,” Sabins said. “He asked me if Paul was really one of our best hitters and I was like, ‘for sure, definitely.’ He’s been under the radar. He transferred here from Colorado Mesa and no one knew that school or where it even was until he got here. He’s definitely as good as anyone.”