On Friday, the West Virginia University baseball team will clear a new horizon ­– the Mountaineers will play its first College World Series game in program history.

To understand the importance of this moment is to understand from where this program came. In 2012, disbanding that program was an option legitimately on the table.

Hawley Field, the Mountaineers’ former playing grounds, was nothing worthy of a power-conference baseball team, much less one that would play in the Big 12. Scholarship allotments were rarely at their maximum. WVU had a baseball team, but it was debatable that it had a baseball program.

But then-athletic director Oliver Luck brought together a braintrust of major names to discuss what WVU baseball’s future should be.

It was decided that, if the Mountaineers were to make a run in the sport, it needed the support and the resources to do so. That led to things like the hiring of former coach Randy Mazey, who built the foundation for the current program, and the building of what is now Kendrick Family Ballpark.

What ensued was a WVU baseball rennaisance, a Big 12 title contender that evolved into one of college baseball’s top programs.

And now it has reached the pinnacle of the sport, thanks to faith, hard work and the support the program needed.