During No. 20 WVU Baseball’s 13-2 run-rule victory over Baylor University on March 14, the team’s on-base percentage leader, fifth-year center fielder Paul Schoenfeld, pulled out unsuspecting dance moves standing on the third base bag after a triple. The left-handed hitting outfielder angled towards the Mountaineer dugout, thrusting his hips side to side, with his arms high in the air.
During the team’s next series against the Brigham Young University Cougars, Schoenfeld started 8-for-8, slapping base hits all across the diamond. After his fifth hit in the series’ second game, a 12-10 victory, on March 20, he pulled the celebration out of his pocket once again.
In the postgame presser, Schoenfeld was asked about the celebration. He redirected the question towards redshirt junior left-handed pitcher Maxx Yehl, saying he created the celebration.
“You’ll have to ask him when he’s in here tomorrow; why we do it,” Schoenfeld said.
Luckily for the concept of this story, Yehl earned a trip to the podium following his start in the Saturday matinee game against the Cougars. The southpaw continued his electric start of the season, tossing seven innings of one-run baseball, fanning 11 BYU bats and not allowing a single free pass.
Yehl broke down the reasoning behind the story, saying that he crafted it with inspiration from British singer and songwriter Dua Lipa. Her viral hip movements when performing her hit song alongside producer Calvin Harris, “One Kiss,” are the cause.
“She was performing at a concert and started doing the hip thing,” Yehl said. “I thought it was hilarious and someone played the song. I remembered her doing that and I started doing it.”
YouTube comment directed towards British singer/songwriter Dua Lipa from 2018.
The video he is referring to is from a performance in 2018, where Lipa started to twist her hips to the opening beat of the song. The clip went viral, along with a meme around the same time period, where a YouTube comment on her performance at the 2018 BRIT Awards said: “I love her lack of energy, go girl give us nothing!”
Yehl said he told the team to do “the hip thing” when they hit a double while in Baylor, which caught the mind and eyes of Schoenfeld after legging out his triple.
Lipa’s story doesn’t end there either, as the pop star has looked back on that saga as “hurtful,” but has moved on since then. She has gone on to win seven BRIT Awards and three Grammy Awards.
For the Mountaineers, consistency has been the definition of the program, winning their first six series to start the season, adding some flair on the basepaths to spark the team.
WVU has found multiple ways to influence team chemistry throughout the years, most notably with the pretzel necklace in 2023. Now, Dua Lipa has sparked the next chapter in the story.
WVU returns to action at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 24, against a familiar foe, taking on Marshall University at Jack Cook Field in Huntington, West Virginia. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.