OMAHA, Neb. — West Virginia’s historical baseball season had been over a half hour when Steve Sabins stepped to the podium inside the media room at Charles Schwab Field.
Seated beside three of the Mountaineers’ top players in Matthew Graveline, Armani Guzman and Gavin Kelly, Sabins took a moment to collect his thoughts.
WVU had just put forth a valiant effort in a 12-7 loss to North Carolina, scoring the final six runs to battle back from what was more or less an insurmountable deficit, and coming within about 15 feet of making it a two-run game when Ben Lumsden flew out to right field for the final out.
A team significantly outplayed over the first six innings that didn’t have the necessary pitching or defense to stick with the Tar Heels on this Wednesday afternoon still managed to make things somewhat interesting by generating seven straight baserunners with two outs in the seventh inning, five of which reached by way of hit.
“We talk about things that represent this state and this university, and that’s what we’re all about,” Sabins said. “That’s what we’ve always been all about. So for the kids to embody those things and to fight back in that situation, I wouldn’t want to have it any other way, if you’re going to go down.”
It was almost fitting that the seventh-inning rally began as a result of Armani Guzman hustling into first base to leg out an infield single that at the time seemed rather harmless. Over the last two seasons, Guzman’s had no shortage of memorable postseason performances and his electrifying style of play helped him turn into a fan favorite in Morgantown.
Six batters after the 21st and final hit for Guzman over 44 at bats in the NCAA Tournament, WVU trailed 12-5, and UNC manager Scott Forbes was calling on freshman Caden Glauber.
Glauber is one of the top relievers in college baseball and North Carolina (54-12-1) has a 28-0 record in games the freshman sensation has appeared in this season.
“The goal is to win a national title, and we were close. So it hurts,” said Kelly, who tied the WVU single-season home record with 19 by blasting a no-doubter in the eighth for what proved to be the final run. “But just really proud of the group. We came back from crazy deficits and then had some crazy games in the regionals and even before.”
West Virginia needed to be at or near its best to extend its season at least another game.
The Mountaineers didn’t play well enough or clean enough to knock off UNC in either contest at the Men’s College World Series.
On Sunday, a pair of seventh-inning errors played a pivotal part in a 5-2 setback to the Tar Heels. WVU also failed to muster enough offense in that game, largely due to a 1-for-9 effort with runners in scoring position.
There were two more costly errors Wednesday that played a hand in the Mountaineers playing from behind, and after UNC’s Jackson Rose replaced starting pitcher Folger Boaz to start the home half of the second inning, the Mountaineers didn’t manage a run over the next five frames.
Pitching was also problematic Wednesday as starter Chansen Cole struggled for the second time in as many outings in Omaha, while Ian Korn and Reese Bassinger were hit hard in relief.
“When you start mapping it out, you have to win today to play tomorrow,” Sabins said. “But what we really needed is for the guys who played great for us all year to clip five and six innings at a time, so you can keep interchanging pitchers, and you could potentially do a little bit better in hindsight, today. But tomorrow and the next day are coming, because you’re playing good teams.
“We kind of know what it actually takes. So you can go on pixie dust and a miracle and that kind of thing. But we needed [Cole] to be good. So you don’t really have a choice. Although you can keep kind of mixing in new arms, you need for your best guys to be good.”
West Virginia’s quest to play in the MCWS Finals fell two wins short, but what the Mountaineers showcased across a 47-17 campaign that included an 8-3 mark in the NCAA Tournament won’t soon be forgotten and nor should it.
“They just play the game the right way,” Forbes said. “That’s a credit to their coaching staff. They come at you a lot of ways — a lot of speed, deep pitching staff. We really had to work in those two games to beat them.”