The West Virginia Mountaineers (47-16) fell to the North Carolina Tar Heels (53-12-1) Wednesday afternoon 12-7 in the College World Series.
West Virginia head coach Steve Sabins met with the media following the game and gave his assessment of the Mountaineers’ final game of the season.
Opening statement
Couldn’t be more proud of this group of kids. What they were able to do and what they were able to accomplish is nothing short of miraculous.
I’m so thankful for these players. Thankful for the seniors. We have kids in this group that have been part of the best season in program history twice. This was the best season in Mountaineer baseball history. They’ve been playing baseball for 135 years, so this group of kids gets to say that after 135 teams, they were the first team to make it to Omaha, to play and be one of the last four teams standing. That’s certainly tremendous.
You never want to go down, but if you’re going to go down, for me, being down 12-1 and scratching and clawing and fighting and running out of gas and giving literally everything that you have left in the tank to compete is poetic, for me. We talk about things that represent this state and this university, and that’s what we’re all about. That’s what we’ve always been all about. 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, we obviously set our sights on winning a national title, and we believed we were capable of doing that. We fell short of that goal, but these kids stuck together through thick and thin and adversity. What they were able to accomplish gave hope and belief and excitement to a state and to a university.
I’m just so thankful for these kids. I’m thankful for their parents for trusting me with their kids, and hopefully the players were able to take a lot from this season and learn a lot as well.
What the run to the College World Series meant to Sabins
I’m just really lucky. I got an opportunity to come here when I was 27 years old. I had no recruiting experience. I had been to West Virginia once, and Coach (Randy) Mazey took a shot on me as a young guy with energy.
I think every season that I’ve been able to be here, you get more connected with the people. You get more connected with the state. You get more connected with the university. There’s a lot of people who could sit up here and talk about their school being special or their state being special, but I think there’s an alignment of values that is what you’re really looking for in coaching.
And so, you find a place that welcomes you for who you are. Then the things that you’re good at or the things that you believe in, you think those things can help a university, those things can help a state.
As we’ve won and had big come-from-behind victories and been able to do special things, you start to meet more people in the community. You meet more university leaders and more state leaders, and you start to recognize that what we do has an impact on people, and that’s why I coach.
You start to align why you’re doing something with the people that you surround yourself with. That’s probably been the biggest thing for me. You become really connected to a place, and you become really connected with those people.
I’m just really lucky to be able to go through the ups and downs, and that doesn’t happen without getting your ass kicked occasionally as well. It’s all the ups and the downs, the adversity, the big wins, sticking together with these kids and working through things that has been so rewarding for me.
Ben Lumsden’s near home run in the ninth and North Carolina’s fast start
Lumsden definitely thought it was a homer, but I think when you’re at that point, you’re seeing everything in a positive light. You’re thinking, ‘Lumsden’s about to hit a three-run homer. We’re about to get hit in the ankle the next pitch, and the next dude’s going to hit a two-run dinger. This thing’s tightened up. Max Yehl’s warming up in the bullpen.’
You’re playing through all those scenarios in your head because the alternative is no good.
They started off well. We didn’t play our cleanest baseball, and that certainly happens. I think if we play really clean baseball, it’s just a tighter game. But they didn’t play their cleanest version either.
Like I said, I was fired up by how our guys continued to battle. They put one of the best pitchers in the country in for the third straight game, and we kind of got to him a little bit. For me, I’m probably sick, but in those moments, I’m thinking we’re going to pull every bullet out of North Carolina humanly possible. Even if we lose this game, we’re going to bleed them out. That’s what I’m thinking in the box.
Our goal was just to scratch and to claw.
I’m not a great token at-bat guy or token defense guy. Like, everything that we do is strategic, and every move that we make is to set up to win the game. Every kid on that team and every staff member understands that.
The kids that didn’t play, I love dearly, and they will continue to prepare and earn their way in there. But I think there’s probably some scenarios where, if you’re down 12-1, there’s probably certain teams would wave a white flag or down 15-0 or whatever. I just refuse to be that guy in those situations because I think everything is earned, and those kids that were in there earned the right to go win or lose the ballgame.
I’m as proud of the kids played, that didn’t play as I am of the kids that did play and the guys who are working to get in there. Some of those kids got hot in the bullpen and were ready to go in. Their time is coming if they continue to work, improve and get better.
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