WVU blanks Troy 12-0 at College World Series
West Virginia players line up to the tune of County Roads after an NCAA baseball College World Series elimination game against Troy, Tuesday in Omaha, Neb. West Virginia won 12-0. (AP Photo)
OMAHA, Neb. – The ball drifted into the afternoon air inside Charles Schwab Field, carrying with it about 134 years’ worth of hopes, dreams, near misses and never-even-closes. When it landed 395 feet later, Gavin Kelly had himself a home run to remember. West Virginia had itself a trip to college baseball’s Final Four. Kelly’s three-run shot in the sixth inning backed up what was a noble pitching performance from teammate Dawson Montesa, and the Mountaineers advanced to the national semifinals for the first time in school history following a 12-0 shutout victory against Troy on Tuesday. “It’s surreal,” WVU shortstop Matt Ineich said. “One of four teams left, if you hear that at the beginning of the year, you kind of don’t believe it. It’s pretty cool.” It was business as usual following the win for WVU players. There was no pileup at the pitcher’s mound or pouring Gatorade on one another. Instead, WVU players and coaches lined up down the first base line and sang “Take Me Home Country Roads” along with the 21,814 in attendance. “It’s awesome,” said WVU catcher Matthew Graveline, who finished with two hits and an RBI in the win. “I don’t think these fans have gotten enough credit. This whole year, you’re talking the regional, the super regional and all the way to Omaha, they’ve been a huge piece to our success.” The victory now sets up a rematch with North Carolina, at 2 p.m. today. The Mountaineers (47-16) must beat the Tar Heels twice in order to advance to the national championship series. However that situation plays out, there were 308 Division I baseball teams that started this season. Only four of them are still playing and the Mountaineers are one of them. “It’s cool to hear,” WVU outfielder Armani Guzman said. “At the end of the day, we came here to win games and that’s what we’re going to continue to try and do.” Troy, meanwhile, closed out its first-ever trip to the World Series with a 1-2 record. Both losses were against WVU, but the Trojans (39-32) – out of the mid-major Sun Belt Conference – did eliminate Ole Miss along the way. WVU faces long odds of pulling off a two-game sweep of the Tar Heels (51-12-1), who will enter the game on two days of rest following their 5-2 win against WVU on Sunday night. Then again, the Mountaineers are used to facing long odds. It’s the exact same scenario they faced two weeks ago in the regional round, needing to fight out of the loser’s bracket before knocking off Kentucky in two consecutive games to reach the super regional round. “I just think we’re relentless,” Ineich said. “We don’t let the situation get to us. Even if it’s an elimination game, it’s just another game.” Kelly’s homer gave him 18 for the season, just one shy of matching the school’s single-season mark of 19, set by WVU assistant coach Jedd Gyorko (2010) and Mark Landers (1994). Still, the blast may have played second fiddle on this day behind the performance on the mound given by Montesa, who went 5 1/3 innings and allowed just two hits over 112 pitches. “He is like a black lab or a golden retriever,” WVU head coach Steve Sabins said of Montesa. “Any time you tell him, ‘Hey Dawson, you’re going to get the ball,’ he’s like, ‘Hell yeah, coach. Let’s go.’ ” It was WVU’s seventh shutout win of the season and was the largest margin of victory in an elimination game in a CWS since 1968. It was punctuated when WVU reliever Reese Bassinger came out of the bullpen in the seventh inning and struck out Blake Cavill and Steven Meier with the bases loaded to end that scoring threat. Bassinger leaped off the mound and pumped his fist through the air. On the cusp of history, it was, indeed, the right moment to let off a little celebration. Kelly added two base hits to his home run and finished with four RBIs, while Guzman reached base four times and added two more stolen bases – he’s got 41 on the season – to pad his single-season school record. Ben Lumsden’s run-scoring single in the seventh inning gave him 13 RBIs since the start of the NCAA tournament. WVU improved to 8-2 in NCAA tournament play.