OMAHA, Neb. – Brodie Kresser said he was thinking double play when he saw the ground ball off the bat of North Carolina’s Jake Schaffner on Sunday night.
A double play would have got West Virginia out of the seventh inning tied with North Carolina. Instead, the ball came off hard and fell off Kresser’s glove. All UNC runners were safe.
“It just ate me up,” Kresser admitted afterwards. “It bounced and that was it.”
What followed was even more disaster, as North Carolina pulled past West Virginia, 5-2, to advance to the national semifinals.
Gavin Gallaher hit a shot to deep center for a two-RBI triple and a 4-2 lead.
“Gavin Gallaher is the textbook definition of a baseball player,” North Carolina head coach Scott Forbes said.
Owen Hull followed with an RBI single for the final blow, handing the Tar Heels their first 2-0 start in the College World Series in 20 years.
Kresser was quick to own up to his misplay. His teammates were quicker to back him up.
“We’re one of the best defensive teams in the country and sometimes things happen,” added WVU reliever Reese Bassinger. “It happened and we move forward. Kresser is a great defender. Without a doubt, I would have thrown that same pitch over and over and I guarantee Kresser would turn that double play every time.
“That guy has been our rock. He’s a captain for us. He’s the guy everyone loves. No one cares about that. We just move on and keep hitting and keep pitching.”
The book on WVU’s first journey at the World Series is not yet complete, but a few extra chapters will need to be added if the Mountaineers (46-16) are to advance to the national championship series.
North Carolina (52-12-1) assured itself of an extra two days of rest and a trip to the national semifinals on Wednesday, while WVU has a rematch scheduled with gutsy Troy in an elimination game at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
“We just have to flush this one and get some rest,” WVU third baseman Tyrus Hall said. “We have to come back ready to go.”
Troy erased a 6-2 deficit earlier on Sunday and came back to eliminate Ole Miss, 12-8. WVU defeated Troy, 7-5, in the World Series opener, but only after Hall hit a two-run single in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a 5-5 tie.
It’s an extra game of using up more pitching depth for both teams, only to have the winner needing to beat the Tar Heels twice to advance to the final round.
That may not mean quite as much for the Mountaineers, who got through the first two games using – essentially – just four pitchers, but WVU now finds itself in the exact same situation it faced in the Morgantown Regional, meaning it needs to win three consecutive games to survive.
“We have great arms,” WVU head coach Steve Sabins said. “(Carson) Estridge has thrown a ton for us. (Dawson) Montesa has thrown a ton for us. (Ben) McDougal threw five innings for us in the regional. (Chansen) Cole didn’t have a very long inning and Cole is really good. We have great options.”
WVU’s option was Maxx Yehl against the Tar Heels. The Big 12 Pitcher of the Year gave up two runs on two hits, a hit batter, a bases-loaded walk and a run-scoring groundout in the first inning.
From there, Yehl was spectacular. He allowed just three hits over the next six innings and struck out seven. He came out after giving up a single in the eighth inning after throwing 109 pitches.
“I felt really good in the first. I felt like I really executed my pitches,” Yehl said. “They were hitting ground balls in spots that we weren’t at, so it was kind of out of my control. I just kept going out there and was feeling good.”
WVU got back into the game with Armani Guzman’s RBI single in the third and Sean Smith tied the game in the fourth on Matt Ineich’s ground ball.
It stayed that way until the seventh inning. Colin Hynek reached first on Hall’s fielding error, but was thrown out at second when Carter French attempted a sacrifice bunt.
With French at first, Schaffner’s ground ball headed for Kresser, who pounded his fist on the ground after the ball bounced away.
Yehl was charged with allowing five runs, but only two of them were earned.
“Over the course of 62 games, that stuff happens,” Sabins said. “I feel very confident that any mistakes that are made are made because mistakes happen in baseball and not necessarily because of the moment or the situation.”
