OMAHA, Neb. – In the end, West Virginia’s 5-2 loss against North Carolina in the College World Series simply completed a 360-degree spin for the Mountaineers.
WVU entered Sunday one win away from reaching college baseball’s Final Four. It exited Charles Schwab Field in the exact same position.
The difference for the Mountaineers (46-15) is how head coach Steve Sabins will now handle his pitching rotation the rest of the way.
The uniqueness to the World Series’ format is that it allows a day of rest between games until the national semifinal round. The advantage the Tar Heels now have is two days of rest before it plays the winner of WVU-Troy, which is scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday.
The Tar Heels need to be defeated twice in order to be eliminated.
We have a little bit of time to (figure out the rotation),” Sabins said after the loss against the Tar Heels. “So we’ll have practice (Monday) and decide who the starter is. But we have great arms.”
The Mountaineers also have options. The only limited option would be the availability of ace Maxx Yehl, who threw 109 pitches in the North Carolina loss. Except for some type of extreme circumstance, Yehl would likely be out of the picture unless WVU can beat Troy and then beat the Tar Heels on Wednesday to set up a winner-take-all situation on Thursday.
What Yehl accomplished, by pitching into the eighth inning, was he left WVU’s bullpen arms virtually unused.
“What he did was pretty phenomenal,” WVU reliever Reese Bassinger said. “He put us in a good spot. Even though we did lose, he put us in a good spot, because we should have the whole bullpen left.”
WVU reliever Ian Korn pitched six effective innings against Troy in the first matchup on Friday. WVU starter Chasen Cole threw just 52 pitches in the game. Both will be on three full days of rest heading into today’s game.
Cole, who leads the Mountaineers with 10 wins, had a tough outing against the Trojans (39-31). In 2 2/3 innings, he allowed seven hits and four runs in what was his shortest outing as a starter since the first game of the season.
“Cole didn’t have a very long outing, and Cole is really good, obviously,” Sabins said. “Troy got him a little bit, but my bet is they wouldn’t have the same amount of success, just because Cole can make adjustments and is a great pitcher.”
Some type of Cole-Korn combo may be option No. 1 for WVU against Troy.
There is also who the Mountaineers haven’t pitched yet, which is an interesting list. Hard-throwing Dawson Montesa hasn’t thrown a single pitch in the World Series and neither has midweek starter David Hagen or middle reliever Carson Estridge, while reliever Ben McDougal threw all of three pitches in the first meeting against Troy.
Bassinger, who threw just 15 pitches against the Tar Heels on Sunday, would also be available.
And there is also the situation of not looking past Troy to schedule pitching for North Carolina, but ultimately what happens Tuesday could have a major effect on what may happen a day later.
North Carolina ace Jason DeCaro pitched Friday against Ole Miss and will be on four days of rest to face either WVU or Troy on Wednesday. As a freshman in 2024, DeCaro was the winning pitcher against the Mountaineers in the super regional round.
If Sabins believes Cole might face a better matchup in a possible rematch against UNC rather than a rematch against Troy, then he could go with Montesa or Hagen or Korn … or all three.
That could potentially leave both Cole and even Yehl available against the Tar Heels.
“We’ve got great arms,” Sabins said. “We have guys that haven’t thrown a ton in the last two weeks, just because usually pitching staffs this time of year shrink down to maybe eight guys. And then you start seeing some other rosters, and pitching staffs get shrunk down to about three, four guys maybe, even in this event. But I feel like we’re in great shape.”
