The West Virginia Mountaineers had to win multiple games on Sunday to keep their season alive, defeating Wake Forest and Kentucky in consecutive games to force one more battle between the Wildcats and the Mountaineers in the Morgantown Regional. The winner will move on to the NCAA Super Regionals, which WVU will host if they win again on Monday night.
The thrilling rally by the Mountaineers to score five runs in the ninth inning to secure a comeback victory drew national attention on Sunday night, and among the many reactions to the exciting showdown included plenty who were quite impressed with the atmosphere at Kendrick Family Ballpark in Morgantown. And you can add West Virginia head coach Steve Sabins to that list.
The Mountaineers turned out 4,168 fans to watch the game on Sunday night, and they were absolutely raucous as they turned the ball park in a mad house. And while the Mountaineers are used to pretty solid, and often even great home crowds, Sabins knew what he witnessed on Sunday was unique.
“In those moments of high stress, high anxiety, or high noise, I’m usually clearer," Sabins said. "Like, usually things slow down for me. In those moments, I usually get to appreciate the crowd and that kind of stuff."
"But I just remember looking up, and you’re seeing the sky, and it’s a beautiful sky, and you have people on the hill, there’s guys with their shirts off waving them. The atmosphere…I haven’t ever seen anything like that in college baseball. And I don’t think anyone that’s ever primarily covered West Virginia baseball has ever seen anything like that before. The game and the fans, that stuff is super special because it was built. It doesn’t just happen. The kids built that. Pretty magical.”
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