Country Roads, Tears & Gratitude: Sabins on What WVU Baseball Means to West Virginia

West Virginia is a special place. And for those who come from the outside, it doesn't take long for them to realize it.

The care level is at a whole other level, simply because whenever West Virginia is talked about nationally, it's usually not for something positive. WVU athletics gives West Virginians a chance to feel respected, especially when things are clicking like this year's baseball team, which has really caught the nation by storm and gained a bunch of fans along the way.

On Saturday, history was made as the Mountaineers punched their ticket to Omaha for the first time ever. Even after a lengthy rain delay and the game well in hand (17-1), the majority of the fans stayed to be there in person to witness it all go down and to sing Country Roads.

“So excited for the fans. This is a state I always talk about; it’s just one of those states where it means more, and it feels different, and you feel this unity with the people and the fans. You feel like you provided them something special," WVU head coach Steve Sabins said. "I’m jogging out to the third base box, and people are screaming, ‘Thank you!’ And you’re like, ‘I’m just going to work, like, thank you.’ I’m just appreciative to be here and have an opportunity. You just have people where it really means something to them. When you’re belting Country Roads at the top of your lungs, and you’re looking up there, and you’re seeing the excitement in their faces, and you know, after the regional, I was looking up there, and there was grown ass men crying in the stands. And you’re like, I think this is impacting somebody, right? You couldn’t want anything more.”

WVU Baseball Super Regional Champs — WVU Athletics Communications

In recent weeks, Sabins' name has been tossed around in connection with the South Carolina head coaching job. He was never asked a single question about it during the two weekends of tournament play in Morgantown, nor did he ever dismiss the rumors himself.

But sometimes you don't need to hear it directly to know where things stand. This is home for Sabins. He has played a massive role in putting the program on the map, not just over the past two years, but over the past decade as an assistant to Randy Mazey.

He knows what this means to the state and is super appreciative of the support, which he has called "stupid" in the most complementary way, being just mindblown by the way Mountaineer Nation showed out and packed the newly dubbed "Randy's Ridge."

Even he had a teardrop in his eye during the final moments of Saturday's game against Cal Poly.

"In the ninth inning, I've got sunglasses on watching (WVU senior pitcher) Ben McDougal go out there, and I'm almost in tears in the dugout just because there's a lot of sacrifice that gets made - said every coach in history. Sacrifice from my wife, sacrifice from my family. I miss a lot of ballgames of my kids. I'm out of the house before people wake up, and I go home when people are asleep a lot, and that's the same with our staff.

"We have a really unique group of people who have come together to do something special and maximize their time and opportunities, and their families are incredible. The wives, fiancées, girlfriends, and kids of our staff are absolutely incredible individuals - the best in the world. I wouldn't trade a single one of them. I'm just so proud of those people because they love to work, they love each other, and I think that's just what this team is all about."

The Mountaineers are now just a handful of victories away from doing something even more special, which is bringing home a national championship — something this state would go wild for.

"It's not about them. It's not about me. It's not about us. There's not a lot of ego in that locker room because we truly don't believe that, and those kids don't believe that. They feel like they hit the jackpot putting on this uniform, and they hit the jackpot getting to represent something bigger than themselves. The purity in which they play and how they approach every day is going to set them up to be successful in anything they choose to do for the rest of their lives."

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