Everything Steve Sabins Said After Beating Binghamton in Regional Opener

See what the head Mountaineer had to say about the 10-1 win.

WVU Athletics Communications

West Virginia won their first game of the Morgantown regional comfortably, taking Binghamton down by a 10-1 score. Shortly after, WVU head coach Steve Sabins met with the media to discuss the win.

Here is everything Sabins had to say.

Opening statement

“1-0. It’s always how you want to start these things out. Proud of the team. Chansen Cole has continued to do what Chansen Cole does, regardless of the environment or the situation. He’s good enough to beat anybody in the country in any situation if he’s himself, and he was himself today. Fired up for David Hagen. He hasn’t been in a ton of games this year, but he’s pitched in really important games, and over the course of the season, it’s about getting better, and that’s what this guy has done. He just consistently gets better. He was 90-92 with plus offspeed offerings, and for him to come into that game and save some of our bullpen was critical. And as you do that and you prove that you get better, he’s going to continue to find himself in leverage positions moving forward.”

Ben Lumsden coming up big despite not playing much this season

“It’s the kid’s choice, but you really don’t have a choice to be in this program. You can either cash out and be miserable, and you probably won’t be here very long, or you can recognize you have to work while you wait, and your time is coming back around, and when it does, you need to be prepared for it. All the work that goes into it… like you don’t accidentally hit a three-run homer in a regional game. You don’t accidentally get on base four times. You don’t accidentally make plays in right field. It’s just a testament to all the work that’s been put into it. It’s not a surprise that he was successful. If he went 0-for-4 with four punchies, we would have said pitcher beat him today, but he’s still dialed in mentally.”

Matthew Graveline’s two-run homer getting the crowd going

“Graveline’s batting practice was good, but then his first at-bat, he hit that ball to left field, it was in the air for like ten seconds. It was one of the highest flyballs of the season. You can’t do that if you’re in a leverage position. You can’t apply that kind of force to the ball unless you’re in a good spot. I was like, ‘Wow, he was a hair away from hitting a 500-foot homer.’ I was fired up about that flyout. The next at-bat, when he hit that ball to center, you have to be in such a good position as an athletic hitter to be able to drive a ball to centerfield, and the wind was blowing the other way too, so it was just hammered. That was the turning point.”

If he feels like he picked up another reliever in David Hagen

“Hell yeah. How can you not? That dude’s delivery is so clean and rhythmic, and the breaking balls are nasty. It’s never been like a stuff thing; it’s been just a slow maturity process. Hagen was excellent. His confidence should be as high as it’s ever been. You feel like, alright…it was a 10-1 ballgame, but let’s go try that in a 4-3 ballgame sometime.”