Initial Thoughts on WVU's Season-Ending Loss to UNC in College World Series

The magical year has come to a close.

Jun 17, 2026; Omaha, NE, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers starting pitcher Chansen Cole (35) throws the opening pitch against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Charles Schwab Field. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-Imagn Images | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

And the best season in West Virginia program history has officially come to an end. The Mountaineers were eliminated by North Carolina on Wednesday by a 12-7 score, bringing their record to 47-17 to end it

For the final time this season, my initial thoughts...

Cole never found it in Omaha

Cole was tagged on Friday against Troy because he kept leaving his pitches up in the zone. Today, he just never had consistent command of his pitches. He found it a little bit there in the second inning, but Carolina helped him out by recording outs on the first two pitches. He sprayed the ball all over the place and just looked like his mechanics were a bit off and may have disrupted his timing. I figured he would have bounced back and had a solid performance, mainly because he's done that every time after a rough outing this season. A tough way for his season to end.

Poor defense kills the season

Tyrus Hall and Brodie Kresser each committed errors in Sunday's game against North Carolina, which led to the eventual winning runs, and once again, those two had big mistakes that cost the Mountaineers. Hall took his eyes off a ball thrown down to third by Graveline to try and nab a base stealer, and the ball went into left field because of it, scoring a run. Kresser, at first, ripped a routine double play ball on the throw to second, pulling Ineich off the bag and getting no one out. Both runners would come around to score on a double to blow things open early. I never would have expected West Virginia's season to be axed by poor defense after they had played so well in that area of the game all season long. Tough to stomach for Mountaineer fans.

The fight showed late

Obviously, it would have been a much closer game if the Mountaineers had shown that fight early on, but you have to give this group credit for not just going through the motions when trailing by 11. The five-run inning in the 7th all came with two outs, starting with Armani Guzman beating out a grounder to the left side. It's not the way anyone wanted this season to end, but you have to appreciate the fight and to not just get flat-out embarrassed on their way out.

WVU needs more power arms/bats

There are a million ways to construct a winning roster, but I truly believe West Virginia needs to add more power arms and bats to take that next step, and a part of that is internal development. You don't need 12 guys throwing 95+ or four guys in your lineup with 20 homers, but to compete with some of the best programs in the country consistently, you need that dimension in your lineup and bullpen. Offensively, it creates different ways to win games as opposed to always having to solely rely on stringing together hits and walks.