Pat McAfee Predicts What's Coming Next for WVU Baseball After Loss to UNC

It's not time to throw in the towel just yet on this Mountaineer team.

Jun 5, 2026; Morgantown, WV, USA; ESPN commentator Pat McAfee cheers with West Virginia Mountaineers head football coach Rich Rodriguez during the first inning against the Cal Poly Mustangs at Kendrick Family Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

The game was right there for the taking on Sunday night in the 7th inning, and West Virginia beat itself by committing two costly errors that would ultimately come back to bite them.

Tyrus Hall, who has been so good all season long at third, couldn't cleanly field a sharp grounder, and by the time he gathered the ball and was ready to throw, the runner was already a couple of steps away from first. After a failed sac bunt attempt, WVU had a chance to get out of the inning right then and there with a 4-6-3 double play, but Brodie Kresser moved too quickly fielding a grounder and ended up getting no one out. Carolina, of course, did what good teams do and took full advantage of the extra outs, scoring three in the inning, which was all they needed.

The Mountaineers were that close to moving one win away from playing for a national championship, but now they'll have to do it the hard way — win three games in three days, including beating North Carolina twice.

Shortly after the game came to an end, WVU legend and ESPN personality Pat McAfee dropped a quick tweet that expressed his optimism for this Mountaineer team.

WVU Baseball will respond.. I can’t wait to watch

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) June 15, 2026

In the moment, it can be tough to move on and get excited about Tuesday's game against Troy. But the reality is, this thing is far from over. Crazy things happen all of the time in sports, especially college baseball. As we've seen before, this team has been backed into a corner and fought its way out. Obviously, this time around is going to be a lot harder, but with the season on the line from here on out, you'd like to think the level of focus will be at an all-time high.

"I don't think this team is phased by much," WVU head coach Steve Sabins said in his postgame press conference following the loss. "They really like playing baseball. They like being together, and so we get to do that. Basically, the mindset is we get to rest, recover, go have a nice practice, and then we get to play ball again."

The Mountaineers and Trojans will go at it once again in Omaha on Tuesday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET. The loser's season will come to an end, and the winner will look to pull off a miracle over the following two days.