What Steve Sabins Said After Punching a Ticket to the College World Series

The West Virginia Mountaineers (45-15) dismantled the Cal Poly Mustangs (39-25) Saturday afternoon 17-1 to earn a berth to the College World Series.

West Virginia head coach Steve Sabins met with the media following the game and gave his thoughts on the program's first appearance in the CWS.

Opening Statement

Mountaineers are going to Omaha.

135 years in the making. So, pretty special to be part of something that's never been done in history before. The credit goes to these kids and the players before us and the fans and the supporters and the donors and administration and the folks that cover this and the auxiliary staff. So many people help build a program. That's what this is. a program. To see the support from the fans and the support from the state is something beyond special.

Couldn't be more excited for our team and being one of the last eight teams standing now. This is why I came here 11 years ago, to have an opportunity to be the best in the world at something and that's what this university has provided me, an opportunity to do that. I couldn't be prouder of the kids.

This week was storybook. There are so many things that happened, beginning with the regional, but for Ben McDougal to send us to Omaha is a movie script. So, I'm excited for everybody, excited for the kids, and we're going to rest and reset, and focus on what's ahead of us.

Excitement Level

High.

I think the reason we're in the position we're in is because the kids love each other. They love baseball. They love working. They like getting better. They like being on the field. They like playing baseball. So, If you took away the championships and you took away sold-out crowds and took away NIL money and everything else, I think the kids in that locker room would show up every day and play at Hawley Field or Ken Kendrick Ballpark because they like baseball and they like each other.

The excitement level is at an all-time high, but I do believe they're in it for the right reasons, and that's probably why we're winning a lot of games right now.

What it means to him personally to guide WVU to its first College World Series

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 team reflecting on the players before them in postgame interview

They're beautiful kids. They're just the best kids in the world.

Not everything has always been easy for them. They've gone through adversity and struggled, and they've truly got through to the other side where they recognize how lucky we are and how blessed they are to be in the position that they're in.

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.

We don't have a lot of slogans and I'm not that guy. I'm not a preacher. I'm a baseball coach trying to win baseball games. But there is a bigger picture in all of this, and I think those kids understand that. That's why they're so successful. That's why good things come around to them.

(Senior) Ben Lumsden, that guys has been through every up and down over the course of history and and he just keeps coming back for more. Then to see him hit two homers and send us to Omaha, every one of those kids has some sort of story, and it basically starts with putting the team first, working really hard, being humble and counting your blessings.

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