What Steve Sabins Said Following the Win Over Troy

The West Virginia Mountaineers (47-16) continued their season with a 12-0 win over the Troy Trojans (39-32) in an elimination game Tuesday afternoon.

West Virginia head coach Steve Sabins met with the media following the game to give some insight on the Mountaineers' dominating win.

Opening statement

Congratulations to Troy on such an incredible season. What they were able to accomplish is nothing short of miraculous. The performance from those kids and that staff, to be able to take what they have and the resources available and to go do what they did, is incredible. One of the best teams in the nation. They should be extremely proud and humbled for what they were able to do on the national stage.

We had some heroic performances ourselves, and we've become accustomed to seeing that with (junior starting pitcher Dawson) Montesa and (senior reliever Ben) McDougal and (senior reliever Reese Bassinger) Bass in big spots, and (senior reliever Cole) Estridge coming in late in that game, and (sophomore) Gavin Kelly and (junior) Armani (Guzman), and just a lot of great players making great plays.

Certainly an exciting game for us. I felt like if we had a chance to kind of get some momentum cooking, that's obviously where we want to be going into the next game. We're just excited to be one of the last four teams standing in the country and want to prepare and get ready to compete tomorrow.

West Virginia racking up 12 runs

That's always a huge piece of it. That team is so good and they can score in bunches. So if you're up two, you're like, 'we have to extend.' And if you're up six, you're going, 'their big inning, their big punch is coming. It's around the corner.' You really feel like you have to keep your foot on the gas in order to beat a team like that.

It just so happens we had some pitchers step into big situations and make big pitches. I think it was 7-0 with the bases loaded, and all of a sudden you're kind of like, man, 'this is a Janicki fly ball away from being a save situation in the middle of the game.' And so, You're always kind of playing it that way.

I felt like the offense did a great job. The reality is their starter did a tremendous job. Then they brought in (junior Dylan) Alonzo, who's been their closer for most of the year and has plus stuff. They really got what they needed out of him. To expect him to go 2.2 innings when he hadn't really pitched in the last two weeks, I think they got what they needed.

So, I felt like things kind of falling their way right now. A closer they bring in during a 2-0 game was that's been able to get extended. He threw 68 pitches. I think that's about as much as they could ask of that kid. He did a tremendous job.

For us to get a couple insurance runs, stay aggressive on the bases and be able to manufacture some runs was important, but Gavin's home run was kind of the game changer. I think it was first and second with one out when Kelly came up, and we weren't running and we didn't run at first base with (junior) Tyrus (Hall) in that situation. Armani ended up drawing the walk because the goal in my head that inning was to get Gavin to the plate. That's our best chance of delivering a knockout blow.

He had an incredible at-bat and spun a ball out with two strikes. I didn't think that ball was necessarily out. The wind wasn't really blowing at that time, the flags were dead, so he really clipped that thing good. That was an impressive swing.

Dawson Montesa getting his second start of the postseason after moving to the bullpen in the latter part of the season

Yeah, he's such a special kid. All these kids - you guys have a great feel for our team by now just from whoever you choose to sit up here. They present with class, and they're real, and they're humble, they're down to earth. It's just a really special group. He's certainly one of them.

He just loves to play. He is a black lab, golden retriever type. Throw him in the yard and throw tennis balls, and the guy will have a blast. He could play basketball, baseball, hacky sack - during BP, he's catching balls behind his back and between his legs. He just loves to play.

Anytime you tell him, 'Hey, Dawson, you're going to get the ball,' he's like, 'Hell yeah, coach. Let's go.'

It doesn't matter if it's a close situation, middle relief, or starting in the World Series. He's never shown an ounce of frustration in his role throughout the entire season. And that guy's a high-profile draft prospect. That guy has a good chance of pitching in the big leagues.

You insert that guy on any team in the country and he has a role. It doesn't matter the team, conference or situation. He's got a role. It's plus stuff, plus athleticism and plus makeup.

For a guy like that who's gone from Friday to Sunday to middle relief to closer to starting in World Series games - in the regional he threw 122 pitches, came back the next day and threw 10 more, and it was with better velocity. That's that character stuff. That's that makeup stuff that's hard to pinpoint, but once you realize who somebody is, it's just so special.

He's a kid that we would put in any situation because we trust and then ouur job is to make sure it's the right situation where we think he can have success.

I thought he's basically the opposite look of Chansen Cole, and Troy handled Chansen well. So you have a right-hander with a big breaking ball and a splitter. Cole is sinker, changeup, slider. So, I was like, well, we'll try something different, right? That was more of the thought process.

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