WVU's Walk-Off Hero Nearly Didn't Show Up for the Game, Battling 'Serious Flu'

West Virginia had a sluggish night at the plate in Friday's series opener against UCF, registering just three hits and scoring no runs, marking the first time they had been shut out this season. In the first half of Saturday's game, it looked like they were barreling toward another disappointing outing, finding themselves trailing 10-2 and on the cusp of dropping the series to the Knights.

A "viral infection" has been going around the Mountaineers' roster, reaching somewhere in the ballpark of six to eight players, which has a lot to do with WVU's dip in energy and offensive production.

Catcher/outfielder Matthew Graveline is one of those who is currently battling it, yet he fought through it to come up with two major hits, including the walk-off base knock up the middle to walk it off in one of the most memorable WVU victories in recent memory.

“Incredible," Sabins said of Graveline. "He’s had a pretty serious flu since Arizona. He’s been battling it. He has fever at night, sweats, feels terrible. The craziest story is before the game, our athletic trainer said, ‘I just talked to Graveline, I don’t think he’s going to come to the field today.’ And I was like, well, he’s got to do what he’s got to do to get healthy. The guy is tough. He’s a warrior. You know he’s doing everything that he possibly can. And so, the guy went from not coming to the field to having two hits and one of the biggest comebacks that I’ve been part of here, and one of the biggest team-oriented games to win a massive game on a Saturday. Pretty cool.

“I walked by and saw he was in the dugout and said, ‘Grave, are you good to swing it? Or catch for a couple innings if we need you?’ ‘Yep, I’m good.’ (Maxwell) Molessa was going to be a pinch runner there, and he was basically just trying to stay alive in the dugout today.”

That win, and that performance by Graveline and several others, is exactly what you expect out of a West Virginia baseball team. Tough, gritty, grind-it-out type of effort when everything is going against you. Even if they don't win the series, that game shows that you cannot bail on this team. They're going to give it everything they've got until the final out is recorded.

The Mountaineers and Knights will begin the rubber match at 12 p.m. ET. If the Mountaineers are able to take the series, it will create a three-way tie with UCF and Kansas at the top of the Big, although WVU would then have the tiebreaker over the Knights.