“Look at these freakin’ people,” Mountaineer hero Paul Schoenfeld told the ESPN+ crew as teams lined up for handshakes Sunday evening.
There’s no better way to explain it, but I’ll try to paint the picture.
WVU Baseball isn’t out of the woods yet, with a winner-take-all game against Kentucky set for Monday. In the meantime, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard Kendrick Family Ballpark have a surge of sound quite like it did Sunday. Read more: Madness in “Motown”: a defining night in program history.
The pandemonium in the top of the ninth inning that brought the Mountaineers back from the dead re-installed the simmering pride in the thousands of fans jammed into the over-capacity park. It was bonkers.
Whatever happens next may take away all the progress made in the comeback and end the magical season for WVU, but it can’t take away the moment.
This is about more than recapping a game. It’s about recognizing the scene among the mountains.
You can sit down the Tums and blood pressure meds for a few hours, because a team wore its collective heart on its sleeve into another day of baseball.
Short turnaround? No problem
There are not many instances where you’re able to hear “Take Me Home, Country Roads” twice in the same day at KFB. The same can be said for most other venues around campus, too.
Fans got that and more Sunday.
The Mountaineers had less than two hours between a win over Wake Forest and round two with the Wildcats. With a crowd like that and the weight of the season hanging in the balance, the time crunch went out the window.
The WVU faithful were in full-throat from high noon until well past 9 p.m. in a way I haven’t seen or heard many other times. You could feel it through the TV screen, so I can only imagine how my on-site staff felt.
Any worries went to the wayside as soon as the final out was caught in the outfield. At least, for the moment. The stress of a doubleheader, pitching and fielding woes aplenty, no room for error — all put on hold until first pitch for Game 7 on Monday.
Caught in the moment
There was a noticeable momentum shift down the stretch, one that grew by the pitch. From the walks and balks, to the sacrifice fly from Gavin Kelly, to the moment Schoenfeld launched a rocket to the bullpen. It all culminated and blew the non-existent roof off the place.
The downside to playing from the losers’ bracket is that despite being the host team, WVU was the “away team” against Kentucky. If the same sequence of events happened leading to an eventual walk-off, I don’t know if radio waves or a TV broadcast would be able to contain the sonic boom.
Alas, the result remains the same. This is about feelings, not stats. I highly suggest our recap of the contests from our on-site staff writer Brendan Statler.
Related: Mountaineers stage dramatic late rally to edge Wildcats, 11-9
Regardless of what happens next, fans can look back to that beautiful Morgantown evening where the moon decided to shine at least one more night for the hometown Mountaineers.
What’s next
WVU plays UK Monday, not only for a Super Regional appearance for the third consecutive year, but the program’s first Super Regional hosting bid.
Who knows… if things go WVU’s way, the “University City” will be buzzing at an unprecedented level next weekend.
There’s work to do first.
Tune in to 100.9 FM The Torch or any of its affiliate stations across the John Fredericks Media Network for exclusive play-by-play coverage of WVU Baseball in the NCAA Morgantown Regional title game. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. Monday, with pregame coverage running as it has all weekend long.
Related: Three Mountaineers qualify for NCAA Outdoor Championships (Track & Field)
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