MORGANTOWN, W,Va — No. 16 WVU Baseball garnered a lot of praise from Head Coach Steve Sabins in the postgame press conference on Friday. Read more: Postgame vibe check: Morgantown Super Regional Game 1 press conference reactions.
Sabin’s spoke about the team’s effort, as well as their ability to take advantage of a very good Cal Poly team. Overall, the head coach seemed very happy and content with his team’s perforce in Game 1 of the Morgantown Super Regional.
As for Cal Poly’s head coach Larry Lee, he was much more direct and honest in what his team needs to do in order to come back in this series on Saturday.
Sabins opening statement
During Sabins’ opening statement, he had a lot of praise for his starting pitcher, Chansen Cole. The sophomore pitched a seven-inning gem where he allowed just two runs, and Sabins simply chalked it up to “what he does”.
“You gotta win two games to advance,” Sabins said. “It starts with staring pitching. Chansen came out and set the tone very early. That’s a really good team, a very good offensive team, a well coached team. They know how to base run, play defense, excellent completion. and Chansen Cole does what he does and that’s win.”
Sabins’ also praised the whole team’s against a very good starting pitching that took the mound for Cal Poly on Friday.
“I thought we had quality at-bats. Their starter has performed really, really well in big games throughout his entire career. He’s got plus command, really good movement on pitches. And I thought that our players did a nice job from an approach standpoint.”
Related: No. 16 WVU handles Cal Poly 12-2 in Game 1 of the Super Regionals
It was easy to see how proud Coach Sabins was with not only Cole, but also third baseman Tyrus Hall. Hall hit the grand slam in the bottom of the fourth inning to blow the game open for the Mountaineers.
Message from Cole
WVU’s offense was on full display on Friday. 12 runs, 14 total hits, and two home runs to show for that. However, if it wasn’t for the pitching of Cole, who knows how much WVU’s bullpen would have been used early in the series.
When asked how Cole can stay so calm in high-pressure moments, the South Carolina native had a quick response to what he accounts it towards.
“Yeah, I’ve been told my all life I’m a pretty boring person,” Cole expressed. “No it’s just trusting the routine that you have and all the preparation and work you’ve done. We’ve played this game our whole life.”
That moment allowed a sea of laughs to commence, but Cole further explained that baseball is just baseball at the end of the day. Having that mindset allows him to play at an even-keeled level no matter the situation.
Have to move on
As for Cal Poly’s head coach Lee, he had a simple message for his team’s mindset in bouncing back on Saturday.
“Who’s going to be tough, who’s willing to fight. That was the question at the end I posed.”
A straightforward but effective message for the experienced head coach. Time will tell if his team rises to the occasion or if they will fall to West Virginia and end their NCAA Tournament run.
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