Elimination Tuesday rolled around like a freight train barreling along as two teams will see the season end today, while two more will be heading to the College World Series Semifinals, where they’ll either play North Carolina or Oklahoma. Tuesday featured two rematches of earlier games that delivered instant classics. Starting off with a thriller between the West Virginia Mountaineers serving as the appetizer for the night game between Georgia and Texas. 

Troy and West Virginia met in the first game of the College World Series, a game that could have gone either way, but the Mountaineers escaped with a 7-5 victory, setting up a date with North Carolina on Sunday night. Despite losing to West Virginia, Troy had a get-right game with Ole Miss to earn a school-first win in the College World Series, where they’d advance to the winner’s bracket game to play the Mountaineers.  

Coming into the matchup on Tuesday, the concern for the Trojans was the depth of their pitching staff and whether they could hang with West Virginia until the end. All postseason long, the Trojans have found ways to win baseball games often against impossible odds, and even today, at the end of the season, the future of Troy baseball has never been in a better position heading into the offseason than it is right now. Given the depth and success of the Sun Belt, Troy baseball will likely become a yearly contender in the League and return to Omaha sooner rather than later. 

For West Virginia, Tuesday was more about getting back to playing Mountaineers baseball after losing to North Carolina on Sunday night, the Mountaineers wanted to come into Tuesday’s game with Troy looking to make a statement and getting back into the fight to compete for a National Championship, given they’d have to beat North Carolina twice, but a win over Troy would postion them to stay in the fight and in baseball that’s all you need. 

West Virginia would jump on Troy early in the top half of the third with two runs to take an early 2-0 lead over the Trojans. Both teams settled in a bit before West Virginia blew the game wide open in the top half of the 6th inning with a four-run inning capped off with a Gavin Kelly three-run home run over the left field fence to extend the lead to 6-0 over the Trojans. West Virginia would add another run in the 7th to the scoreboard, making it 7-0 in favor of the Mountaineers. Troy had a massive scoring opportunity in the bottom of the 7th with the bases loaded with no outs, and yet, the Trojans were left stranded, and what little hope Troy had of pulling a comeback seemed to be slipping away. West Virginia would add five runs to the lead in the top half of the 9th to extend the lead to 12-0 over Troy heading into the bottom of the 9th inning. 

As a combined pitching unit, West Virginia pitchers threw 13 strikeouts, with starter Dawson Montesa leading the way with six strikeouts. 

For the Troy Trojans, sure, you wanted to win a national championship, but falling short doesn’t mean this season was a failure or anything close. Your program played one of the toughest schedules in the country, you improved throughout the year, and then you earned a home Super Regional, before heading to Omaha in the school’s first-ever trip to the College World Series and earning a win over a traditional blue blood of the sport, and now the foundation is laid for a future of Troy baseball that will make yearly trips back to the College World Series and who knows, might have a chance like Coastal Carolina and win a national championship or two. 

At the end of the day, the Mountaineers took full advantage of every opportunity Troy gave them, including remaining patient at the plate, and the pitchers stayed in command by sticking to what was working. West Virginia now needs to beat North Carolina twice to reach the Finals Series. West Virginia will now play North Carolina and will need to beat the Tar Heels twice to advance to play for a National Championship.

Photo Credits- WVU and Troy baseball on X