Neither team is facing elimination tonight, but the road to the championship series gets a whole lot easier for the winner of this game between West Virginia an
Neither team is facing elimination tonight, but the road to the championship series gets a whole lot easier for the winner of this game between West Virginia and North Carolina.
The team that comes out on top will need just one win and will have two opportunities to get it, while the loser will have to rattle off three straight wins in three days. The Tar Heels have several dynamite options out of the bullpen, and if you ask me, they have the deepest pen in the field.
You can't get to the late innings with just a couple of runs on the board, or you're going to be in big, big trouble. Projected starting pitcher Ryan Lynch has been pretty solid all year, but has had some forgettable performances, such as giving up five runs in four innings to Virginia, five in 4.2 vs. Notre Dame, six in 3.1 to NC State, and 4 in 5.2 to USC.
For West Virginia to win this game, their best bet is to put up some crooked numbers early before UNC gets to the meat of that bullpen. In all tournament games, excluding Binghamton, West Virginia is 28/96 with runners in scoring position. That's solid, but not great. They were 2/9 in those situations against Troy on Friday.
I think the magic number is five for tonight's game. If they can collect five base knocks with RISP, they'll be in a good spot. This North Carolina team knows the strike zone just about as well as anyone. Entering play in Omaha, they ranked seventh nationally in walks and had struck out the least amount of times among the teams still remaining.
They are not going to chase very often, so in favorable pitcher's counts, Maxx Yehl and whoever else throws for WVU tonight have to be competitive on those pitches just outside the zone. If not, they will flip an 0-2 count to a full count on you in a hurry. Waste pitches are a thing against most teams, not this one.
At 0-2 or 1-2, you can still try to create a chase, but it'd better be close enough to put the hitter in protect mode. The top of West Virginia's lineup went a combined 1-for-13 in Friday's game against Troy. It's baseball; it's going to happen. But in games like this, you need your best players to play up to their standard to give you the best chance to win.
And that is not restricted to what they do at the plate either. Although he is the 9-hole hitter and not considered a "star" in the lineup, I'm including third baseman Tyrus Hall in this as well from a defensive perspective. He has been elite with the glove all year long, and his continuing to be a vacuum on the hot corner and making the hard plays look routine will absolutely play a factor in this game. Loading recommendations...
Please wait while we load personalized content recommendationsSchuyler Callihan is the publisher of West Virginia On SI and has been a trusted source covering the Mountaineers since 2016. He is the host of Between The Eers, The Walk Thru Game Day Show, and In the Gun Podcast. The Wheeling, WV native moved to Charlotte, North Carolina in 2020 to cover the Charlotte Hornets and Carolina Panthers.
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