Sabins announces pitching plans for Regional, Cole gets game 1
West Virginia manager Steve Sabins announced his plans for the pitching rotation ahead of the Morgantown Regional. He will deploy right-hander Chansen Cole to the mound for game one, and southpaw Maxx Yehl will go in game two, Sabins claimed in a press conference on May 28.
A lot of questions were raised about when the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year would take the mound. So Sabins initially declared Yehl’s start day first. He explained the factors that went into putting him second, most importantly by managing his workload for a postseason push.
“Maxx Yehl bounced around. He actually got moved up a day to pitch in that conference tournament, and then we moved him back to game two this week,” Sabins said. “He’s going to pitch the second game. For him, it’s been about strategically managing the rest of the workload throughout this season.”
Importance of Game 1
WVU is the top-seeded team in its regional, allowing it to play the No. 4 seed Binghamton. The Bearcats enter the tournament after winning the America East Conference Tournament. It’s clear they do not bring as much firepower as No. 2 Wake Forest or No. 3 Kentucky, but Sabins made it clear he will not take them lightly.
“First and foremost, you want to respect every opponent that you play. You want to absolutely make sure that you’re putting your team in the best position to win every game, because beating Binghamton is the only thing that matters,” Sabins said.
With that, he will send Cole to the mound to start Friday’s game. Cole has been stellar in his first season with the Mountaineers, working the third-best ERA in the Big 12 at 3.04. With a league-high eight wins, he was selected to the All-Big 12 First Team.
Cole was excited to get the ball to open the regional, understanding the ruckus environment Mountaineer fans will create.
“I’m excited and looking forward to it,” Cole said. “I expect our fans to show out with the tickets. You see how expensive they are, so I think it’s gonna be a good time, and we’re just gonna play our best brand of baseball.”
Cole’s Experience
When asked about the biggest start he’s made in his career, he looked back on the conference tournament of his last team, Newberry College in Division II.
“Besides this, it would probably be the conference tournament last year at Newberry,” Cole said.
Hearing this answer, Sabins had different thoughts. He believed that without Cole’s five innings of work in WVU’s Semifinal victory over Arizona State in the Big 12 Tournament, it wouldn’t have had an opportunity to host.
“Chansen probably started the game, and that is the reason that we’re hosting this event,” Sabins said. “I would say that’s a pretty big one. Although that’s the beauty of Chansen is the fact that he’s basically approached every game like it’s just another game.”
This outing allowed Cole to feel more comfortable under the bright lights.
“Anytime you have the opportunity to go out and pitch and play big-time baseball, you get a little more experience under your belt and get more confident with each outing. I would say it’s allowed me to be more comfortable in the moment,” Cole said.
With the experience under his belt, Cole knows he just needs to stick to what has put his team in this position. He wants to achieve this by staying true to his approach.
“You just got to go out there and be yourself and know what makes you good,” Cole said. “Go out and attack hitters, and get strike one, that’s our biggest thing. Our fiction philosophy is to get strike one, command the strike zone and just do the same thing we’ve been doing all year.”
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