West Virginia head coach Steve Sabins met with the media following WVU's sweep over Houston this past weekend. WVSports.com provides a summary of what was said.
-- Sabins said the metrics that matter most to him are wins and wins only. He said it’s hard to snapshot a team with some numbers but he dives more into the individual things, trying to piece together the best individuals. He looks at runs created on the offensive side and sees who gets on base, and impacts the game. Then he uses a feel to try to blend different skillsets into lineups.
-- Numbers on the pitching side he said you can get into the weeds of things, but the guys who throw strikes, get opportunities and they perform. Limiting baserunners, throwing strikes, and having swing and miss stuff is key. It always will come down to trust though which is built on consistency.
-- Sabins attributes WVU’s success at the plate is attributed to talent and depth which creates competition and prevents complacency. He said his staff is special and they are very in tune with the players and have a relatability aspect to them. He says anybody in the lineup can be good.
-- Armani Guzman had an oblique injury this weekend, as well as Logan Sauve and Sam White who have been banged up throughout the season.
-- Sabins said he takes pride in WVU’s road success and he thinks the school and the state of West Virginia take pride in grit and take pride in having no excuses and showing up regardless of situation. Doing hard things is what the program is built on.
-- Sabins said WVU’s relationship with Marshall is strong. He would like to schedule three-game sets with the biggest schools within two hours, three hours from here. Midweeks are difficult to find quality opponents because there are not a lot of DI schools within driving distance. His way would be home-home neutral with bigger opponents for midweeks and would make scheduling a lot easier. He says if they could play the three-game sets against the best schools in his area he would sign up for it and Marshall is willing to do that.
-- He says Marshall is in a great conference, has a good facility, they’re going to be a quality opponent and it’s great for the fans. He says Marshall will have nothing to lose and therefore will go play great competition and it will help their RPI. He says it helps prepare them for the conference tournament and that Marshall is in a good situation. The relationship has been great and Sabins likes playing those guys because it’s great energy because they’re coming after WVU.
-- Sabins said strength of schedule is based on how other schools perform so unless we know how they will perform it’s not feasible to be able to schedule them. This schedule was made 2-3 years ago and it’s been the same formula WVU has used the last 10 years or so. Schools are good if they beat WVU, and therefore if WVU loses those games, those schools will have a worse strength of schedule because the metric rewards wins over good teams.
-- In terms of pitching, Sabins said they’re still working through things and you could see that on Sunday with how they gave up runs late because of walks. He says they’re not where they need to be in terms of pitching and that’s understandable due to how much they lost. He says he’s proud of the effort this team has put in on the mound.
-- Kirn was a guy who blew up throughout summer ball after he kind of went under the radar in terms of pro scouting after last season. He said his professionalism on the phone and desire to get better was what sold him on Kirn. He was taking his craft seriously off the field at a lower level and Sabins thought he would thrive with the resources to get better, not having to do it on his own.
-- Sabins said a lot of games are lost on the little things like bunts, outfielders running past balls, and double plays not being turned and these small mistakes lead to extra outs and good teams take advantage. He said it happens all the time and his team places a huge emphasis on it during the fall and that it’s not secret sauce stuff, it’s mostly accountability. He says the game is most of the time about not beating yourself
-- Sabins said the personality of this team has allowed this team to handle success well. He said if you’re satisfied with winning series or accolades or what other people think, then you can get complacent. He said this group of players has a larger goal in mind they’re trying to accomplish and that can only happen by belief and setting a precedent. He said he doesn’t know the answer, but his team has not been satisfied because there have not been a lot of letdown performances
-- Sabins said you don’t ever change the process no matter win or lose and you try to execute that process on a daily basis. He said he thinks you always play to win and he reminds himself of that. Every player, coach, has to play to win the game. Preparation and fearlessness and aggression have helped this team win as much as they have this season.
-- Sabins said they wanted to get Estridge back in the bullpen and they didn’t have a proven option up to that point. He said Estridge was better in the bullpen role than the starting role. He said he has visions of last year’s Super Regional when thinking of Estridge.
-- Kartsonas had multiple surgeries this summer and got on the mound and some sim games this winter / early spring. He said arm health was as big as anything for him and that it was very up and down with velocity at the start of the spring. The plan was 60-70 pitches, and Kartsonas threw 90. He said it couldn’t have worked out better.
-- Overall on pitching and playing good baseball, you can’t be afraid. Sabins said it can be easy to not change when things are going great but there are certain things that are not right long term so you try to make changes.
-- He said Kartsonas starting this weekend came about by talking with his staff and they brought up Kartsonas as a name and Sabins started to stir on the idea and then he went with it.
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