OMAHA, Neb. – What a way to start 13 days of baseball.
Dancing off third base with two outs in the bottom of the first, West Virginia’s Armani Guzman waited patiently, then took off right as Troy pitcher Benjamin Stubbs began his motion, sprinting down the country road between third base and home, diving under the tag from Trojans’ catcher Jimmy Janicki to score the first run of the 2026 Men’s College World Series with a steal of home.
It was a spark of grittiness, the self-proclaimed hallmark trait of this Mountaineers team, and at once an announcement that they were here on the big stage and going to go for it at every chance.
And go for it, they did. Behind four RBIs from No. 9 hitter Tyrus Hall, the Mountaineers won a back-and-forth game 7-5 over the Troy Trojans in the College World Series opener, getting six innings of solid relief from Ian Korn who allowed one run on two hits and three walks, striking out four.
Guzman’s steal of home was the first at the College World Series in 26 years.
But Troy didn’t wait long to answer, getting a two-out double from Sean Darnell in the top of the second, and then a single by Jabe Boroff got Darnell home from second to tie the game at one apiece.
A two-run double from No. 9 hitter Tyrus Hall in the second gave the Mountaineers a 3-1 lead, but the Trojans swung their sword again in the top of the third, cutting the lead to 3-2 on sac fly by Steven Maier that scored Blake Cavill, tying it at 3-3 on an RBI single by Drew Nelson that scored Jimmy Janicki, and taking a 4-3 lead when Darnell doubled home Nelson.
Asked what the key to his production has been, Hall, who has recorded 14 RBIs since the start of the NCAA Tournament, simply said he’s “Just try[ing] to be aggressive and attack whatever pitch I can get.”
That chased West Virginia starter Chancen Cole from the game after just 2 2/3 innings, having allowed four runs on seven hits, and Mountaineers head coach Steve Sabins brought on Ian Korn to eat up some innings and try to dull Troy’s edge.
“I saw every single one of his pitches. I think he had five, and I saw all five. So being able to make some matches and attack the strike zone like he did is how you succeed,” said Troy’s Drew Nelson, who went 1-for-2 with a single and a strikeout against Korn, who used a five-pitch mix to keep the Troy batters off balance.
With one swing of the bat in bottom of the fourth, West Virginia’s Sean Smith tied the game with the first homer of this year’s College World Series, a solo shat to left that made it 4-4.
After Tyrus Hall drew a walk, Armani Guzman’s fly ball to the left-center field gap bounced off the glove of a diving Drew Nelson for a double, allowing Hall to score and Guzman to take third on the throw, giving the Mountaineers a lead for the third time in the game. It was the only run in the middle three innings of the game.
Seconds after hammering a ball foul on the wrong side of the left field foul poul, Jimmy Janicki launched a rocket into the left field seats for his 20th homer of the season, with the ball going nearly 430 feet to tie the game 5-5 for Troy in the top of the seventh.
It was the only run that Korn would allow, as the reliever, who struggled in the Mountaineers Regional, sparkled over six innings, allowing one run on two hits, walking three and striking out four.
“When your name’s called, you’re ready to go and firing it all with all pitches. So I went out there, was throwing some more cutters than usual,” Korn said of his outing. “Slider wasn’t working, threw some more curveballs. So we were mixing up a little bit more than usual, kind of against the scouting, of course, they probably had.”
And again, the bottom of the order would produce for West Virginia. After singles from Matt Ineich and Brodie Kresser to start the eighth, a sacrifice bunt back to the mound gave the Mountaineers runners and second and third. Tyrus Hall then looped a single over Troy first baseman Blake Cavill, who was playing in on the edge of the turf, scoring Ineich and Kresser for a 7-5 lead.
It was at this point that a thought entered and then was banished from Sabins’ head.
“After Tyrus hit the double down the right field line and we scored. I’m like, we might have a chance of seeing Country Roads here in front of the country. And then I told myself to get those thoughts out of my head that’s poison, don’t go there, stay in the moment, all those kind of thoughts.
Facing the top of the Troy order in the ninth, Korn got a fly out from Aaron Piasecki and fanned Josh Pyne before walking Blake Cavill, bringing Sun Belt Player of the Year Jimmy Janicki to the plate representing the tying run.
Out of the bullpen came Ben McDougal for the Mountaineers, who got head of Janicki 0-2 before first baseman Brodie Kresser tracked down his foul pop past the first base dugout to end the game.
Minutes later, that banished thought Sabins had earlier played out, with the Mountaineers swaying to the strains of “Country Roads” along the third base line, with their fans, some who traveled from West Virginia and some fans they made today, singing along.
“I’m excited for the kids to stand on that line and look up and see thousands of fans some Mountaineer fans and some not. And the ones that aren’t, it’s almost even cooler because they’re like, I want to get in on this, I want to be part of this thing,” Sabins said. “We get to do it after every win. And so I think the nation is now getting to share in that, which is pretty special.”
With the win, West Virginia (46-15) advances to the evening game on Sunday, where they will face the winner of the game between Ole Miss or North Carolina, while Troy (38-31) will play in Sunday afternoon’s elimination game against the losing team from Friday’s nightcap.
Photo: West Virginia utility Armani Guzman (5) during an NCAA baseball College World Series game against Troy, Friday, June 12, 2026 in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Vera Nieuwenhuis)
