OMAHA, Neb. – A year ago, Dawson Montesa was pitching at Adelphi University, a Division II commuter school on Long Island.
On Tuesday afternoon, Montesa, one of four Division II transfers on the West Virginia Mountaineers, turned in 5 1/3 innings of shutout work as West Virginia beat Troy 12-0, with Montesa combining with three relievers for a four-hit shutout. With the win, West Virginia (47-17) advances to face North Carolina (52-12-1) tomorrow at 2 p.m. EDT, while Troy (39-32) leaves Omaha having gone 1-2 in their first appearance at the Men’s College World Series.
Montesa cruised through his first two innings, issuing a walk in each frame and striking out one batter in the first and two more in the second before throwing a 1-2-3 third.
“Obviously I haven’t pitched in a game like this. This is obviously the biggest stage I’ve pitched on. But just realizing it’s the same game — D-II, D-I, you know, Little League, high school — it’s all the same game, it’s a children’s game. So just going out there and pounding the zone, playing like it’s your last game,” said Montesa about the contrast of pitching in Division II last year and then pitching in the College World Series the next year.
A two-out double in the third by West Virginia’s Matthew Graveline scored Gavin Kelly to give the Mountaineers a 1-0 lead. Matt Ineich drew a walk and Brodie Kresser was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and then the 1-1 pitch from Ellingworth hit the dirt. Troy catcher Jimmy Janicki blocked the ball, but it squirted away from him, giving all three runners plenty of time to advance, with Graveline scoring to make it 2-0.
Janicki got the first hit of the game for Troy in the fourth, ripping an opposite field double into the right field corner with one out in the fourth, but Montesa continued to stifle the Trojans at the plate, getting Steven Meier to fly out and then fanning Drew Nelson on a 3-2 fastball to end the inning.
“I guess what worked today was the curveball. I was throwing it for strikes and chase,” said Montesa, who threw 64 of his 112 pitches for strikes. “That just opens up everything with the fastball and slider and splitter. But just pounding the zone with plus stuff could get the job done, yeah.”
That pitch mix, along with a special level of resilience, is why West Virginia’s staff settled on the Glenview, N.Y.-native to start against Troy’s powerful lineup.
“Anytime you tell him, ‘Dawson, you’re going to get the ball,’ he’s like, ‘Yeah, coach, let’s go.’ It doesn’t matter if it was a close situation, middle relief, starting in the World Series. He’s never shown an ounce of frustration in his role throughout the entire season,” said West Virginia head coach Steve Sabins. “For a guy that has gone from Friday to Sunday to middle relief to closer to starting in the World Series games — in the regional, he threw 122 pitches, came back the next day, threw 10 and it was with better velocity. It’s just like, that character stuff. That’s that makeup stuff that it’s hard to pinpoint, but once you realize who somebody is, it’s so special. He’s a kid that we would put in any situation because we trust [him].”
With two outs in the top of the sixth, Tyrus Hall and Armani Guzman drew consecutive walks, and then Gavin Kelly drove them in with a homer into the first row of the left field bleachers to give West Virginia a 5-0 lead. After Paul Schoenfeld singled, Troy head coach Skylar Meade lifted Dylan Alonso for Matt Dill, but Dill promptly threw a wild pitch to Sean Smith, who singled on the next pitch to score Schoenfeld and make it 6-0.
“Gavin’s home run was kind of the game changer,” Mountaineers head coach Steve Sabins said. “Because kind of the goal in my head that inning was get Gavin to the plate. That’s our best chance of kind of a knockout blow, is to get Gavin to the plate. Then he had an incredible at-bat and spun the ball right with two strikes. I didn’t think that ball was necessarily out. The wind really wasn’t blowing at that time. The flags were dead. He really clipped that thing good. That was an impressive swing.”
In the bottom of the sixth, Montesa faltered a bit, walking Blake Cavill to start the inning and then hitting Steven Meier with one out. The hit batsman brought Mountaineers head coach Steve Sabins out of the dugout and Ben McDougal out of the bullpen. McDougal induced a fly out to center from Drew Nelson that allowed Cavill to advance to third, then walked No. 7 hitter Sean Darnell to load the bases for Jabe Boroff with two outs. Swinging at the first pitch, Boroff hit a weak grounder to first that was easily handled by Brodie Kresser for the third out to escape the jam.
An inning later, McDougal struggled, loading the bases with no outs before exiting the game, having given up a leadoff single to Houston Markham, a walk to Aaron Piasecki, and a single to Josh Pyne. On came Reese Bassinger to face Blake Cavill, striking out Troy’s Australian first baseman on four pitches. Trying to pitch around Jimmy Janicki, Bassinger fell behind 3-1 before getting Janicki to fly out to shallow center, holding the runners in place. With an three-pitch strikeout of Steven Meier, Bassinger preserved the shutout and again the Mountaineers escaped a bases-loaded situation.
It was as close as the Trojans would get.
Bassinger struck out the side on 13 pitches in the eighth, and Carson Estridge pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the Mountaineers a meeting with North Carolina on Wednesday.
“Their reliever, Bassinger, came in and was really, really good. Of course you guys know we have great hitters and [that was] probably just kind of the worst recognition, maybe, we’ve had on a guy in a while. But that’s credit to him. He was just really good and got nasty when you need to,” said Troy head coach Skylar Meade. “And there’s a reason that West Virginia’s here. They’re really good. They have had tremendous arm talent this year, and they know who they are as a team.”
The Mountaineers tacked on five more in the top of the ninth, getting RBI singles from Zahir Barjam and Gavin Kelly, a sac fly from Bordie Kresser, and a two-run double from Armani Guzman.
Photo: West Virginia players line up to the tune of County Roads after an NCAA baseball College World Series elimination game against Troy, Tuesday, June 16, 2026 in Omaha, Neb. West Virginia won 12-0. (AP Photo/Vera Nieuwenhuis)
