Intimidators' Remember Their Trips to the College World Series
"It was just crazy to think that this town in Nebraska just springs to life every summer to watch guys from all over the country play to see who the best in the country is that year. It's just the best environment in baseball."Davis Martin is one of three players
"It was just crazy to think that this town in Nebraska just springs to life every summer to watch guys from all over the country play to see who the best in the country is that year. It's just the best environment in baseball."
Martin attended Texas Tech University with two trips to the World Series (2016 & 2018), as Bilous attended with Coastal Carolina (2016) and Sousa did so with the Virginia Cavaliers (2015).
TD Ameritrade Park is the venue that all three Intimidators had the pleasure to play at, being able to seat 24,000+ crazy loving baseball fans in one of the best ballparks in America.
"The fans were great," Sousa said. "They all knew who you were no matter what your role was. I just remember being treated like a king (probably what a major leaguer feels like). The stadium for each game was packed and the fans loved to get rowdy."
But before Sousa, Bilous and Martin were able to showcase their talents at college baseball's biggest stage, the three pitchers had to fight their way through Regionals (64 teams) and Super Regionals (16 teams), which is "an absolute grind" for pitchers.
"A deep rotation always helps in the Regional setting where you could possibly play five games in just a few days," Martin said. "But one of the main things that helps is being the team with the hot hand later in the season."
Despite having a descent regular season, to their standards, Virginia and Sousa took the advice of Martin and rode the hot hand going into the Regionals, Super Regionals and CWS in 2015.
Sousa said, "The way the tournament is set up in Regionals and Omaha, it is incredibly important to win that first game because typically a team doesn't have four or five really good starters."
Although Martin and Sousa were able to win their first few games to make the trip easier, Bilous and Coastal Carolina had to fight their way through the NC Sate Wolfpack in 2016 in Raleigh, North Carolina after an opening round loss to Saint Mary's.
After the loss, the Chanticleers of Coastal Carolina defeated NC State 4-0, lost 8-1, and then won 7-5 to send themselves from Raleigh to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to take on the mighty LSU Tigers.
"If you have been to a game there (Alex Box Stadium), you know it is a very loud and hostile environment for the opposing team," Bilous said. "We swept LSU to win the Super Regionals and the dog pile was amazing. A lot of us were in shock since Coastal had never made it past the Super Regionals and for us to sweep LSU to make it to the College World Series, it was amazing."
With all three players making it to the College World Series in their respective seasons, each player understood that in order to be one of the eight teams standing at the end of the season in Omaha, it took a certain mindset since day one.
"It's always the goal to make it to Omaha. It's the promise land every college baseball player is trying to reach," Martin said. "However, to get there, you have to take it game by game, series by series, week by week. If you don't, you'll look up in April trying to figure out where your season went wrong."
Sousa added that "Omaha is always the goal, but you take it one game at a time and just hope you've done enough preparation and your team is playing great baseball at the end to be fortunate enough to go to Omaha."
If one has never been able to experience baseball at TD Ameritrade Park, it's time to put it on the bucket list. And although it is destination spot for a majority of baseball fans all over the country, it is also a dream come true for the players.
"I never thought I was ever going to see it or be a part of it," Martin said. "Like it's one thing to say 'Omaha,' like it's some mythical land, but your mind doesn't really grasp the fact that you made it till you see the pearly gates of TD Ameritrade."
Martin was able to experience Omaha twice in his three years at Texas Tech, but did not have the good fortune of holding up the championship trophy at the end. But, Bilous and Sousa did.
In 2015, Sousa (freshman) and the Virginia Cavaliers got off to a hot start by defeating Arkansas and Florida (twice) to advance to the best-of-three championship series with Vanderbilt. Despite dropping the first game, Sousa won game two 3-0 and the decisive game three 4-2 to take home the Cavaliers' first ever national championship.
"I remembered giving my dad a big hug and just took in how special of a moment what our team just accomplished really was."
For Bilous (freshman) in 2016, the road to the finals did not come as easy. Despite upsetting Florida 2-1 in the first game, the Chanticleers lost to TCU 6-1 to head to the loser's bracket. Facing off with Martin and Texas Tech, Bilous pitched and helped guide Coastal to a 7-5 win.
With the loss to TCU just two days prior, the underdogs beat the Horned Frogs 4-1 and 7-5 to advance to the championship series.
With the Arizona Wildcats waiting in the final series of the 2016 season, the Chanticleers dropped game one 3-0 but rallied back to win 5-4 and 4-3 to complete one of the most historic seasons in college baseball history.
"Winning it all was the best feeling ever and being a freshman, it almost didn't seem real. To get to celebrate with the team afterwards was something I'll never forget."
And like every great College World Series National Championship team does, the Chanticleers dog pilled to celebrate their storybook ending.
"To be honest, I don't remember much after the dog pile, but I think I hugged about everyone on the field. It was the best."