Troy Lost to West Virginia Four Days Ago. Now It Gets a Rematch with Everything on the Line.

Every competitor wants the same thing after a loss. Run it back. Same opponent, same stage, a chance to prove the first result was wrong.

Troy gets that Tuesday.

The Trojans play West Virginia at 1 p.m. CDT at Charles Schwab Field in an elimination game, four days after the Mountaineers beat them 7-5 in both programs' College World Series debuts. The loser's season ends. The winner plays North Carolina on Wednesday with a chance to reach the national championship series.

Troy has played eight elimination games this postseason. They have won seven of them.

What Happened Friday

West Virginia's Chansen Cole started and lasted only 2.2 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits. Troy hit him. The problem was what came next. Graduate right-hander Ian Korn replaced Cole and shut Troy down for six innings — two hits, one run, four strikeouts. Tyrus Hall's two-run single in the eighth put the Mountaineers ahead for good.

Troy had the early answer and could not finish.

WVU coach Steve Sabins brought up Cole unprompted in his postgame press conference Sunday night, after the Mountaineers lost to North Carolina 5-2.

“Cole didn't have a very long outing. He threw 55 pitches,” Sabins said. “Cole's really good, obviously. Troy got him a little bit, but my bet is that they wouldn't have the same amount of success just because Cole can make adjustments and is a great pitcher.”

That would seem to hint that Sabins will start Cole vs. the Trojans.

What Troy Did Sunday

Troy trailed Ole Miss 6-2 after four innings in an elimination game Sunday. Ole Miss had homered three times. The Southeastern Conference was doing what it does on this stage — or so it appeared.

Troy outscored Ole Miss 10-2 the rest of the way.

Blake Cavill, Jimmy Janicki and Sean Darnell all homered. Noah Thigpen threw five innings of relief — two runs, six hits, five strikeouts. The Trojans won 12-8 for the first College World Series victory in program history, in front of 24,013 at a stadium that holds 24,000.

Skylar Meade said afterward he had to get on his team after the first inning.

“Everybody's really nice to you in Omaha. They give you brunches, all the media talks to them — 'Great job, you're awesome,'” Meade said. “I think for a second they thought they were more awesome than they were. So, we had to bring them back to remember that their edge is why they're here.”

Then came the line that defined Sunday and could define Tuesday.

“I don't care that we're in front of 24,000. We are who we are, and we're fighters and we're killers, and we're going to get after it.”

The Matchup Problem

West Virginia is not rattled.

The Mountaineers have been in this exact position before. They lost their second game at the Morgantown Regional earlier this month and clawed back to win the bracket. Sabins said Sunday night that his team's belief in itself “isn't new to them. That's pretty rooted in there.”

“I think they believe that they're capable of being the best in the country,” Sabins said. “Things have to work your way and you got to have quality at bats and you got to play clean baseball. But I think they truly believe that if their process is right and they play good, they got a chance to beat anybody in the country.”

WVU enters Tuesday at 46-16. Armani Guzman is hitting over .400 in the postseason. Maxx Yehl, the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, threw seven innings against North Carolina on Sunday and likely will not be available on short rest. But Sabins pointed to his pitching depth: Estridge, Montesa, McDougal and Cole are all options.

“We have guys that haven't thrown a ton in the last two weeks,” Sabins said. “Great options.”

Cole threw 55 pitches Friday, per Sabins, and has had four days to recover.

Meier and the Math

Steven Meier tweaked his knee in the seventh inning of the Ole Miss game when his foot caught the warning track. He could not finish Sunday's game. Two shoulder surgeries. A knee injury that came from playing too hard in the outfield at the College World Series.

Meade did not hesitate when asked if Meier would play Tuesday.

“That guy's had two shoulder surgeries on his right shoulder. We thought his season was done in our ninth game of the year when it felt like it went out,” Meade said. “He'll find the way. He'll start Tuesday. If he's got to come out, he'll have to come out.”

The math from here is simple and brutal.

Troy must win three straight elimination games to reach the national championship series. Beat West Virginia on Tuesday. Beat North Carolina on Wednesday. Beat North Carolina again. Three games, three program firsts, no margin.

Troy is 39-31. They were 11-16 on March 28. They are the first team in CWS history to reach Omaha with 30 losses. They have already eliminated a program Meade called “the standard in the country for competing.”

“People don't remember your stats,” Meade said. “They remember if you were a winner or not.”

Troy vs. West Virginia — Tuesday, June 16, 1 p.m. CDT on ESPN. Charles Schwab Field, Omaha. Elimination game.