N.C. State’s baseball players didn’t win the College World Series.
They didn’t lose it, either.
They got struck out by a knuckleballer named COVID.
Deep into an inspiring run toward a national championship in Omaha, several team members tested positive for COVID-19. The NCAA, in conjunction with the Douglas County Health Department in Omaha, ruled that the team could no longer compete. A third and deciding game against Vanderbilt was declared no contest. Vanderbilt advanced to the College World Series final round and the Wolfpack players returned home Saturday to an appreciative reception by their fans at Doak Field.
The sudden disintegration of State’s chance for its first national title in any team sport since 1983 brought a mix of anger, sorrow and regret.
Some are angry that the NCAA eliminated an entire team because of some infected players while it is allowing thousands of fans to attend the games without any screening for COVID-19. And there was justified irritation about how the NCAA announced the Wolfpack’s fate – a tweet at 2:10 a.m. Saturday – rather than in a public session where the ruling could be fully explained.
Nonetheless, the NCAA had made it clear that teams who were not fully vaccinated would be regularly tested and disqualified in the event of an outbreak. N.C. State officials left the decision on getting vaccinated up to the players.
And there was sorrow that the team whose unlikely advance stirred fans even beyond N.C. State was knocked out just as the COVID-19 pandemic is fading. The Wolfpack started its ACC season poorly, lost two pitchers who were involved in a campus altercation and fell 1-0 to Duke in the ACC Championship game. Then they went on to the College World Series Competition where they beat Arkansas – the nation’s No. 1 team – and took Vanderbilt – the reigning College World Series champion – to the cusp of the championship round.
“To have the season abruptly end this way is devastating,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said in a statement. “Watching this team, especially in the postseason, has been nothing short of inspiring and we applaud the entire program for the resiliency it has shown this season.”
This was a team of rare grit and self-confidence. They didn’t win the baseball title, but they won baseball’s respect and admiration. Those are high and lasting honors.
And finally there is regret. If only all the players had been vaccinated, the elimination could have been avoided. Maybe the university’s athletic administration should have taken a harder line. It’s questionable whether a public university can demand that students get a vaccine that the FDA has not yet approved through its standard process. But university officials might have stronger grounds to insist on vaccination when students seek to participate in special, university-sponsored activities, such as playing on the baseball team.
In the end, blame isn’t the issue. COVID-19 has disrupted the world and now the College World Series. With luck, next year the virus will be gone and the Pack will be back in Omaha.