Rob McCoy was sitting in the airport, waiting for a flight to Oklahoma Wednesday morning. A year ago at this time, he was already on vacation. Actually, the previous 15 years, he was already on vacation at this time.
For a decade and a half under McCoy, Niagara scratched, scrounged and clawed just to stay in the middle of the pack in the MAAC, sometimes it fought just to get into the conference tournament. But Friday, McCoy will be coaching the Purple Eagles in their first appearance in the NCAA tournament when they face No. 11 Oklahoma State at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
Niagara enters the tournament with a program-record 38 wins, a year after finishing 24-22-1, the first time it has finished above .500 in McCoy’s career and just the fourth time since 1975. By the tone in McCoy’s voice, it was difficult to tell he was a couple sleeps away from the biggest baseball game the school has ever played.
The Purple Eagles have played 21 Power 5 schools, going 13-67, since McCoy became coach in 2009, all of them were away from home and they were usually paid by the opposing school to travel, oftentimes a necessity for mid-major programs to stay afloat financially. But mixed in were a few upsets.
Niagara knocked off No. 14 Florida State in the 2020 season opener, before the rest of the year was washed out by COVID-19 on the way to game in Pittsburgh. Last year, the Purple Eagles beat Oregon on the road, and most recently, went 1-2 in a series against Michigan State in April.
“The reason that teams like us don’t beat teams like that is because we think we need to do more than we actually need to do,” McCoy said. “So we just need to play good, consistent baseball, be good in all phases, stay relaxed, trust our training and that will give us our best shot. … Obviously the environment will be different, but the key is just to not make it special. Everything is important, but none of it is special. It’s just another game.”
For many of the Niagara players, though, it may not be just another game. The Purple Eagles do not have anyone on the roster with NCAA tournament experience, and for nine redshirt seniors, this will be the only chance they get to play in the tournament.
MAAC Relief Pitcher of the Year Zach Cameron said they should be appreciative of the chance to play in the tournament, but that doesn’t mean Niagara is just going for the experience. One of the reasons McCoy attributes to the team’s success this season has been a group of players who simply want to play baseball and extend their careers as long as possible.
“I love baseball, I hope that I can do it for as long as I can,” Cameron said. “I don’t know how long that’ll be. Could be another 20 years, could be another two. Who knows. … We could be down nine runs, we could be down a million rounds, we could be up one, it could be a tie game — it doesn’t matter. I’m going to go out there, pitch to the best of my ability and try to execute every pitch and have fun doing it.”
FanDuel has Niagara with +800 odds to beat Oklahoma State, meaning an upset would be stunning, but not impossible. The Summit League’s Oral Roberts beat Oklahoma State (ranked 11th then, too) on its home field in the opening round of last year’s tournament during a run to the College World Series.
But the MAAC — and northeastern teams — have had much success in the tournament. Last year’s MAAC champion, Rider, shocked Coastal Carolina, 11-10, in the first round of the tournament a year ago and Quinnipiac beat East Carolina in 2019, but the conference is 5-38 over the last 20 NCAA tournaments.
Only four MAAC teams have won opening-round games during that span and Manhattan is the only team to win two games, beating Nebraska and San Francisco before falling to Miami in a 2006 regional final.
In general, a northeastern team has advanced beyond the first weekend four times in the last 10 tournaments and the last team to advance to the College World Series was Stony Brook in 2012. In fact, the only northeastern team to win the tournament was Holy Cross in 1952.
“You just have to have a couple of good arms on the mound to keep you in it and play solid defense, which you’re just playing against the ball, defensively,” McCoy said. “Put some good swings on some pitches and anybody can win on any given day. … We’re not on a field trip. We’re on a business trip.”