OMAHA, Nebraska — Dalton Feeney's baseball career ended in a quiet room at the Embassy Suites in downtown Omaha. It was around 1 a.m. on June 26, 2021, and Feeney, a senior pitcher for the Wolfpack, was locked in his room because he had just tested positive for COVID-19.
He was vaccinated and asymptomatic. Just hours earlier, he had pitched four innings in a tough 3-1 loss to Vanderbilt, a game in which NC State had just 13 players due to positive tests, illness and contact tracing, a game that set up a winner. group final for a trip to the Men's College World Series championship series.
Later that night, as his team held a hastily planned meeting downstairs, Feeney began receiving a series of text messages from the team that included messages such as: “I'm sorry it had to end this way” and ” I love you guys”.
“I wonder, 'What's going on down there?'” Feeney said. “And they knock on the door. [It was] one of the boys who tested negative. 'He said, 'We're done.' The season is over. “They're kicking us out.”
The NCAA Division I baseball committee declared the pool final between the two teams a non-contest due to COVID protocols. Vanderbilt moved on to the championship round and the Wolfpack went home in an MCWS full of controversy, sadness and eternal what-ifs.
Today, the Wolfpack is back in Omaha for the first time since 2021, playing Kentucky at 2 p.m. ET in a first-round game. And in some ways, that first sporting year after the pandemic shutdowns seems like a lifetime ago, with PCR testing, caution, confusion and controversy in an unprecedented space.
NC State coach Elliott Avent doesn't want to take anything away from this team by dredging up the past, and he said Thursday that the pain of 2021 went away “immediately.” When the Wolfpack arrived home that weekend, he said they were greeted by about 2,000 fans waiting for them at the stadium. That 2021 team to this day calls itself “America’s Team,” and Avent and NC State, he said, have moved on.
But they haven't forgotten it.
“That team was incredibly close,” Avent said. “Oh my God.
“I don't play with resentment. I never go out and say, 'I'm going to avenge something. Because if we win, [in 2024] That doesn't come to that team. What happened to that team was wrong and nothing can ever change it. “You just learn to live with it.”
Only four players remain from that 2021 team: Sam Highfill, Carson Falsken, Logan Whitaker and Noah Soles. Highfill was a freshman pitcher who was listed as a position player on the lineup card in NC State's final game of the season on June 25, 2021, and had three hits that day.
“It was a roller coaster day,” Highfill said. “So many good and bad memories from that 24 hour period.
“It's incredibly difficult to get here. We found out in the last few years. It's incredibly difficult. Everyone you have to beat to get here is such a good team. The goal is always to come back. I knew that was the case. It's not going to be easy, but I definitely thought every year we had a chance. [to] Find your way to the postseason and then you're five or six wins away.”
Anthony Holman, NCAA vice president of championships and alliances, said Friday he is “excited” the Wolfpack is back in Omaha and happy for Avent and its program. Holman called the events of 2021 “traumatic and upsetting” and said the NCAA was trying to find some avenue to keep NC State in the tournament.
He declined to comment on whether the NCAA received death threats after the decision, saying he did not want to “give voice” to any backlash.
“Let's just say it was unpleasant,” he said.
Holman said it was not the first time that academic year that a team had been eliminated from a sports championship and that in each case they came with the information they had at the time, trusted medical professionals and respected local guidelines. Going into the day's testing, Holman said, NC State was told that if more players tested positive, it would result in the Wolfpack's elimination from the tournament. When that happened, the nightly announcement became something of a formality.
Feeney, who was still confused by what had happened, heard a knock on his door.
“He was one of the guys that tested negative,” Feeney said. “He was like, 'Screw this COVID stuff,' and he was crying. He gave me a hug and said, 'We're done. Our season is over. They're kicking us out.' And then I got emotional.”
About 30 minutes after the NCAA issued its statement regarding NC State's departure, a group of Wolfpack players headed to TD Ameritrade Field and posed for photos near home plate in front of the MCWS logo.
Members of @NCStateBaseballThe team just entered TD Ameritrade to take a photo.
Surreal. pic.twitter.com/ZShz0aoTqf
– Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) June 26, 2021
The team flew home, but Feeney and a handful of other players who tested positive had to stay in the hotel for another two days. Feeney said they had to wait until a “COVID flight,” a small chartered plane carrying the quarantined players, was available.
Some Powerade and food were left on the doorstep of their hotel, and a part of Feeney just wanted to leave. He had already graduated and thought he was exempt from repercussions. But he didn't want to walk through downtown Omaha and get anyone who was immunocompromised sick. He then he stayed in the room.
Feeney couldn't bring himself to watch the MCWS finals.
“I already knew who the champions were,” he said.
He watched movies on his phone and texted his teammates. He FaceTimed her during the stadium celebration in Raleigh.
When the quarantined players returned home, they were confined to their apartments for another three or four days until they tested negative. His teammates stayed for what Feeney called one last hurrah, spending a week together playing golf, swimming and talking until they all moved on to the next phase of their lives.
Nine players were selected from the 2021 team. Feeney, who was drafted out of high school by the Detroit Tigers in the 40th round, didn't hear his name called that summer. He accepted a banking job in Kansas City and two weeks ago was hired at a bank in his hometown of Bismarck, North Dakota.
Almost immediately after his first week on the job, he told his boss that if the Wolfpack arrived at MCWS, he would take time off work and make the nine-hour drive to Omaha.
Shortly after NC State beat Georgia in the Athens Super Regional, Feeney called Avent. He congratulated his coach and told her that he would take Friday off to see them. Avent told his former player that that was pretty daring, but it made a lot of sense.
Feeney wasn't going to miss another game in Omaha.
“It was one of the best moments of my life,” he said.
