OMAHA, Neb. — As impressive as Dawson Montesa was on the mound Tuesday for West Virginia, turns out it just may be the second-best part of his game.

It pales in comparison, though, to what the Queens, N.Y. native can do in the outfield.

“During (batting practice), he’s catching balls behind his back and in between his legs,” explained WVU head coach Steve Sabins after the Mountaineers shut out Troy, 12-0, inside Charles Schwab Field. “He just loves to play.”

He may just also love to shine when the pressure is on, too.

Consider what Montesa did in an elimination game in the College World Series – 112 pitches thrown over 5 1/3 innings, two hits and no runs allowed – all while making his debut on the game’s biggest stage.

Add on to that what he accomplished two weeks ago. Facing another elimination game – this one against Wake Forest – Montesa was good for 122 pitches then, striking out seven and allowing four hits over 7-plus innings.

Pressure? Nah.

“He honestly seems to pitch better under pressure,” WVU catcher Matthew Graveline said. “I’m super proud of his performance. He’s been so fun to work with and catch.”

A year ago at this time, Montesa was finishing up his season at Adelphi (N.Y.) a Division II school known just as much for its nursing and health sciences programs than its baseball program.

Walking around in Omaha back then was little more than a pipedream.

“Obviously I haven’t pitched in a game like this,” was the way Montesa put it. “This is obviously the biggest stage I’ve pitched on. But just realizing it’s the same game — D-II, D-I, you know, Little League, high school — it’s all the same game. It’s a children’s game. So, just go out there and pound the zone and play like it’s your last game. It’s pretty cool.”

Montesa (6-5) scattered four walks to go along with a moving curveball that led the way to six strikeouts. His fastball often settled in around 94 mph, which came with little effort.

“I think he started pretty strong and he was just cruising,” Graveline said. “He went five innings and he believed in all three of his pitches and just trusted his stuff. He just cruises out there.”

Montesa said he found out at practice on Monday he was getting the ball to start the game.

“I guess what worked today was the curveball,” he said. “I was throwing it for strikes and chase. That just opens up everything with the fastball and slider and splitter.”

What Sabins’ decision to go with Montesa accomplished for WVU was allowing another day of rest for fellow starting pitcher Chansen Cole, who can now go against North Carolina (51-12-1) on four days of rest, when the two meet in the national semifinal matchup at 2 p.m. today.

Sabins admitted the decision to go with Montesa came with only a short discussion.

“When you lose Game 2 and you have three games to get to the (national) finals, you have 27 innings,” to account for, Sabins said. “You’re saying, ‘Who are the guys who can handle a large workload? Who are the guys who have proven they can handle throwing 100 pitches?’ However you want to slice it up, Dawson was probably the most prepared. He had the most rest and had been good.”