There is a common refrain in sports when it comes to tournaments, "win or go home." Unfortunately for the NC State baseball team, they proved that idiom to be a fallacy as they did both this week.

Sitting in the proverbial catbird's seat in the winners bracket at the College World Series, NC State had multiple players test positive, and after it was all said and done, had just 13 players available for Friday's game against Vanderbilt. After losing that game 3-1, the two teams were set for a deciding game to see who would go on to the championship series. Early Saturday morning -- at a time when regardless of sobriety, everyone awake was reading with just one eye open -- the NCAA announced it had removed the Wolfpack from the bracket, sending the Commodores to the championship by default. Media personalities on Twitter sided with NC State, lamenting the end to their improbably run.

After advancing as a two-seed out of Louisiana Tech's regional, then dealing No. 1 Arkansas their first series loss of the season, NC State captured the hearts of its fans. Now, after getting a raw deal from everyone's common enemy, the NCAA, the Wolfpack have the hearts of an entire sporting public.