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NCAA MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIESJune 14, 2014Kyle FunkhouserDan McDonnellSutton WhitingOMAHA, NEBRASKA Vanderbilt – 5 THE MODERATOR: Joined now by Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell, as well as student‑athletes Kyle Funkhouser and Sutton Whiting. Coach McDonnell, we ask that you begin with an opening statement. COACH MCDONNELL: Yeah. Want to congratulate Vanderbilt. It was a good team, and they obviously played well. They did a good job offensively competing, especially with two outs. They seemed to mount some two‑out rallies, and it's a big momentum swing. Two‑out hit, two‑out RBI is big momentum, and it gave them a lot of energy and a lot of life. But I was proud of our kids. We fought hard. We kept nipping away and we seemed to get it within a run or two, but we could never catch up, and I just thought offensively they did a really good job tonight 1 through 9 in their lineup. They were just tough outs, very competitive, and seemed to put a lot of pressure on us, and like I said, seemed to get things going with two outs, which hurts, because you feel like you're one pitch away from running off the field and getting ready to score runs. Just wasn't in our favor tonight. So congratulations to them, and hopefully we'll come back Monday and play a little better. Q. Kyle, first talk about how well you battled offensively? In the early innings, it seemed like (no microphone). KYLE FUNKHOUSER: I wasn't making a lot of great pitches tonight, but a lot of credit to their hitters. The good pitches that I did make, they seemed to battle pretty tough. Q. Kyle, coach mentioned how frustrating two‑out rallies can be, and what was your take on that and how do you recover once you give up a hit or something like that with two outs? KYLE FUNKHOUSER: Coach has been saying it all year, two‑out walks will kill you and that was the definition of it tonight. Just need to make some more pitches. It's hard to win at the College World Series with a bad start, and that's what that was tonight. Q. Dan, it's obviously hard to put a finger on it, I'm sure, from a coaching standpoint, but five of your six‑‑ you've lost five of your six here, and I know this was a year where you guys were talking a lot about taking that next step. What do you think needs to happen now against Texas and going forward for you guys to get over that last hump? COACH MCDONNELL: I feel better about our club now than maybe at this time last year. I think we lost our first game 2‑0 or I think a guy threw a CG against us, and offensively it was a tough night. I felt really good about our offense, and we had a lot of good at‑bats. You just look at Fulmer's numbers, I mean, that is impressive stuff. I mean, the ERA, the batting average against, throwing mid 90's, I mean, that's nasty stuff he's throwing up there. I was pleased. I thought our hitters really competed, put a lot of good swings, and they made two really nice catches. They almost made three really nice catches on that ball they dove for for Sutton. So I feel good about our club and where we're at. You know, Funk's great, and he's growing. He's still young, and he's competing and he's trying. What's made him great all year is getting out of those two‑out jams. That's what great pitchers do. More times than not, they get out of those two‑out Jams. Tonight he just had a little trouble doing that against, I don't know how many pitchers they ran out there. Four arms that they're able to match up. When they get the lead, it's tough because they're going to match‑up. They're going to go left to right on you, and they had a few more arms in that bullpen. I'm sure they were going to bring out to possibly face Gardner if we had tied it or gotten within a run or so. So, like I said, I feel good about where we're at as a club and how well we've played in the postseason. But, you're facing seven of the hottest teams in the country, so we've just got to play a little better, that's all. Q. Coach, how big of a deal do you think it is after this game that they did not start Beede and started a guy who has given you all trouble in the past? COACH MCDONNELL: You know, all great teams have that one‑two combination, so I think everybody respects Fulmer as much as they do Beede. I can't specifically say why they started him. I can only speculate because of maybe our speed and putting pressure on the pitcher. But, again, the other guy was like the 14th pick in the country. So I can't fully give that answer. I can only speculate. But, again, it wasn't like they threw a guy down the line in the rotation. I'm sure you could argue they got that great one‑two punch, and I'm sure you could flip a coin when you look at their numbers and their success. So it didn't surprise us when we saw the match‑up. It's not like we're choosing one or the other. You know you're getting a really quality arm from Vanderbilt in that first game. Q. Coach, after falling behind 4‑0 early, you got back to four‑three. Did you feel like Ravenelle kind of extinguished your momentum a little bit there? COACH MCDONNELL: Alex took a good swing. He got that one‑pitch fastball and we flew out to right center. Definitely not a night to hit the ball in the air. But then we walked a guy in the next inning. I think we walked the nine‑hole hitter three times tonight, and I think three of the five walks‑‑ three of the five runs were walks, and we had two pass balls. You know, it's just not clean baseball against a really good team. You'd like to make them earn it. Hit a ball in the gap, tip your hat to him, but it was just, like I said, we didn't play clean enough out there between the lines. And to their credit, they just kept chipping away. Like I said, they got within a run and then come right back. We score a run in the 7th to get a run, and they come back in the bottom of the 7th to score a run. You've almost got to get two runners on and you've got to bang a ball in the gap. I don't know how many balls you saw banged in the gaps today, but it doesn't seem like there's a lot. So the value of the run out here, whew, it's crucial. So hopefully we do a better job of stuffing on the defensive side and minimizing the other team's runs? Q. (No microphone)? COACH MCDONNELL: Threw a guy out. I think the hitter swung the bat. I can't remember if the runner was going because it was off a left‑handed pitcher. So I don't know if it was a hit‑and‑run. We just felt like it was an opportunity to pitch out, and I don't know if Gibby just moving out and the hitter swinging maybe the bat went through his sight line and he just didn't catch the ball. Watching it on replay, I'm sure Gibby will just fess up to it. But I think it was a hit‑and‑run, and I know the batter swung, so maybe that bat line went through his eye‑level sight and he lost it for a second. Q. Sutton, what was the team like after the game? What was the message to the team? How do you refocus and move forward? SUTTON WHITING: Just let it go. It's over with, and we've got to bounce back. Come with a good practice tomorrow and get back to work and face a good team in Texas Monday. So just got to get better and get ready. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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