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NCAA MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIESJune 15, 2014Tyler NeslonyChris SadberryTim TadlockOMAHA, NEBRASKA TEXAS CHRISTIAN – 3 THE MODERATOR: Joined now by Texas Tech. Head coach Tim Tadlock, student‑athletes Tyler Neslony and Chris Sadberry. We ask Coach Tadlock to give an opening statement to begin. COACH TADLOCK: I thought Preston was as good as advertised. He pitched like the Big 12 pitcher of the year. I thought TCU played a really good game. Played good defense for the most part, I think. And really capitalized on our opportunities. And it's a tough, tough way to lose your first game up here. At the same time, we won't look back and get ready to go on Tuesday. Q. Coach, you guys have talked all year long about flushing games, and do you feel like being able to do that all season long, you've proven you can do that; you think that prepared you guys for this stage to be able to get ready to play whoever it is on Tuesday? COACH TADLOCK: I think so. I think we'll go eat dinner and do exactly what you just said. We'll try to put this behind us and move on and get ready for Tuesday. And we know whoever we play on Tuesday will be a big challenge, so need to get ready. Q. Tim, it was kind of a while back but the last time you guys faced Morrison, you had a loss against him. What do you kind of remember from that performance you had, and what was kind of different today for him? COACH TADLOCK: Well, the day we scored some runs on him, we really didn't‑‑ we really found some holes. We had some balls hit that could have very easily been outs. And seemed like today, basically they were well positioned and got some outs when they needed it. And at the same time, he probably would tell you he wasn't as sharp that day. And I don't think he was. I really think‑‑ I mean, tip your hat to Coach Schlossnagle and Coach Saarloos on this deal. You play your first World Series game in Omaha and guys are hunting that fastball and they're sped up and you roll a guy throwing 80 to 82 and changing speeds like that. I think he threw one up there‑‑ I know they were laughing over there. I think he threw one to maybe Burleson. It had to been in the 50s. So it's really hard to get slowed down, and I think we slowed down the later innings, but he did a really good job early. Did a good job the whole time. Q. Tyler, Farrell's been hard to get to this year. You guys did a nice job in the eighth inning there; you had the big hit. Did you think you guys were going to win the game after your triple? TYLER NESLONY: It definitely helped out. I knew he was a good pitcher. He's been their closer all year. He's got good stuff. I knew once we got a couple of runs‑‑ I mean, we have the most confidence ever in Jonny. I mean, he does what he always does. He pitches really well. So it gave us a little momentum, but that's about it. Q. Tim, Chris matched Preston pitch for pitch there for eight innings. Talk about his performance in this opener. COACH TADLOCK: Chris went seven. Of course now we can go hindsight and go: Why didn't we leave him in, right? Had to listen to the dumb manager. But we had decided really before we scored the runs, very rarely these guys go past 100 pitches. He's right at 100. And he's done everything he could do for our team to put us in position to win the game. And we're always going to do what's best for these guys and for their career and the long term. At the same time, like Tyler said, we got all the confidence in the world in Jonny, and it's kind of a game of inches there. The first single, I mean, it just bounces over him and it's a chopper. And then the next one, the one Humphreys goes and gets, if he's holding the runner a little more, if Keaton Jones‑‑ if we thought he was going to run, you hold the runner, and it's probably an out. So just kind of an unpredictable game and a game of inches. Q. Chris, so you've got the loser's bracket now. How are you set up pitching‑wise? How confident are you in being able to come back through? COACH TADLOCK: I think the simple thing we'll have a decent starter on Tuesday. Johnny is the one guy that pitched today out of the bullpen. We had two other guys up, so those guys should be fine. And really just, I don't think you can go through the losers bracket talking about winning the whole losesers bracket. We've need to come out and play a solid baseball game on Tuesday. Q. Coach already alluded to it, just the speed of the game, everybody playing faster. Did you all feel like maybe middle innings, fourth, fifth, you all were settling in and it was just another game? And what's that mentality carrying forward as you all go to the next game? CHRIS SADBERRY: Yeah, you know, I guess halfway through the game, we kind of slowed down. And I guess we did kind of get in the rhythm. I don't think we really looked at it as the game sped up or anything. We've played them before. I mean, we're playing in the Big 12. So we see it all the time. But halfway through we kind of settled through and then our hitters did what they needed to do there at the end and it's a little unfortunate we couldn't pull it out there at the end. TYLER NESLONY: Yeah, you're going to have nerves. It's the College World Series. We have to do our best job getting past it, not letting the crowd affect us too much. I think we did there towards the middle of the game, fourth, fifth inning, we definitely settled down and played our normal baseball. So I think we did a good job settling down. Q. Tim, what was your thinking with the pinch‑hitting lines and talking about him coming in through with the big clutch pinch hit. COACH TADLOCK: Anthony, he's done that all year. He's given us really good at bats whenever he's in there. The guy that was pitching was struggling a little bit against Preston, and wasn't really thinking they were going to go to Farrell at that point. And then they did and they put together good at‑bat and the ball found a hole and did a great job. Just more than anything, just going with a guy that's fresh. Q. Chris, going up in an outing like that against a guy like Morrison, you guys are both throwing up numbers, did that maybe raise your level? It's the second week in a row it's really happened. Does that help raise your level on the stage and go toe to toe with him? CHRIS SADBERRY: Not really. I just go into every game looking to not give up any runs but that doesn't always happen. I knew it was going to be a close game. I was a little frustrated with myself not being as sharp in the first inning, but other than that, I tried to settle in and give my team a chance to win. Q. Tim, could you elaborate on your philosophy of pitch limits and do you think that overpitching is some of the reasons we're seeing so many Tommy Johns surgeries at the next level? COACH TADLOCK: No, I don't think so. But I do think this is an environment where the pitchers are a little more stressful maybe than somewhere else than maybe a regular season game. And Chris could have gone another inning, there's no doubt about it. As far as the question you asked about arm injuries, my kind of thinking is that guys don't play enough catch, and probably the first thing that gets out of shape on your body is probably your arm and it's probably the last thing that gets in shape. These guys can get their bodies in shape unlike you and I in about a week, the rest of their body. But maybe they don't take care of their‑‑ maybe they think they're ready a little before they are. Q. Chris and Tyler, what was it like walking out on the field for the first time being at the College World Series? TYLER NESLONY: It's definitely breathtaking. It's something you're going to remember for the rest of your life. Not too many people get to go to the College World Series. It's something you take in and remember for the rest of your life. It was awesome. CHRIS SADBERRY: You know, it was exciting. The atmosphere we had last weekend at the Super Regional I think kind of helped me settle my nerves. I mean, our crowd was so loud there. This wasn't really overwhelming, so that kind of helped. Like you said, it's something you just look back and just take it all in. It's really awesome. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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