|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIESJune 18, 2014Mike GillespieEvan ManarinoConnor SpencerOMAHA, NEBRASKA University of Texas – 1 THE MODERATOR: Representing UC Irvine, head coach Mike Gillespie, starting pitcher, Evan Manarino, and first baseman, Connor Spencer. Coach, would you begin with an opening statement? COACH GILLESPIE: When it ends, it ends really abruptly, and everybody that's not moving on hates it. There is no question about it. You get a little perspective when you stop to think about what's gone on in this part of the area outside of Omaha called Pilger, I think it is, and you realize the town has been leveled, and then you know what real loss is. So we think about those people, and our hearts go out to those people. But this is a tough loss, of course, as you would well imagine. We're really proud of the account we gave of ourselves here. I think Evan pitched outstanding, and Connor Spencer has been a phenomenal player for us for three years including tonight. So we are, I think, justifiably proud of our players. Hollingsworth did a great job, and it's apparent that he's done a great job for them all year, but certainly in these two last critical starts that he's made for them. I mean, Texas was virtually mistake‑free, and Payton, of course, was a difference maker in this game. I mean, that's a catch we'll see tonight later on, tomorrow morning, all day long, we'll see more of that catch than we even want to. We've seen enough of it, actually, but it was a spectacular, big‑time play and a difference maker. The difference maker, quite frankly. Johnson left field ran down a ball that Connor hit. I mean, those were our two legitimate chances to score. So it was a good game. We've had a fabulous experience here. I'm genuinely really, really thrilled that our players got to experience this. People say it over and over and over again, but I don't think it can be said enough, so I'll be one more person that echoes what's always said about Omaha, about the people of Omaha, how hospitable they are. What a great job the hosts do. In our case, it was the Exchange Club. But it's nice people every time you turn around. There is a lot of complaints about the ballpark, but not by me. It's gorgeous. It's beautiful. It's a Taj Mahal. I think that the College World Series people have just continued to build and build and build in terms of the beauty of this event. It's a spectacular event. Our players I trust will never forget it. Q. Coach and Connor, I know you got a couple hits tonight, but what was it that Hollingsworth was able to do to keep your offense from ever getting into a groove throughout the game? CONNOR SPENCER: You know, he was mixing pitches really, really well. He was definitely working both sides of the plate tonight, and the curveball was setting up his fastball really, really nicely. So when he was throwing that curveball and backing it up with the fastball, the fastball was getting in on us. You know, it just kind of threw us off balance, and we really couldn't get on to that fastball the way we would have liked to. No question I thought we hit the ball‑‑ we had a couple that were scorched, no question. But the defense was behind him, and he pitched a great game. So, you know, that's baseball. COACH GILLESPIE: I think I can only echo what Connor said. I think he clearly did a great job. He did exactly what Connor said. Q. Evan, I think everybody was more impressed that anybody could get ahold of a ball to push it over the fence.  Talk about the pitch, and did you think it was a good pitch and what did you think of it? EVAN MANARINO: Yeah, it's a hard place to hit a ball out. I didn't think it was a very good pitch. I left it over the plate, and he was a good hitter. He took advantage of it and drove it to left field, and that was it. Q. Talk about this run. I mean, you guys go from one of the last four teams into Omaha, just talk about this run overall from your perspective? CONNOR SPENCER: Well, this run has been really, really special. Something that myself personally I haven't really experienced anything like it since, I mean, little league. It takes a special team to get this far. During the season, you really wouldn't have known that we were that special team, but as soon as our name was called on that announcement show, things kind of change a little bit, and guys' hearts started to come out. This team showed a lot of heart, and I haven't been on a team with this much heart in a really, really long time. EVAN MANARINO: Yeah, just what Connor said. Once we got in and we knew we were in, we just went to work and to grind. We knew we had the talent and we just came out and pitched how we pitched all year, played all year, and things went our way. We knew that we were good enough to do it, and of course you need some breaks along the way and just tonight it didn't work out, but a very successful season, we thought. COACH GILLESPIE: I'm touchy and sensitive about the thought about our team running up to the start of the playoffs because we were in 40 games just like this one tonight. We're not talking always 1‑0, but 2‑1, 3‑2, and I mean, literally 35 games that were less than two runs in the 8th inning. We played well. We competed well. We matched up without winning all the time, but we matched up and I think demonstrated what we were capable of all along. So to be shocked by what we did is unfortunate, because I am not shocked by it. We pitched well all year. We weren't deep on the mound. We were fortunate to dodge injury, and the guys that did the lion's share of the pitching pitched real well always. So the experience that both Oregon State and Oklahoma State and even the three games here, I think the score of the Vanderbilt game does not really indicate the way that game went, but yet it was what the score was, which means that game was in reach also. These are examples of the fact that we've been in games all year. I think Evan said it well. We caught some breaks at both Oregon State and Oklahoma State, and we also played lights out. We pitched well. When we did get some big‑time, timely hits, those were two very difficult places to play against both really, really good teams. Everybody's heart broken tonight. But the time will come when we're objective, and we realize we've accomplished a lot and we've got much to be proud of. That we very, very importantly had just a fabulous experience in these last few weeks. It's been a fabulous experience. Q. Coach, back to this game and the offensive approach. It was hard to get anything going today, I think you only had two base runners reach second base. But both of them were 1 out and you had opportunities. But what did you see from the offensive approach and the struggle that pushed it across? COACH GILLESPIE: The numbers don't lie on this. Sometimes the numbers lie. In the case of what we were over the course of the whole year was light on offense. I mean, there is no running from that. When we have been close and when we've played close but no cigar on those times, we've really pitched and we've played typically solid defense, even sometimes real, real good defense. Then you catch a break, maybe you string together a few hits, maybe you get a big hit. But we've been light on offense. I mean, the temperature of this team has been pretty mild on offense. I mean, we had to have Connor Spencer and Taylor Sparks be real good, and they were. We had to get picked up from time to time by other people, and sometimes we did. But you talk about approach. Well, it was grab a bat, go up there and give it your best shot. Q. You've come close in the Super Regionals twice. You were number one in the country going into Regionals? COACH GILLESPIE: Thank you very much for reminding me of that. Q. Sorry, Coach. You're one of six teams. You're never ranked high in the preseason, is that kind of frustrating to you? What are your feelings about that that you're always a little better than most people would say? COACH GILLESPIE: Well, nobody ever heard me or any of us complain about being unranked. We didn't deserve to be ranked by our record. I mean, I've got no complaint about that. I think that as we've tried to express here tonight, that did not factor in in terms of our belief in ourselves and what we felt we could be capable of. So, I mean, we know how it goes. You win a lot of games, you get ranked. You don't, you don't. That's kind of the way it goes. THE MODERATOR: On behalf of the NCAA, thank you to the UC Irvine student‑athletes and Coach Gillispie on a wonderful season. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|