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NCAA MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIESJune 21, 2014Will AllenAustin AndersonMike BiancoChris EllisOMAHA, NEBRASKA Virginia – 4 THE MODERATOR: Ole Miss is here. Representing is designated hitter Will Allen, third baseman Austin Anderson, and pitcher Chris Ellis. We'll start with a statement from head coach Mike Bianco. COACH BIANCO: First of all, I'd like to congratulate Virginia. Just tremendous in the two games that we played them. They just make it very hard on you. Man, they're good. They can really pitch. They can really hit and defend. They run the bases. They're just outstanding ballclub, and obviously deserve to win. Proud of my guys. As I just said to them to them out in the outfield, you don't ever want to come this short, especially when you're this close to winning the national championship. But this is a special group of guys, special group of older guys. Three of the guys sitting next to me, great leadership, and kind of‑‑ we're such great mentors to the younger group that is so talented, but we weren't sure what to do when they got here and these guys put them on their back and were tremendous all year. So I sit here sad that it ends, but more importantly sad because these 35 guys that wore the uniforms this year for Ole Miss, just great representatives for the university and we'll go down as the best team that ever played at Ole Miss and we won't ever be together again, and that's what makes it sad. Q. Mike, you guys had an opportunity there I think in the third. Can you talk about that inning? And it seemed like that time momentum really kind of shifted. COACH BIANCO: It did. Early on to start the game, remember, to start today, not the game, but to start today, we got out of a jam and they missed an opportunity to score with runners at second and third with less than two outs, and we get a big strikeout and Scott does a great job. And then we come back and answer. And then the same as the point that you're making, we left an opportunity out there and they were able to answer right back and kind of took the momentum. And so, yeah, you look at opportunities, but we didn't have many opportunities after that. That was really the struggle, that they pitched so well and we just really didn't have opportunities after that, because they're so good on the mound and so good defensively. We just didn't have enough chances. Q. I guess looking at the job Sborz did and Lewicki, what did Sborz do to help you guys‑‑ get out of those jams? And also Lewicki, what was he able to do to just to kind of keep you guys from getting any kind of grief offensively? AUSTIN ANDERSON: He throws 94, 95. Pretty good fastball and sometimes it's hard to catch up to it and get on top. He's also throwing like an 85 mile per hour cutter, cutter/slider, and he did a good job of making good pitches and keeping our hitters off balance. WILL ALLEN: To add what Austin said, great arm, throwing hard and when you mix it in with the cutter slider thing at 84, 86, really keeps people off balance. When he got out of those jams and started rolling a little bit, he pitched with a little more confidence, and obviously when you're doing that, with that kind of stuff, it's tough to hit. Q. Coach, could you talk about the decisions you had to make strategy‑wise over the night after the delay? COACH BIANCO: You're talking mostly about pitching, I'm assuming. We met as a staff as soon as we got back to the hotel, after we left the stadium, and talked about the situation and Massie probably could have went back out, but again I thought he probably wasn't the best match for them. And then the decision was do we just go all bullpen the rest of the way. And then when I look at it as an elimination game, Chris was scheduled to pitch anyway, if we were to win on Friday night he was going to pitch today and start this game. And so he hadn't been in relief all year. So we thought the best plan was to bring Scott into the game with runners on and try to do his magic like he usually does and gets out of a jam and let Chris go out there with a clean slate, basically starting the game, a seven‑inning game, hopefully 0‑0, but at least a close game. And it wasn't Chris's best day, but at the end of the day I think you gotta put your ace out there, when you're back's against the wall. If he's physically able to pitch and he's healthy and he wants the ball and he's ready to go. So I'm happy with it. You know, he competed. He didn't have his best stuff today, obviously. But, man, he competed out there and gave us a chance. Q. Can you talk just briefly about your experiences here as a coach as opposed to coming here as a player? COACH BIANCO: Well, I will tell you, this is the first time here at Ameritrade. And it's been a long time from assistant coach and as a player. But kudos to Omaha and the city here and the NCAA. It's changed a lot over the years as all of you that come here every year know and to me, and I've tried to ask some of our administration that go to bowl games, because I've never been to a bowl game, and they said this is the best event that they've been to. And so it's probably something short of a BCS Bowl, what a spectacular experience, I think it is, for everybody involved, as coaches and players. So I'm proud that we're here and hopefully it won't take so long to get back here. Q. Mike, I hear you talk about the pitching, how much of the offensive success for you guys here had to do with park, is there something in the approach in your offense that needs to change more for the park, when you come back? COACH BIANCO: I don't think so. If you look around, and I don't know, I could be wrong, somebody said we scored six runs a couple of nights ago and that was the most runs. So it's not us. Everybody has trouble scoring here is it the park, sure? Is it the bats, sure. Is it the ball, sure, but also in that it's the best pitchers and you're looking at some amazing guys and Kendall's question earlier about sports, he's 94, throwing 86 mile an hour slider or cutter, and then the next guy comes in and he's throwing 94 and we just faced some very good pitchers, and that's the way it's supposed to be here I think at the end and it's all about there's such a fine line and you look at the inning we gave up three, the nine‑hole guy that's a part‑time player for them gets the big hit and breaks the game open. And that's what it comes down to. It comes down to who is going to get the big hit or who doesn't walk them or make the errors, and if you look back at the games that we lost, you know, there was a little bit of that, and the other team just played a little cleaner than we did. Q. To piggyback actually on something Coach just said, Chris, the bottom of the lineup kind of got you today with the nine‑hole hitter and a couple of guys in front of him scoring. How difficult is it to approach this lineup with the depth they have from 1 through 9? CHRIS ALLEN: Just comes down to not walking people, they can all hit, they can all drive in runs, obviously. I thought that's what hurt me was walking guys that got in scoring position. Doesn't matter where you hit in the lineup, if you give them the opportunity they usually get an RBI or come up with a big hit, seemed like. That's just it, they're all good hitters. Q.  Chris, the third inning worked so well for you, one, two, three. What happened in the fourth, I guess, that made it kind of unravel for you? CHRIS ELLIS: I wish I knew the answer to that question. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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