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NCAA BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP REGIONALS: CHAMPAIGNMay 29, 2015Mitch LongoJake MillerRob SmithCHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS Illinois – 10 Q. Were you off? Were they that much better? Was the wind a factor in how do you explain the first couple innings? JAKE MILLER: I was off. Q. Velocity, command, both? Were you thrown off by anything? JAKE MILLER: No. It's just baseball. It's just how it is sometimes. Sometimes you're on, like last week, and sometimes you're off. They took advantage of it. Q. Did you notice any nerves from your team or from yourself, rather, and how long, if that was the case, how long did that last? JAKE MILLER: Not really. I don't think anybody was really nervous. I mean, if anything, we were amped up, but it's just baseball. Sometimes it's not your day and sometimes it's the other team's day. Q. You and Manny had a pretty good night against Duchene and he usually kills lefties, and the two of you laying off that outside slider. How did you guys prepare to face him? MITCH LONGO: I figured that his slider has a lot of movement on it and it's going to break. I figured if I saw it at my belt it's going to fall off and it wouldn't fall in for a strike. I tried to see‑‑ after my first at‑bat, he fooled me with it, so after that point, I tried to see his slider a little more up in the zone and if not, then I was just looking fastball primarily and I would kind of adjust as the count went on. Q. You seemed really engaged, up 2‑1, how much air out of the sails did that five runs bottom half of the second inning‑‑ MITCH LONGO: I don't think it took that much out of it. Like Jake's saying, that's baseball. We've come back by nine runs in an inning before. We're more than capable of putting up runs. We could have done exactly what they can do. They are a great offensive ballclub but at the same time, so are we. We could swing it right there with them. Just they got some pitches they could hit and it just went their way today instead of our way. It happens. Q. What was it like in the dugout after Adryan's home run? MITCH LONGO: We were all pretty pumped. You hit a home run, you take a lead on a team who is Illinois, at home, and I kind of feel like the momentum changed there for a little bit and we were feeling good. We had to keep our blinders on from that point on and kind of continue to put more runs up because we knew that one run was not going to beat this team with their calibre of offense and so forth. So we had to keep on pressing, moving on, but it was definitely a momentum‑shifter I think. Q. Facing elimination for the first time this year, do things change? Do you not worry about it? How do you approach tomorrow? JAKE MILLER: I wouldn't say we are worried about it at all. We've been put in this position, you know, the underdog, and we've faced adversity all year. So I think we are going to handle it well and if we can get it started at the beginning of the game a little bit better than I did, there's no doubt in my mind that we can't win this regional. MITCH LONGO: I agree. We'll just take tomorrow like any other game. Take it one pitch at a time and like he said, we are used to being the underdog. We are used to playing from behind. This elimination game, this might be another game, doesn't really matter. We are going to take it just like we would any other game. Q. Was the wind a factor, on the three‑run homer especially? That seemed to be the tipping point. ROB SMITH: Coming into the game, we were uncertain; we were uncertain even up until yesterday if he was going to start. We pushed him pretty hard last week in the conference tournament. I think he felt today‑‑ he was elevated a little bit more than he had been previously. As far as the wind, I knew the wind was picking up and that front was coming through and I was hoping we could get through that. But he left the changeup up and Kerian hit the ball up that it got up high in that jetstream and just pushed out far enough to become a home run. That one was disappointing, because I thought on a normal day that might have been an out, but you have to give him credit. The wind is blowing out, you have to lift the ball a little bit and put it up in the air and he did that. Q. After the brief rain delay, the wind laid down. Would you rather have had it still there for you maybe? ROB SMITH: Well, you know, at that point, yeah, I wish we would have probably hit that delay prior to that bottom of the second and get that game under control as far as the weather, and that's part of playing an outdoor sport. You have to contend with the elements. I knew they had a few guys that could lift the ball and get the ball in the air. I wished it would have died down prior to that but once we fell behind, yes, I was hoping it would stay there because we are looking to get a ball or two in the air and try to get back into it but that's not the way it played out. Q. How long do you think the sour taste will stick with your guys? ROB SMITH: Not long. This team's been resilient all year. We've bounced back quickly. We've had games where we've played poorly and bounced right about a being and played extremely well, so I'm not concerned about their psyche or their ability to bounce back. I don't think it's going to dampen their spirits or set them back at all. We are going to hit the reset button and come out tomorrow and expect that something good is going to happen for us. Q. The approach offensively‑‑ ROB SMITH: They force you to execute. There wasn't a lot of easy outs. I mean, if you look at many of their at‑bats, even some of the outs were hard line drives, hard ground balls. I didn't see them get pulled out front too often. They do a really good job just staying connected with home plate and really forcing you to execute pitches, and on a day, if you don't, they are going to hurt you and they did today. They put some really, really good swings on us, and I give a lot of credit to their offense. They are well coached and they showed that tonight. Q. What's the toughest thing about going against their guy? You've been a great offensive team all year. ROB SMITH: I'm actually really proud about how our offense did tonight. We racked up, I think it was seven hits, three runs. You look back, I don't think there's been a lot of teams that have scored three runs against Kevin. He's an outstanding pitcher, struck us out only one time the entire game, too. I thought our plan was good against him. I thought our guys executed but I knew we were not going to win that game 9‑8. We were going to have to win that Game 3‑2 and we got the three. We were just not able to keep them down to the two. I was happy with what we did offensively. I thought our guys did a really good job and we put some good swings on a really good pitcher tonight. Q. You face elimination 14 hours from now. Who are you sending out there to hopefully get you a start like that? ROB SMITH: Jake Rudnicki is going to start the game. He'll start the game. But we've got Logan in an elimination situation, he's going to be available from the first inning on. We'll go to him right away, and use him as needed to extends our season. Q. You're not surprised by it, but the confidence level, Jake and Mitch, business as usual? ROB SMITH: They have been that way all year. They are a team that is not wavered off that, and I don't expect them to do it at this point. We knew coming in tonight it was going to be a challenge. Illinois is a really good ball club, and we were going to have been cleaner and execute better on the mound than we did. Like I said, we'll just hit the reset button. They will be ready to play tomorrow and we are ready to talk on a quality Wright State team. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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