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NCAA BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP REGIONALS: BATON ROUGEJune 1, 2015Whitman BarnesMark ScalfZach ShieldsBATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA LSU – 2 THE MODERATOR: We're going to get started first, Whitman Barnes who came in in relief, No.26 is with us; Zach Shields, right fielder, No.2; and of course Coach. Let's start with Whitman first. Whitman came in after they scored and kind of settled things down through those middle innings. Talk about your outing, please. WHITMAN BARNES: Just really tried to keep us in the game. It was close all the way. Our hitters were trying to get us some runs, and I just wanted to keep us close so we had a chance. THE MODERATOR: Zach, another good day offensively for you, could have been three hits, it was scored an error the first time, but two hits behind that. Talk a little bit about how you were effective against Poché. ZACH SHIELDS: I was just being patient, seeing pitches, and I was seeing the ball well and able to make good contact. THE MODERATOR: Coach, great year. Maybe a few comments on your season and also today, please. MARK SCALF: You know, our guys have had a tremendous year. They've competed every day, and right on through today. You know, it's always difficult to play the last one every year, but you know, I certainly give our players credit because they have given us energy every day. They've shown up trying to get better every day, and we competed as hard as we could compete today. Unfortunately we couldn't find any holes. I thought we squared a lot of balls up, Stevenson probably made the play of the game on his diving catch with a double play there on Dunlap's ball. If he doesn't make that play, we're on the board, and maybe we break the ice and have a little better opportunity in this ballgame. But we still gave ourselves chances even the last two innings. We had a runner out there, if we can roll one across, if we can pick up a knock and drive Zach in there in the eighth, it tightens it up, and then Corey's double maybe makes a difference in the back end. But I certainly give them credit. LSU is extremely good. Their ballclub is outstanding up and down the lineup, and their pitching, Poché threw very, very well today. He stayed in the zone, and he gave his defense a chance to make plays behind him. Q. Mark, you said last night that you guys kind of had to play clean. It was an error that ended up kind of costing you there. Do you feel like you played well enough to win this one? MARK SCALF: You know, you've got‑‑ like I said, you've got to play clean baseball to give yourself the best opportunity against the best clubs in the country. We had an error there at first base, and even if Corey fields that ball clean, I don't know that Crump gets there in time. Stevenson probably beats him to the bag, and then you've got a balk call that puts a man in scoring position, and then Chinea rolls a ground ball right down the line that is just in the right place. We weren't able to hit a ball in the right place today. Q. Zach, what did make Poché so tough today? ZACH SHIELDS: He worked quick, and we weren't able to slow him down, and he kind of got in a rhythm, so our objective today was to try to slow him down, but we couldn't, so he got in a rhythm and was able to work quickly through pitches. Q. Whitman, this was the first regional for a lot of you guys. What do you feel like you got out of this experience, and what will you take away? WHITMAN BARNES: I mean, it was some of the best fans I've ever seen, played in front of. It was a great atmosphere, got us some exposure. I was just happy to be here and happy to compete. Q. Zach, you know a thing or two about nice catches. What were you thinking when Stevenson ran down that ball? ZACH SHIELDS: I tip my hat off to him. It was a great catch. He took a great route to the ball and was able to get to it. Q. How did you feel like that changed the game? ZACH SHIELDS: It shifted momentum because if that would have landed, we probably would have pushed it across and at least had first and second there and maybe could have picked those two runs up. Q. Mark, it sounded like you were pretty happy with the swings that you guys did get against Poché. Was there some adjustment you guys were trying to make there or was it kind of keep doing it and hope one falls in? MARK SCALF: Yeah, I even told some of the guys halfway through the game, look, just move two inches in the box, do something different, get in a different spot in the box and maybe we'll find a hole. I thought our approach was good. By the time Stevenson ran Luke's ball down, you know, we had hit‑‑ we had seven hitters in a row that had squared a baseball up, six out of seven because one of them was a walk. And then that certainly shifted the momentum a little bit during the ballgame. You know, I thought at that point, from that point forward, I thought Poché did a better job commanding his breaking ball the back half of the ballgame. Q. What do you think that your guys, a lot of them whom haven't been on this stage before, are going to take away from or hope they take away from the four days here? MARK SCALF: Hopefully it sets in that this is where we want to be every year. You know, we've got some work to do when we get back to put ourselves back in this position again next year, and you know, that's a goal of our program every year is to put ourselves in the postseason and compete in a regional and eventually win a regional and put ourselves‑‑ I'll play anybody in the country in a three‑game series, we've just got to find a way to get through one of these regionals. Q. Zach, what is the feeling coming away here? You played really well in two games and played the No.2 team in the country pretty tough two games. How are you going to be‑‑ what are you taking away from this weekend? ZACH SHIELDS: I feel not accomplished, but we came out and competed against a very good ballclub. No reason to hang our heads. Even though we didn't come up with a win, it still was a great experience for all of us. Q. Y'all hit .307 as a team which is among the top 20 in the nation. Have you ever faced two guys in back to back performances that pitched as well as they did this year? MARK SCALF: No, we haven't. Their staff is outstanding, and that's one of the reasons they're in the position they're in. But when you put that pitching staff together, starting staff and the guys in the pen together with the lineup that they have, you know, that's why they're sitting in good shape. They'll challenge for a national championship. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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