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NCAA MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 16, 2015

OMAHA, NEBRASKA

Vanderbilt 1 - TCU 0

THE MODERATOR: Representing Vanderbilt, head coach Tim Corbin, first baseman Zander Wiel and starting pitcher Philip Pfeifer. Coach, an opening statement.

COACH CORBIN: I'll let the kids do the majority of the talking. But from a game standpoint, it felt like a championship-style game in every way. I think once we got through the third or fourth, you felt like one run could possibly make the difference. And that's the way it shaped up. Jim's team is good, very good, in a lot of different ways. I thought Young was obviously very, very effective. And I credit him, because once he found that we were going to make moves to pitches below the strike zone he kept forcing that. And he pitched very, very well. One ball made the difference. And that's the one Zander hit out. On our side, you know, I've got a lot of feelings about what Philip did today. I just think that this kid drove to Omaha last year by himself just to watch this thing because he wasn't a part of it. So him pitching the way he did tonight and him basically at peace -- all I remember tonight was him walking back and forth from the dugout with a smile on his face saying, hey, fellas, we're in Omaha. He continually said that. I think it showed. He was very tranquil on the mound, he was at peace with himself and he was executing his pitches. And I don't think that there was anyone here that enjoys being in Omaha, the moment more than he does. I credit him. I'm so happy for the kid in so many different ways. So we're fortunate, just a very well played baseball game.

Q. Tim, with the margin for error so small, the way Young was pitching, how do you kind of assess Philip from just his style standpoint and his approach overall tonight?
COACH CORBIN: Well, it was outstanding because he really had to match Young in a lot of different ways. To me, the third inning was the biggest inning of all just because we had a situation and we were building an inning. I know that the strikeout, when we got to first base, but after that we bunted the ball well, set up a bases-loaded situation with one out. When the inning broke down, and I can't recollect, but I think lead-off hitter got on for them, but Phil did an outstanding job of just closing that inning. That probably could have been damaging for Vanderbilt had they scored. But they didn't. And then his push after that was just so consistent. I just felt very good. We all felt very good about him and how he was approaching the plate and how he was approaching the hitters. He had to pitch that way in order for us to have a chance tonight.

Q. Zander, what did you see that made Young so effective early on and what did you see when you hit the home run?
ZANDER WIEL: I mean, he just did a great job against us. He was locating the fastball in and out. He was able to backdoor the slider and put -- like Coach said -- he would throw them low and we were going after them today. So he was just really able to keep us off balance and in that at-bat, I was just -- he threw me a changeup and it had been higher than the rest of the ones he had thrown. It still wasn't a terrible pitch. But it was hit-able. And I just put a good swing on it.

Q. Phil, what did you think the College World Series would be like and what was it like?
PHILIP PFEIFER: It's lived up to expectations so far. I mean, it's obviously the best venue for college baseball in the country hands down. I was just trying to soak in every minute of it that I could while I was out there on the mound. I've been looking forward for this moment for a long time and playing it over and over in my head and I feel like taking advantage of today's game was kind of what kept me at peace. I had seen that game before. So it was just enacting what had been playing in my head.

Q. Zander, just with Alex, the way he was pitching early on with all the strikeouts, is it tough to remain confident at the plate at that point? How do you guys regroup?
ZANDER WIEL: I'd say you'd probably take a hit I guess a little bit mentally. But with Phil pitching the way he was, I don't think -- I think that everyone thought that we were going to be able to make a push and you never think that a sole home run is going to do it but the way that our pitching staff threw today, it was incredible. Phil going strong seven and KW coming in, closing the door. So I don't think anyone was down. People were still up there competing. But they did a really good job.

Q. Zander, you're on kind of a roll right now, coming up with these clutch hits, and seems like you were able to put it away yesterday and pull one today. Your approach right now, can you kind of describe what you're doing, go to the plate, what your plan is, and do you feel locked in right now?
ZANDER WIEL: Aside from the home run today I struck out three times. So I guess sometimes when you do something like that it helps you forget about the bad ABs. But last year it really helped because you kind of get, I don't want to say overwhelmed when it's your first time experiencing it, but seeing it the second time, it puts you a lot more at ease in this venue. I'm just trying to go up and compete every time and put a good swing on a ball and hit it hard somewhere. I've been able to do that the last couple of days.

Q. Tim, you kind of talked a little bit about Phil and what he's gone through. From a personal standpoint, how happy were you that his experience turned out to be as good as it did the first time?
COACH CORBIN: I'm just happy he's here. I'm just happy he's a part of the team. The fact that he's able to pitch and then pitch well, it probably is more than my expectations, to be honest with you. I didn't know how he would do in this moment. He's pitched very well for us the last couple of weeks, but you never know what it's going to be like when you step out there for the first time. But he contained himself so well. And it really felt like he was enjoying it more than any other person out there at the time. Personally, you know -- personally, I'm just so overwhelmed by it, because the fact that he's here and just playing for us, it's such a good story from a human comeback thing, from a personal standpoint, just that he's able to be wearing a uniform, still going to school and still living a normal life, that supersedes everything, supersedes the game, but just for this moment, it's great for him personally. Everyone's tremendously happy for him.

Q. Phil, you're hearing all these wonderful words your coach is saying about you. What about your experience here last year do you think helped you stay so calm and so at peace today?
PHILIP PFEIFER: Well, I think from one perspective, I had no idea what Ameritrade Ballpark looked like until I drove up here and saw it, other than through TV. But TV tends to distort things a little bit. Secondly, coming to terms with the fact that they didn't need me to win last year, as selfish as that is, I think once I swallowed that, my ego deflated and I had a realistic appreciation of myself, my skills. And lastly, you know, I think just visualizing being in this scenario, in the situation like it was tonight, you know, from one side of the ball, you would love to have 20 runs scored just because it makes things easy. But you know from a competitive side, you want that 1-0 ballgame. And they gave it to us. They really did. That's a very strong team. So I think just visualizing what playing in the College World Series is like is probably the biggest thing that helped me.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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