|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMay 27, 2016Tom WalterJohnny AielloKevin ConwayWill CraigDurham, North Carolina Wake Forest - 10, Virginia - 9 TOM WALTER: It's a great win for our program right there. Really proud of the guys. To get down 5-1 early against a team of Virginia's calibre with their pitching staff and battle back and take a lead; and then every time Virginia answered and responded and cut the lead, we were able to come back and punch across another run. A couple of great defensive plays late in the game, obviously that's as good a play as you'll see with Nate Mondou and Johnny Aiello out there in the ninth inning under pressure, make a play like that. Great play by Joey Rodriguez and no doubles. And obviously had the bats going today. Kevin Conway I thought was the biggest at-bat of the game. We're down 5-1, he has got an 0-2 count with two outs and Bettinger left a fastball up and Kevin Conway hit it off the ACC sign there in left-center field to get us to 5-3. Ben Breazeale walks on four pitches, and then Johnny doubles to get us to 5-4. I thought that was a huge swing with two outs right there. Obviously Kevin's at-bat ends differently, then the game takes a whole different track. Really pleased with our bullpen today. Garrett Kelly came in and got big outs for us, came in in a tough situation and got a big out immediately, and Donnie Sellers got seven big outs for us. Really pleased with Garrett and Donnie, and then obviously Will. We can't put Will in a three-run game, we know that already. But we need to put him in one-run games, but he only threw about four warmup pitches and he found a way to get it done like he always does. Really proud of this team. Really pleased with this win and really looking forward to playing Clemson tomorrow morning. Q. Will, talk about, do you like to hit more or do you like to pitch more, going into the next level what do you prefer? WILL CRAIG: You know, personally, I prefer hitting over pitching. I kind of pitch when the team needs me to pitch, makes our bullpen much deeper. Obviously I'll start like I did last year, but personally I'd prefer hitting. Q. Just talk about what it feels like to be at this point and still being in contention to play in the ACC Championship game after missing out on the tournament last year, and missing out on pool play two years ago. Just this feeling right now going into the final day of pool play knowing you still have a chance of winning a championship here. JOHNNY AIELLO: Yeah, obviously I wasn't here last year but coming into the year, had big expectations so we kind of expected to be at this point. Coming into this game, we obviously struggled at the plate the last game, so expected to get the bats going as we did. So, yeah, just feels great and hopefully we can continue it tomorrow. KEVIN CONWAY: Yeah, I'm a senior, so this is my first time in the tournament. First off, early in the season, we were playing really well as a ballclub and struggled a little bit, and then we were coming in as a 10-seed and to get the win against Duke was really big for us to secure a spot in the tournament, ACC Tournament. Then we had a rough game yesterday but today we came out, we played well. Virginia is obviously a great ballclub, and we got a big ballgame tomorrow and hopefully one on Sunday, as well. WILL CRAIG: Definitely today was a big win for us. Puts us in a great spot for tomorrow against Clemson. A lot of guys, a lot of teams and people probably were saying that we didn't deserve to get in, someone like UNC or someone like that. Just kind of proves; it shows them that we deserve to be here and we want to be here. It's not kind of like we are happy to win a play-in game; we're going to go, not really worry about and look towards the regional. Everybody probably kind of doubting us because Parker Dunshee threw game one, or the play-in game; and I came in and threw 50 pitches, I was able to come back on three days' rest and help our team secure the win today. We'll have guys step up tomorrow and we'll be in a good situation. Q. For all the players, I know you're confident in your lineup, but to hit five home runs against that team, what was that experience like? And what are you guys thinking when three, four, five go out? KEVIN CONWAY: You know, that's a great confidence booster, the last two games, even though we've won against Duke, we didn't have the best game hitting-wise. Yesterday or two days ago, we struggled, as well. Just to see our bats get hot at the right time, it's a great feeling of confidence for everybody. And hitting is contagious, so that was good. WILL CRAIG: It's really fun. I love seeing balls fly out of the yard. Especially when it's our team. When it's the other team, not so much. It's an exciting thing. Joey Rodriguez obviously hit that one, that double-decker up there, that was pretty cool. And then obviously me, Kevin and Johnny here, as well, we all put a few good swings on the ball and were able to drive it out of the park. It's really fun for our team because our team kind of -- we don't live and die by the long ball, but when we hit the long ball, it's like, okay, it's not going to be one. It's probably going to be two or three, or maybe even four or five as it was today. It's really, really good for us as a team and gives our pitching staff a big confidence boost. As you can see, we struggled a little early on. It's kind of hard for our pitching staff to get going, but once we started hitting home runs looked like pretty much left and, right it felt like in the last few innings, or middle of the game; then our pitching staff stepped up with Garrett Kelly and Donnie Sellers, and obviously myself in the end. It's fun to watch but it also helps our pitching staff. Q. When you were on first base in the seventh inning, they were changing pitchers. I thought I saw you run out and start warming up. Have you ever done that and what was that like? WILL CRAIG: No, I've never done that before, and it was very tiring. I was exhausted. They told me pretty much that if they were going to make a pitching change, I would spring to the bullpen, to throw as many pitches as I could, and then sprint back. And not luckily, but Ben popped up, so I didn't have to sprint around the bases, so that wasn't too bad. But it was really -- I've never done that before. I tried to throw as much as I could in the pen. That's what wore me out, because I didn't really have a chance to really breathe. I was just trying to loosen my arm up. It was definitely an experience I won't forget. Q. Seeing your teammates hit one out of the yard, were you at that point starting to think, when am I going to get mine? WILL CRAIG: Yeah, I mean, as we all know, I've been struggling the past few games. I'm seeing the ball well but just not making great contact with it. Obviously when they are hitting it out of the yard, I'm just like: Why not me, why can't I do it. Then finally got one out of the yard and really lift some weight off my shoulders. Wasn't like I was trying to hit home runs. I just wasn't making solid contact to the ball, for whatever reason, but hopefully now I figured it out today and take it into tomorrow and into regionals and you know be all fixed up. Q. The play that Nate made up the middle for the second out in the ninth, looked like you tried to get a glove on that and you couldn't. Did you think that was by you, did you have any reaction when Nate got his glove on it and was able to throw to second? WILL CRAIG: I was just trying to make the play but then I realized I wasn't going to make it. Only thing I probably do was bat it down and it would have been the same situation is I would let the ball go. I turned around because I feel like I jammed him a little bit, so I was kind of like upset, another jammed hit -- other than the first two, I kind of hit hard. So then I turned around and Nate was right there and made a great play and obviously Johnny hung on to the ball and that give me a big confidence boost to get the last out. I was really confident. I was confident the whole inning pretty much. It was just a few balls left over the plate here and there. But when he made that play, it definitely raised my confidence and boost anymore all to get that last out. Q. You told me after the High point game that Garrett Kelly was going somebody someone you need to count on later in the season. Looked like today he's becoming that type of player. What does that mean for the team going forward when you can get him to come in there and give you solid outs like that? TOM WALTER: Well, it's huge. I wish we had went to him a little earlier yesterday quite honestly. But you can't do it with just two guys. It can't just be will and Donnie every day. You've got to have a third guy at the end of the game, too, or in the middle part of the game to get big bridge-inning outs for you. And certainly Chris Farish is going to get his opportunities to do that again here this year, and even Ryan Morse. But Garrett has really emerged as a guy that we can count on. And I think as his confidence goes, we may be able to extend him a little bit and get two or three innings, or even four innings out of him in a long-role type situation. So get him throwing well. Johnny McCarren has been throwing well all year out of the bullpen, and then with Donnie and Will, that gives us a really good bullpen headed into tomorrow and hopefully beyond. Q. What are your feelings right now after getting a win like this against the defending national champs, as far as you guys maybe guaranteeing yourself a spot in the NCAAs, compared to what you felt like you had to prove coming into the tournament? TOM WALTER: Certainly no guarantees as we have all been there before and it can go either way and a lot depends on what happens in some of these other tournaments and what's going on. Certainly I think our league is good enough and deep enough that we should carry more teams than we've ever carried. We've got the No. 1 league in the country for a reason. We have got 11 teams in the top 35 or so in the RPI. I'm hoping we carry a bunch and our name is called. A lot can change that between now and then, so all we're concentrating on is going out now and trying to find way to win tomorrow, and hopefully Virginia beats Louisville and we have a chance to play on Sunday. Q. You mentioned Wednesday night that you were disappointed with the middle inning at-bats; you felt like that was really where you fell behind today. Eight runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth, was that a point of emphasis yesterday or just a byproduct? TOM WALTER: It was. It was two things. I mean, obviously the Louisville pitcher settled in and made some pretty good pitches in that stretch, and he had a lot to do with us not scoring those innings, as well. But it was a point emphasis. Our two-stroke approach was a big point of emphasis in the last 48 hours to get that straightened out headed into this game and it paid off obviously. Kevin and Johnny hit two-strike home runs, Joey Rodriguez was 1-1, so we had some big hits with two outs and had some great at-bats. Obviously we were disappointed in the Louisville game, striking out 17 times, and that was something we needed to address and we did. Q. Is it still Loepprich tomorrow? Is Donnie available? Is Will available and what's your thoughts on Dunshee, when he might be pitching, would it be Sunday at the earliest? TOM WALTER: No, first off, Will is not available tomorrow. Donnie will be available tomorrow for sure. John McCarren will be available tomorrow. Parker Dunshee will be available tomorrow if we need him. We've got a couple guys who haven't pitched yet. Supple has been throwing the ball well; Griffin Roberts, guys like that that I know can get some innings for us but we fully expect Loeppy to go out and give us a good, solid outing, seven innings or so, where he can hand the ball over to Donnie and/or Parker or John. 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
|