|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP REGIONALS: BATON ROUGEJune 5, 2016Jon DuplantierWayne GrahamGrayson LewisBaton Rouge, Louisiana Rice - 7, Southeastern Louisiana - 2 WAYNE GRAHAM: Well, I was proud of our guys for battling back. But I thought that Lange probably threw the best breaking ball that we've seen this year. That breaking ball thrown low like that; and he had good command of it, because he kept it down and didn't leave it up much. And obviously he's got a good fastball. I just thought we were the victim of a guy pitching a really good game and had a lot of heart coming back after that 40-minute delay. So tip your hat to him and tip your hat to our guys for hanging in there and making a ballgame. THE MODERATOR: Talk about the first inning, please. JON DUPLANTIER: You know, just got out there and kind of just lost myself. Lost myself, fastball wasn't there and I was fighting with myself trying to find it. To be honest, I really -- the first inning, I just completely lost myself, yeah. THE MODERATOR: You had two hits including the home run. Talk about your night at the plate, please. GRAYSON LEWIS: I was trying to be aggressive all night. Like Coach said, Lange is obviously a great pitcher and I was just trying to be aggressive and get a good pitch to hit and when I do, put a good swing on it and that was my approach tonight. Q. When you look at Jon in the first inning and Jon the rest of the game, almost like a completely different guy. What did you see from him in the first and then as the game went on? WAYNE GRAHAM: Well, it's easy to make a judgment about that, because we're all human. It looked to me like he was guiding the ball, trying to guide it into a location instead of throwing the hell out of it. Q. Just from your point, I know you had two good at-bats against Alex, but what was he doing so well all night, just from a hitter's perspective? GRAYSON LEWIS: Just getting us to swing at the breaking ball down. It's obviously a really good pitch and throws it pretty hard and has a lot of movement. He was just burying that and we were swinging at it. Also, he had pretty good command of his fastball, throwing some nice low and away fastballs and coming in when he could, and he just did a great job. Q. The inside-the-park home run in the first inning, what did the umpires tell you about what exactly happened and the ruling they made? WAYNE GRAHAM: Well, they said, you know, he held up his hands, and that would have been fine if the ball was indeed lodged, and it was. But then he started digging for it and you can't do that. Once you hold up your hands, you have got to leave it where it is so the umpire can go down and see that if it was indeed lodged, and if it was indeed lodged he has to lay off of it. Can't dig for it. Q. Despite the six walks, you kind of settled in there and only allowed two hits. Did you feel like you got into a groove just a little bit? How did you feel about your final five innings? JON DUPLANTIER: After the first inning, and pretty much every pitch after that, I was kind of just battling myself. I took it to heart that I was going to try to beat myself up from a mental standpoint and try and overcome some of the things I was battling with in the first inning. Those last five innings, I mean, I was just trying to get up there saying, you know what I got this, throw the ball, and go back to doing what I can do. Q. Did you feel like the momentum was shifting after Ford's RBI double in the top of the sixth; did it kill y'all's momentum, that delay that y'all had? GRAYSON LEWIS: I mean, I wouldn't say killed it. But we definitely had a lot of momentum going into that rain delay, but I guess we can't really do anything about that. I mean, Ford had a good at-bat right there to get that double to get that run in. But I mean, what can you do. Q. Did anything, you battling yourself, have anything to do with the weather, how hot it was, steamy, holding the ball, anything like that? JON DUPLANTIER: No. I actually prefer it when it's warm outside. No, I don't think the weather had anything to do with it. Q. It's been such a variable all weekend with the weather. At least you know when you're playing and who you're playing tomorrow hopefully. Can you talk about having to battle through the loser's bracket? GRAYSON LEWIS: We're going to have to fight. Southeast Louisiana, they are a really good team and we are just going to have to battle like we have been all year, just keep pitching good, and playing good defense and getting timely hits when we need them. 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
|