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NCAA BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SUPER REGIONALS: LUBBOCKJune 12, 2016Garrett BrooksCliff GodwinParker LammTravis WatkinsLubbock, Texas Texas Tech - 11, East Carolina - 0 CLIFF GODWIN: First off, congrats to Texas Tech and Coach Tadlock. They did a great job. Obviously a very hostile environment we had to come play in. Hats off to their fans. They were great. They treated us great all weekend. It's a baseball town. Unfortunately we just weren't able to crack through yesterday, and I think it took a toll on us today, and the better team won. They outplayed us today when it mattered. But it's baseball. You know, the ball Brady Lloyd hit yesterday in whatever inning it was, it hits the mound, if it doesn't hit the mound, then we're going to Omaha yesterday. It didn't go our way, but I can tell you this: East Carolina baseball will be back. I promise you. These guys have put East Carolina in another regional, winning a regional championship, and a super regional, won the first game of the super regional, first time in school history, and we're going to continue to get better. Q. Parker, like Coach just mentioned, I know it's tough right now and you're a senior, but can you look back and feel like you accomplished a lot touring this tournament run? PARKER LAMM: Oh, yeah. Like Coach said, we were the first team to ever win a super regional at East Carolina. That's a huge accomplishment. I thought the seniors, the whole team was actually -- the totem pole has risen because last year nobody thought we could do anything and we made a regional. This year we had expectations and we got to a super regional and won a game. The future looks bright at ECU, and I'm excited to see what happens. Q. Travis, how do you balance the disappointment of being so close but doing something that no other ECU baseball team has done? TRAVIS WATKINS: Yeah, it hurts right now, but I mean, we'll go back, and this will be remembered forever in Greenville and stuff. But that's not our end goal. Our end goal is to make it to Omaha. We'll learn and we'll go back and get better and shoot for it again next year. Q. Travis, after Friday, you look at the intentional walk today, could you tell they were really pitching around you, getting walked four times I think yesterday and today? Did they pitch you differently after Friday? TRAVIS WATKINS: Yes. I mean, they started attacking me in with fastballs and stuff, and they pitched me tough. Like I said, that gives us a base runner, and that's what we were looking for is to put pressure on their defense. Like I said, we were just one hit away all weekend. It's tough, but like I said, we're going to learn from it and get back at it. Q. Garrett, can you talk a little bit about Lanning and the job he did today? It obviously was effective. GARRETT BROOKS: He was effective working both sides of the plate. He had us off balance, just off speed. We had our plan, and we were sitting there, but he did a great job with just locating and keeping us off balance. Q. Parker, Coach mentioned the hostile environment. What kind of impact did the crowd have on your team today? PARKER LAMM: I mean, not just today. I don't think it really affected us that much. We knew they were there, obviously, but I mean, this is the best time I've ever had. To come here with 5,000, 5,000 plus, you don't get that every day. They were loud, and I could definitely hear them. Everybody could. I mean, that's what made the whole thing fun, though. That's what people work for, college students work for every single year, to get to a point like this, and we made it. I mean, they're a great team, great fans, everything, all the way around, and it was just a great experience. Q. Travis, you'll be one of the guys that's back next year. Watching them celebrate, is that something you can use as fuel being so close and everything? TRAVIS WATKINS: Yeah, I think so, but that's one thing that we can take back with us is that we have been here now. We can go back and we're going to have a veteran group of guys again next year and a big junior class moving on to the senior class. I think we can use that in our advantage to teach some of the younger guys in the big situations. I'm just so proud of our guys and what they have accomplished, and putting East Carolina back on the map, and I'm just so happy for our guys. Q. Coach, with Jacob, he hasn't gone very long his last few outings. Is there something physically that's been going on or is it maybe confidence? CLIFF GODWIN: I think it's a little bit of everything. He obviously hasn't pitched like he's capable of I guess the past month. We were hoping that today was the day, and it wasn't. Put us in a bad situation, down three runs, but we still had a shot. I think once we got down six, it was going to be a tough day for us. Offensively we need to be within striking distance because typically we're not going to be a team that just sits back and out-slugs somebody. I know we've hit some home runs recently, but when you're down six runs, it's tough to be able to come back. Q. Their guy, Lanning, how much did you know about him going in and then getting those early runs -- CLIFF GODWIN: I watched two innings that he pitched. He came in the Fairfield game when their game was kind of out of hand. I think they threw him because we struggled with Gentry or the lefty's changeup yesterday, and we struggled with off speed again today. Their coaching staff did a great job of putting a guy in a position to be successful, and he pitched his butt off. Q. Was it a lack of effort by Dwanya that got him pulled out of the game? CLIFF GODWIN: That's correct. Q. The young pitchers that you got a chance to see today, can you talk maybe about the experience factor, what that'll mean for them going forward, competing at this level? CLIFF GODWIN: Well, I think Matt Bridges and Sam Lanier the past two weeks, those guys grew up. You're talking about two guys, Sam was on the mound in Charlottesville when we won the regional. I think he threw five innings of relief. Bridgy, he emptied the tank, threw every day and gave us everything he had. So those guys have gained a lot of experience, and even Chris Holba. Chris Holba was out there quite a bit. Those three guys and others will be part of the future. Q. First inning, top of the first really, you guys had got two on, weren't able to capitalize, and then the bottom half Tech puts a three-spot on the board. How does that set the momentum? CLIFF GODWIN: Well, yeah, that's what you don't want. When you draw it up as a coach, you want to get the momentum and not give 5,000 Texas Tech fans the momentum, and we didn't do a good job of that. You know, really when you look at it, we didn't execute offensively yesterday or today early to give us a chance. We had opportunities yesterday. I thought our guys felt pressure yesterday. For you Texas Tech fans that don't know this, it's a big elephant in the room; East Carolina has never been to Omaha, Coach LeClair who coached me, I wear the No. 23, and the guys wanted to win. Q. Obviously a tough day for you, but going 13 innings last night, not getting the result that you wanted, how much did you feel like that exhausted your bullpen and put you kind of in a handcuffed position today? CLIFF GODWIN: Well, I felt like we were in the same position as Tech was. Tech threw Moseley, so that was the guy they had planned on starting, but our guys couldn't ever come -- they had the adrenaline -- we had the momentum after Friday's game, and then yesterday we had them on the ropes and then they won, so they had the momentum going into today, and it just carried over into today, and we weren't able to do anything against their pitcher, and they did a really good job offensively. Q. Coach, not many guys expected you to be here heading into the season. Would you say you guys are maybe ahead of schedule a little bit on your tenure, second year getting here, and the future of the program, not many guys getting drafted, what would you say about the future of the program here? CLIFF GODWIN: I mean, I think they should be worried about us to be quite honest with you. We're going to be in a good situation to host a regional next year. The draft was good to us. Travis will be back and Kruczynski will be back. Those guys turned down some money. They weren't drafted, but they had calls, and then the incoming guys are really talented. You know what, we're going to be really good, and I'm not afraid to say it on record because I'm excited about the future. When you get into a head coaching position, it really takes you three years to get your recruits in here, and the class we've got coming in is going to be one of the best in the country. Q. Coach, how do you feel like the team was mentally heading into this game after so many chances in the previous game and a chance to put it away earlier, as you mentioned, with the ground ball up the middle? CLIFF GODWIN: Obviously not where I wanted them to be. We tried to flush it last night. We had a team meeting. But when you play 13 innings, and it was just gut-check time, and our bullpen was depleted. We needed a good start from Wolfe. Unfortunately he couldn't give it to us. It is what it is. Texas Tech, they're probably better than we are man for man to be honest with you, talent-wise, but our guys fought for whatever, 24 or so innings, and if a ball bounces a different way, then the result is a little bit different. But hats off to them. They played a little bit better than us, and they're going to Omaha. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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