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NCAA MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 20, 2016

Omaha, Nebraska

Oklahoma State - 1, Arizona 0

THE MODERATOR: We'll start off with a statement from Coach Johnson, and then we'll have questions for the student-athletes.

COACH JOHNSON: Tyler Buffett, the story of the night. We did not get very many good swings off on him. He was doing something that -- hiding the ball, moving the fastball in and out. Started throwing his breaker for a strike, and then Cobb's stuff in the ninth was really good.

Have to credit their pitching. I thought the game was won by their defense. That play on Cody's ball in the first inning centerfielder that's as good as it gets.

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to go home and watch it on SportsCenter tonight, I'm sure. He's standing at third base, no outs, and Zach and Ryan coming up were going to score in the first inning.

Not much to say. Just wipe the slate clean and get ready to go for a good opponent on Wednesday.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Cody, two-part question. One, did you think on the ball that you hit in the first inning that it was definitely going to be an extra base hit? And, second, what did you see out of Buffett? Why couldn't you guys get very many good swings against him?
CODY RAMER: Yeah, I thought that ball was going to sit for sure, and I was already rounding second by the time I heard the crowd go wild. So I know I'd either be standing on third or going for an inside the park. So I feel it's a completely different game.

He was throwing all the pitches for strikes. He was mixing in well, and we tipped our cap to him.

Q. Bobby, what was working for you tonight, and just did you get stronger as the night went on? And I guess what was the issue maybe for you in that fourth inning or what did they do right where they were able to scratch out that run?
BOBBY DALBEC: Yeah, I had all my pitches working tonight. Some good sink on my pass ball inside of the righty especially. And when they got the run, Walton hit a good pitch over Alfonso's head, and then their 4 hitter hit a good changeup off the end and dumped it in the outfield. That's just the way it goes.

Q. Bobby, do you feel like your secondary stuff, in particular your changeup -- seemed like you had a really good for feel for it today. Have those pitches, changeup especially, really taken a jump forward over the second half of the season now that you've settled into the starting role?
BOBBY DALBEC: I've thrown that changeup since I started pitching. I've always had good feel for it. The big thing that's come along for me is instead of the slider, having more of a curveball, too, over the slider, it helps me out a lot.

Q. Bobby and/or Cody, obviously you don't want to be in this situation where you're facing elimination games, but you have been in it before in Lafayette. Does that give you any kind of comfort that you know you can face those situations and win those kind of pressure games?
BOBBY DALBEC: Yeah, we're always comfortable in any situation. So we're not going to be pressing or anything.

CODY RAMER: Yeah, I feel like we're just going to definitely take it one pitch at a time. We're not going to oversee whatever and just play the game.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach.

Q. What have you kind of seen from Bobby the last couple of weeks, just kind of allow him to take that next step and go into that second gear from his stuff standpoint?
COACH JOHNSON: First off, I probably should have touched on that in my opening statement. He pitched spectacular. I mean, he's as good as anybody in the country.

And in answering the question for him, I mean, Donnie Walton is one of the most valuable players in college baseball. And two strikes hit the other way, exactly how you want your hitters to do it.

And Benge, or Benge, I'm not sure how you say his last name, good at-bat. So give your credit to Oklahoma State there. But he's got a great arm.

He pitches 91 to 94 to 95. And in the ninth inning in Starkville last weekend he was up to 97, 98. The changeup is a real pitch. I think it's a Major League pitch right now. I think his breaking ball tonight was special. That's a good offense.

When you're watching their games in the Regional and Super Regional, there's not one guy you point to that says it's not going good right now.

So for him to really roll through them is impressive, and he's got a great future as a hitter or a pitcher.

Q. What explanation were you given for that play at first base there in the ninth inning?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, we go to ABCA convention at the beginning of the year, and you go through the rules video every year and they talk about points of emphasis. And one of the points of emphasis this year is to get the call right and to huddle up and talk about it.

And after they talked about it, they said they felt like he was out. I saw one video, the one up on the board, looked like he was out. Then I saw another one on my phone that somebody sent to me from their TV and his foot was off the bag, he was safe.

Q. Given that they're supposed to huddle or what have you, how come they didn't huddle at the end of the eighth inning when Sergio was pretty insistent his foot was off the bag in that situation?
COACH JOHNSON: That's a good question. I want to stay away from that. If I start talking about the umpiring, that's taking credit away from Buffett. And for the whole postseason, the umpiring that we have had has been as good as I've ever seen. So, I mean, that's how it goes. Those guys are human.

They're going to make the mistakes. They've gotten way more right than they've gotten wrong at least in my eyes over the last three or four weeks.

Q. Jay, how much did their excellent defensive play, just making those plays, diving catches that type of thing, did that hurt the confidence at all?
COACH JOHNSON: I wouldn't say it hurt confidence. I actually was very pleased with our demeanor the whole time. We really tried not to attach anything to what we're doing. It's about the play. It's about tough at-bats. It's about smart and aggressive base running, and throwing strikes, throwing low strikes, playing great defense.

And I thought our guys stuck with it. It's really tough when it's a good pitcher that can get you to have a bad at-bat and then maybe get a good at-bat and have a guy on base get another good at-bat and they make a play. It's hard to sustain any type of momentum. And it's proven over the first five or six years to be a tough park to score runs in.

We knew that coming in. And they got us. All-American hits a two-strike double and you know their next-best hitter gets a hit with a runner in scoring position. And we didn't. We only got one guy to second base tonight.

You have to tip your hat to their pitching because not too many guys have done that to us this year.

Q. How do you think the experience in Lafayette, having to win three consecutive elimination games, will help your team in the situation that it faces now?
COACH JOHNSON: I think it's as valuable as you can get. Confidence comes from successful experience. This group has gone through that in a very hostile environment. At least we don't have to play the home team in this ballpark. With that being said, you're playing -- there's only six teams playing baseball right now.

Everybody else is out at summer ball. So they're good opponents. So you can't look at the whole thing. You have to look at it as we need to have a good training day tomorrow to get prepared to play a good team on Wednesday.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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NCAA MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 20, 2016

Bobby Dalbec

Jay Johnson

Cody Ramer