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NCAA MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 23, 2016

Omaha, Nebraska

Coastal Carolina - 7, Texas Tech - 5

THE MODERATOR: We'll have a moment with Coach Gilmore first and then we'll have questions for the student-athletes. Gary, give us an overview, please.

COACH GILMORE: Great college baseball game. Texas Tech is one of the very best teams we've played all year. Their personnel position player-wise is incredible. Their pitching guys are very good too. A lot of young guys as well.

Just very proud of our kids. We thought the other day against TCU we kind of had lost our edge a little bit, and they came back and really competed today. And we're very fortunate to come out on top.

We walked too many guys and did some things, whatever, but found a way to win. All that matters and what we've talked about is living for tomorrow. So we'll get a chance to play tomorrow, play a great team again. So I just want to say how happy I am for my guys. They've worked so hard all year, and they didn't want today to be their last day to play.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. David, obviously this season limited playing time compared to last year, but came up big today. What was kind of the mindset coming into the game today, and what can you point to just for the game you had?
DAVID PARRETT: The mindset for today is one-game season. That's what it came down to today. And this group of guys we don't want to say goodbye to each other yet. So living for tomorrow and playing today has been awesome. And tomorrow's another one-game season. So we're very excited about that.

Q. Bobby and Mike, obviously you guys had to carry a lot of load here today. Did you expect to kind of be extended today? And I assume you were ready for that challenge.
BOBBY HOLMES: I guess it's something we sort of always expect. Like we joke around all the time about it's our turn. But with Jason Bilous, we knew he was going to give us a shot to win and he was going to give his best, and that's what he did. It was limited, of course, but Mike stepped up huge to get me to the end of the game. I learned from him. So it was nothing really new. But, yeah, we were ready to go, and we'll be ready to go tomorrow night just as well.

MIKE MORRISON: Yeah, it was something we knew it could be our last game, like David said. And I didn't want my career to end today. So just gave Coach Gilmore everything I had. And I knew I had Bobby coming in behind me. So obviously -- I mean, my style probably wasn't very good. I think I walked four guys. That was probably a career high.

I gave everything I had. And Bobby picked me up like he did all year. That's kind of been our thing, where whether it's him before me or me before him, we'll pick each other up.

And this guy right here, this guy right here works harder than anybody on this team. He's been continuing that all year. And David Parrett today showed -- you were commenting last week about how good he received and how he was blocking all those balls. He brings it every day. And he's one of my best friends in the world. I couldn't be happier for him on this stage. We always joke with him that he rakes in the Midwest, so it's definitely good.

BOBBY HOLMES: Also notice how many runs he saves, blocking all those absolutely terrible offspeed pitches we throw.

MIKE MORRISON: We throw a lot of bad ones, and he saves our butt a lot, so...

Q. David, what does it mean to hear both those guys talking about you like that, and what's it like to catch those guys and catch those kinds of arms on those teams?
DAVID PARRETT: Catching these guys is an absolute honor. Being able to handle each guy a little bit differently, seeing when they're frustrated, seeing when their stuff is there is a big part of what we do.

Every time I'm behind the plate, every time I'm up to bat I know the whole team's behind me. Had a great group of guys, great group of teammates, and I wouldn't want to play with anybody else.

Q. David, two hits, three RBIs in a College World Series elimination game. Safe to say this is kind of the crowning moment of your career so far?
DAVID PARRETT: Yes. Today, the whole day has been awesome. I had a great feeling about tonight. We had a phenomenal bible study earlier with a few of the guys on the team, and the Lord spoke to me honestly in a way that he had really never before. And just had a great feeling about this game and regardless of what the outcome was.

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations. Questions for Coach.

Q. Gary, looking at David's performance before you come out to Omaha, there's one guy that always comes out of nowhere that steps up offensively or on the mound. He was that guy for you tonight at the plate. Take us through his performance from your perspective.
COACH GILMORE: I don't know how I can say much more than what his teammates just said about him. I call him Sergeant because this guy, if there's ever been a Navy SEAL that's placed for me, that guy is it. He's the most fit guy, the hardest working guy, the most positive young man. He's had one of those seasons up until today you kind of want to forget about, compared to what he did last year.

And if there's a way that the game evens itself out over a season or whatever, he's had a couple of moments here and there down the stretch. And then today was the crowning moment, because, I mean, we've been -- we have been fighting it a little bit offensively as far as getting some hits and things and putting some things together, especially the bottom half of our lineup. We desperately miss Lancaster. It's a huge part of -- for the last month he's hitting almost .500 and had come up with just big hit after big hit.

And, I mean, taking him out of the lineup, we've needed someone to step up. And, I mean, we finally got somebody in the back end of that thing. Chadwick had a good game today. So it's been a while coming.

Q. That was the last national seed standing. You guys have played a part in knocking out -- I think it's three of them now. What's the mindset when you guys play teams that have been national seeds this tournament?
COACH GILMORE: I mean, everybody out here is good. You know, I mean, other people seed these guys. I mean, personally I understand how you get to be one of those. We've been one before.

But all these guys are equal to me. They all have great pitching staffs and they've got some depth here and there and stuff.

I'm very proud of our guys. Obviously the teams we've beaten and the teams we've beat to get here and the two teams we've been fortunate to beat while we've been out here has been an incredible experience for my coaching staff, our players, the whole nine yards. A lot of people thought we just wanted to come out here. Well, I think they've shown they want to stay out here, and couldn't be prouder of them.

Q. There was a moment on the national broadcast where you were doing an interview with a reporter and you had guys behind you with the monkey and the face and everything. What is it about your team and the looseness they play with that makes them successful?
COACH GILMORE: I think it just comes from all of us. I mean, even though occasionally it gets away from me, I mean, I've gotten a lot calmer over the years.

It's funny, we had so many former players here, and they're like: Who is this guy coaching? This isn't the guy we played for. I think a lot of that resonates from the staff, to be honest with you. We coach a certain way.

But in the games I do my very best to try to keep myself even-keeled the majority of the time. Every now and again it gets the best of me. And they're watching every second, too. I think they know if I'm calm, regardless of the situation, they have confidence that we're fine.

And it's just something I've really -- I've watched a lot of other people, and I just -- I wanted to make 100 percent sure that I didn't become rattled. Because it's easy in college baseball, you can get rattled, and in 30 seconds it's amazing what can happen. So I've been working at that hard. And my staff -- like I said, my staff is fairly even-keeled for the most part.

So I think our players play that way, and we're just confident. If you would have told me we would be where we're at right now four months ago, two months ago, maybe three weeks ago, I'm not sure I would have laid a whole lot of money on it by any means. Just really, these kids, if there's an epitome of what college baseball is about and the student-athlete experience that I always hear about, this group of guys are -- they're just fantastic.

This is about the team winning. There's not a guy in that locker room who cares who gets it done. But they made David Anderson -- in our post game meeting, he wouldn't even stand up. They all made him stand up and took a standing ovation from his teammates, because I haven't been able to call his name out very often this year to get a round of applause from his teammates. It's probably the most equally the most selfless group I've ever been around.

Q. Gary, how important was it for Mike to go out there and give you the innings and the number of pitches he was able to give you after Jason's short outing? And also is he a guy that's probably unavailable here in the next couple of days if you're around two days?
COACH GILMORE: He definitely won't pitch tomorrow. And I seriously doubt he'll pitch on Saturday either if we're fortunate to stay in this thing. We've rode five or six guys really hard. And without jeopardizing their health and things like that. But that's the first thing he tells me when the game's over: I got an inning tomorrow. It's just who he is.

Obviously we wouldn't not pitch him tomorrow, just like we were at LSU. There's no way I was putting him in the game. I'm not going to do that. I want to win, but I'm not going to do that.

We'll just see how things go.

Q. Coach, in kind of a game like this, is kind of a slog, a lot of walks, four-hour game, how important was it for Bobby to come in there and pound the strike zone a little bit? Do you feel like he reasserted the tempo that you wanted?
COACH GILMORE: Yeah, I mean, Mike, after having pitched the other day, I'm glad we got him out there in the game because he was a lot better today than he was the other day. And, again, sit here and argue, whatever, I thought he made a couple of pitches in that seventh inning we should have got but we didn't.

And they were able to scratch a couple because we were -- our game plan with him was to try to hopefully get him through that inning and match Bobby up the rest of the way and get it done.

So Bobby has been -- as of late has really come on. He fought it early in the year. He and Cunningham both were -- that's the reason we got out of the gate so slow. Those two guys really struggled. And as they figured some things out, got going, we've gotten better and better.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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NCAA MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 23, 2016

Gary Gilmore

Bobby Holmes

Mike Morrison

David Parrett