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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMay 26, 2017Romy GonzalezJim MorrisJohnny RuizLouisville, Kentucky Miami - 5, Wake Forest - 2 JIM MORRIS: Our guys kept battling and battling and beat a really good closer. He's had a great year. But our guys played well. Our pitchers threw well. We played good defense. Got a lot of big hits and a lot of really good things as a team. It's a team effort. We normally have a player of the game and for us today, Veliz got the win, but whatever Romy got the big triple to tie the game and the wild pitch and Johnny got the big hit to put us three runs up at that point in time. But it was a team effort and our player of the game was our team because I thought we battled our butt off the whole game. Q. What's the momentum now? You've won six in a row. How do you keep it going? ROMY GONZALEZ: We're just taking it a day at a time at this point. The second half has been a completely different year from the first half and we're just worried about the next game. JOHNNY RUIZ: Yeah, we're just focused on the next game and just trying to play hard and with passion. You know, I felt like early on, a lot of guys just weren't playing with that, including myself. So after I sat out those ten or 12 games, I really wanted to give it everything I had. You know, you win or lose, we're going to live and die playing hard, and if we play hard, we'll live with the result. Q. For both players, both batters. Parker obviously was in control through the first six innings. What did you guys see from him? What was making him especially challenging? And then when their relievers came in, what opportunities did you see that you guys took advantage of? ROMY GONZALEZ: He's a great pitcher. He's had a great year. He works in and out of the zone. The inner half and the outer half, I should say, and had a really good slider working it down. So it was good. Very effective. JOHNNY RUIZ: Yeah, he's had a great year. He beat us in Miami. We had a lot of trouble with him early on. I hit a ball well off him in that first inning to left but after that he kind of settled down. That first inning, we hit him well, and after that, he kind of settled in and he got in a groove, and he really stuck it to us. We kept battling. It only takes one inning, like it did, to kind of tie the game and get ahead, and from that point on, we were able to -- the bullpen did a great I won't be in holding it down for us. Q. Everyone knows kind of what's at stake for you guys as far as next week goes. When you start off, when you get to the seventh inning and you're down two runs, is there more chatter in the dugout or out on the field, trying to pick each other up and trying to get the spark going, or were you guys confident you guys could make a breakthrough? ROMY GONZALEZ: We were definitely confident in all nine innings of the game, and the guys on the bench, they pick us up. They always keep our heads up and they pick us up all the time. JOHNNY RUIZ: Yeah, we've been down three or four runs in the last inning and came back and won. We believe till the last out, till the last pitch. There's no giving up with us, and we didn't get frustrated. We knew that it was a close game and the pitchers did a good job of keeping it close. You know, Stuart hit those two home runs. He's a very good hitter; he his those two home runs. We knew the game was within reach and we just needed to execute. We had a couple chances with runners on, and we just didn't get that big hit. But you know, eventually, if you put yourself in those situations over and over again, somebody is going to come through. You know, luckily I was on first and Romy got that big hit to really catapult the defense. And also Edgar had that big home one, because a one-run game is a lot different than a two-run game. You have to tip your hat to Edgar. He did a at-bat and he did a great job. Q. On Romy's double, you saw it all the way down the line. Did you know as you were rounding second that you were going to score, or did you have any thought in your mind that you might hold out? JOHNNY RUIZ: I was scoring. I put my head down and I was going. Especially around second, I saw the ball. I kind of peaked towards the outfield and I saw it ricocheted far from the outfielder, but I was hoping Gino was going to send me in that situation, because I knew that if there's a play at the plate, Romy is going to be able to get to third. And him being on third instead of on second really changed the game, also. I was just trying to run hard like I always do. Run hard and get a good jump and round the bases right, do all the little things. But yeah, I was scoring. Q. I'm sure you're sick of hearing these questions, but do you feel that you guys are now in the conversation for an at-large, or do you think you guys still need to do more to get in that conversation? JIM MORRIS: Well, we're hoping to finish sixth in this conference in the regular season and finish in the top four for sure in the tournament -- we've had the second half since March, we haven't lost but one series. That was at Virginia, very close series, close games that we could have won. Our guys have played well. We have a lot of guys with injuries that came back like Johnny and Chester has been hurt, bar has been hurt, Cooper Hammond has been back for two weeks. That was huge, Coop came in and got that two outs there in the eighth inning. We got some guys back, and I know they are looking at different variables of who is playing good late, and did you get anybody in late, did anything happen. A lot of things happened good with our team. I tell you, our guys play with emotion a lot to the point you ask that question of our players, our players play with emotion. I think that's Latin influence; they play with emotion. They practice hard and they play hard. Q. With Cooper coming back, was there any thought about having him red shirt or maybe apply for another -- I know he's a red shirt junior now but was there any thought or conversation about asking the NCAA for another year? JIM MORRIS: It costs 65 thousand dollars a year, and until they change scholarships like it could be, should be, would be, in fastball and basketball it's a very difficult question to ask a fifth-year guy to come back and play another year, because he could still comeback with a hardship from missing last season. He could still comeback, and he's graduated. So that's a good thing. He's got that in his back pocket and now it's his decision he has to make. But none of our guys are on full scholarship, nobody. Everyone has to pay to come to Miami. Everyone has to want to come to Miami. We are very fortunate with our tradition that guys have to do whatever they have got to do to be able to play for the university. Q. Do you see Hammond being the closer if you get a spot in the tournament next week? JIM MORRIS: Probably not. I look at Cabezas probably as our closer now and Coop is our setup guy. He's still -- I don't know whether he can throw two days in a row. He's only thrown four times since he's been back from the surgery, and today I thought he had the best stuff he had, in particular, his breaking ball. So he's not ready to do the back-to-back-to-back type things. Cabezas is ready to go. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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