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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMay 26, 2017Parker DunsheeStuart FairchildTom WalterLouisville, Kentucky Miami - 5, Wake Forest - 2 TOM WALTER: Obviously disappointing loss for us. We just didn't command the baseball as well as we needed to today, especially at the end of the game. Obviously most disappointed for Parker Dunshee, who went out there and deserved to get a win for us today. But unfortunately we couldn't close it out. You know quite honestly we're not built to win 2-1 games. We need to win 2-1 games and find a way to win those games but we're Biltmore for the 5-4, 5-3,6-4 variety, and obviously we didn't get it done. Leaving 16 on base in nine innings is prolific, and we just need to do a better job with runners in scoring position. Q. What did you have working for you today and do you think this is as good of an outing as you've had all season? PARKER DUNSHEE: Yeah, this is definitely one of my best outings in the past month or two. Fastball coming in to arm side was better today than it was glove side but they had a lot of righties and I was able to go them, and made the one mistake to Michelangeli and he homered on it. But other than that, I had a breaking ball for a strike early in the count and was able to put some guys away with it. Overall my command was okay. Walked some guys that I shouldn't have walked but overall I thought I threw the ball pretty well. Q. Stuart, Miami's pitchers had some difficulty with their control. When a pitcher walks seven batters, how hard is it for you as a hitter facing them to be able to find a pitch that you can square up on and get a hit? STUART FAIRCHILD: Yeah, it's definitely tough. Those are my least favorite kind of guys to hit because he's got good stuff obviously but he's all over the place. You don't really know where to look necessarily because he could throw one outside, he could throw one inside, you don't know. And he was up to 98. That's tough when he's all over the place but at times would just spot up randomly, so it's hard to know as a hitter what you're going to get. Q. Parker, how much were you wanting to stay in and continue on in the eighth? PARKER DUNSHEE: Yeah, at the end I thought my count was pretty good. But obviously Griffin is one of the main reasons we're in the situation we are today. And going for our 40th win, he's gotten us as many wins as anybody on the team. We trust him in that situation and we're going to be in it again next week for him to take the ball. Who knows, my pitch count to be 110 next week after seven and he needs to be able to get a two-inning save throwing the ball well, too, is going to be huge going forward. I like the way our guys played and the way we go about the game. I'm confidence going into next weekend and in Griffin, and anybody in that situation. But as a competitor obviously I wanted the eighth and if we would have scored, I would have gone back out. But all the confidence in the world in our guys and their ability to shut down the offense. Q. I'll ask you the same question about facing a pitcher that is effectively wild. Giving up seven walks, obviously that leaves a lot of opportunities for you guys, but how difficult is it to translate those into scoring opportunities? TOM WALTER: Yeah, it's hard to square a guy like that up. As Stuey said, and you said it, too, those guys are effectively wild and it's difficult, especially when they are up to 98. It's one thing if you're effectively and you're 88 to 92. It's another thing when you're touching velocity numbers like that, because college hitters need to cheat to that pitch a little bit and that makes you susceptible to swing to pitches out of the zone and breaking balls. As you saw, some of our pitches were on balls and a guy like that forces you to make decisions sooner than you want to. Q. You already mentioned the 16 runners left on base. What do you tell your team to try to get them, I guess out of that funk to deliver that timely two-out hit and how frustrating is it to never get that? TOM WALTER: It will swing back the other way. From the Pitt series and even just before that, we haven't been swinging the bats great recently, but that's one of those things where hitting is contagious and once it starts to swing back the other way, we'll be a dangerous club. We're built -- we need to get Pryor and Mueller on base and we didn't really do that today. Those two guys, 0-for-9 between the two of them with only one baserunner of those two guys -- I mean, we need to set the table for Stu and Gab and Benny and obviously today we didn't do that. But we know heading into the weekend, that's going to turn the other way. Q. Your spot was fairly secure in next week's tournament, the question is whether you're going to be a national seed or just host. What about Miami, though? Do you feel that this win puts them in the conversation for an at-large or do they need to do more? TOM WALTER: I think without question they are in the conversation. And it's always going to come down to those last few spots and what happens in conference tournaments. I think it's going to be close. I mean, I think that if some things break right, I can absolutely see them in the field and they are playing good baseball right now, and I think they represent themselves and the conference really well. You know, but at the same time, if a couple conference tournaments swing one way rather than another and spots get tight, then they might need to do some more. They might need to get to the championship game. I know getting to the championship game is usually a big distinction for that committee. I feel like if the conference tournaments break right, then they are probably in now, and if they don't, they may need to win one more. Q. One of the things the hurricanes did really well I thought today was play defense. It seemed like in the middle innings, your guys were striking the ball well and made two diving plays. How big was that? TOM WALTER: Yeah, that was the game. That inning, Chester made the play in left-center field and they made the play on the infield on a 5-4 and there was another hard-hit ball to end the inning. The second baseman made a really good play on the ball to his left that Pryor hit. Those three plays, if they don't make those plays, we extend the game there and probably run Parker another inning, and we're probably having a different conversation right now. But again, give credit to them that they made three really good plays and the one Chester made, that's as good of a play as you're going to see that ball. I thought that ball was down for sure and he came out nowhere to make that play. That was a great play. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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