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COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 18, 2017

Omaha, Nebraska

Louisville - 8, Texas A&M - 4

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Texas A&M.

COACH CHILDRESS: Certainly a hard-fought game on both sides. Very proud of our guys finding themselves down 5-0 after two. And from that point on you have to be perfect to have a chance to beat McKay and to beat a team like Louisville, and we certainly had a shot. We got it within one and had scored two runs there in the 6th inning go back out and give up two runs, and from that point on it was an uphill climb. Brigham Hill did a nice job giving us a hold and just each move we made they ended up being able to cash one in to extend it to a lead once we got it to one.

But offensively we did a lot of great things. I think five of the nine innings we got a lead-off runner on, and two of the guys to my right had a great day offensively and had opportunities along the way we just weren't able to be good enough on the mound to have a shot.

Q. Blake, could you take us through your day with three hits, getting to McKay a couple of times but also how everything switched when they brought Bordner in, the righty?
BLAKE KOPETSKY: We had success off the lefty, fortunate to get four hits off of him and brought in a righty, and I feel like we set some innings off but just didn't knock anything down.

Q. Nick and Blake, looked like the approach to start the game was pretty good on McKay. From your vantage point, what did you see of the judgment he made to kind of settle that in the inning and keep you guys off the board after the first five?
NICK CHORUBY: We knew going in he would be on the attack, he's around the zone. Liked his fastball a lot. I came out wanted to attack right back at him wanted to be aggressive. I think we did a pretty good job of that for the most part. And then he made an adjustment and was able to throw some zeros up there for them.

Q. Nick, what was Bordner able to do to keep you off balance once he came in?
NICK CHORUBY: I think he was around the zone. I think we got ourselves out more than he got us out. We need to do a better job of just staying flat. We had a lot of balls up in the air. That doesn't really play in this ballpark. Going forward we have to stay above the ball and hitting hard line drives.

Q. Either of you, after the second Inning, their big second inning you met in the dugout. Who was called that? Did you feel good because there was plenty of time left when that happened?
NICK CHORUBY: Definitely plenty of time. It's never over. Coach Bolt called that, reminded nothing we hadn't heard, stay with your, plan don't get too big, stay within yourself, within our approach.

Q. Can you talk about with Colton with that pick-off in the third inning, that seemed to spark you guys a little bit and thought, hey, we've got a chance here, let's go?
BLAKE KOPETSKY: That was a big momentum play for us to get some outs on the board for us. Whenever we didn't really have to make an out, they kind of made an out for us.

NICK CHORUBY: Yeah, that's bad for doing what he does. He's really good at that kind of stuff. That was big for us to get out of that situation.

Q. Nick, this is familiar for you guys, backs against the wall, what you've been talking about. What do you say in actuality with the season on the line?
NICK CHORUBY: It's about going out there playing the game like it's your last one because now it could be. We say that throughout the year, try to play your heart out, play like it's going to be your last game. And now since it really could be our last game, I think that might be easier for us to do, honestly. So moving forward I think just trying to stay as loose as we can and have fun with it but at the same time we gotta go. So I think we're going to be all right.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach.

Q. What did you kind of see from Corbin and just he wasn't able to get in the groove? What did you see from him, though?
COACH CHILDRESS: With Corbin, the first inning was, hey, here we go. It was game on. And he was three up three down, and we're in the fight. And each time I saw a replay of the pitch that was made when they strung together four straight hits in the second inning. He didn't get anything to his glove side. Very rotational. Everything running back out over the plate. And they did a really good job against him.

After the first inning, if you said, Rob, you're going to go get Martin, the very next thing I would have said, you're out of your mind. He was so good in the first. And give Louisville credit, they did a nice job against him.

Q. Coach, what did Brigham give you when he came into the game? Seemed like he was able to kind of calm things a little bit. Was there any thought to giving him the first shot today?
COACH CHILDRESS: Oh, 100 percent. He was the first guy out, I just didn't think it would be the second inning, thought it would be the fifth or sixth. He did a nice job. He slowed them down a little bit. He gave up a single. They were able to score the fifth run off the end of the bat, a flare. Then gets out of a jam in the third, first and second nobody out. We back pick a guy, and all of a sudden the momentum is coming back to us.

And in the next inning or so he was pretty good, but very proud of him for giving us a shot. We just weren't able to be mostly perfect to give us a chance, but certainly gave us a chance to catch our breath and us grab some momentum.

Q. With Corbin, seemed like two at-bats there you got ahead 0-2, both got singles, then you got behind, both got singles on those. Were those key at-bats in the inning?
COACH CHILDRESS: Yes, it was. Especially the 2-0 hitter. We had him down 0-2 and threw a couple changeups, and we just weren't able to get a swing and a miss. Give him credit. Got the count full. We go fastball, signals shoot a four hole, and then I've got to go get him. Corbin was prepared. Corbin competed really hard. If I had a chance to do it over again, I would do it ten times out of ten. I believe in that kid with all that I am. And that was the right move for our team today.

Q. Can you take us through your thought process now moving forward into Game 2, in terms of pitching?
COACH CHILDRESS: We'll go Stephen Kolek on Tuesday and we've got -- we didn't burn anybody else out of the bullpen. We'll have Kaylor Chafin available and Cason Sherrod and do whatever we need to do on Tuesday and worry about the next game the next game.

Q. From your perspective how tough is it to crawl out of a hole like that with the arms they can attack you with out of the bullpen?
COACH CHILDRESS: Well, just trying to attack, coming back down 5-0 with McKay is a tall enough task, not even worried about their bullpen. It was just the big left-hander, National Player of the Year, the John Olerud Award winner. To be down 5-0 against him to even have a chance, I'm proud of our team. Our guys made them a bit nervous. We had a chance to make a run. We just couldn't hold it with our bullpen.

Q. If you would discuss your thoughts on when you took Brigham out of the game and going with Cason?
COACH CHILDRESS: We had to get a ground ball. Brigham had spent a lot of emotion to keep it close, that's when we went with Cason double play, keep it on the field, keep the momentum in our dugout, and he got it. We just didn't turn it. We wouldn't have turned it anyway. The kid that can hit it can fly. We would have got one out, but we didn't get any outs and a bases loaded walk and all of a sudden Louisville has the momentum.

Q. Talk more about that play, Coach. What would you say to Austin on what you wanted out of that play?
COACH CHILDRESS: I think he knew who hit the ball and was trying to slow down to stay on the bag to take the one out. I can't fault him for that. And went out to talk to Troy, and I couldn't see from my vantage point. Troy had me blocked. And he's a great umpire. One of the best in our conference. And what he saw I believe he saw and he got the call right. That's what I told him when I got out there, I got blocked, I couldn't see. I felt Austin stayed on the bag. He said, I didn't have it that way, Rob. I'm sure he got the call right.

Q. What did you say to Bryson to get it over there quicker?
COACH CHILDRESS: That was a chopper, we're not going to turn it. If he had rushed, it could have been a trainwreck. I don't think anybody did anything wrong, just throw a little bit high, and Austin wasn't out of control coming across the bag.

Q. How hard was it to get Colby Fitch out today? Seemed like even when he wasn't making contact, he was still giving good at-bats and making your pitchers work?
COACH CHILDRESS: He did a nice job. We had him down in some 0-2 counts, advantage counts for us, and he laid off some really tough pitches. He has a very good two-strike approach. Very competitive. And certainly had a nice day for them.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 18, 2017

Rob Childress

Blake Kopetsky

Nick Choruby