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COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 18, 2017

Omaha, Nebraska

Florida - 3, TCU - 0

COACH SCHLOSSNAGLE: Congratulations to Florida, Faedo was outstanding. We had a game plan going against him. Having a game plan and executing against a great pitcher are two different things. It was his night, no question. But he continued to make pitches. I thought Jared battled, certainly not himself tonight.

But we continued to try to put together good at-bats and we had opportunities late in the game. But they just smother you with outstanding pitching. That's what was expected, and congratulations to them. They deserve to win the ballgame wholeheartedly.

Q. Jared, Coach mentioned obviously not your best command tonight. Why do you think that was? Seemed like you were just not able to throw as many strikes as you usually do?
JARED JANCZAK: I think your guess is as good as mine. I just felt I was a little amped, I guess, and come back here, you know -- I can't really tell you.

Q. Connor, just what was the game plan against Faedo and what did he do to counter act that for you?
CONNOR WANHANEN: He's got an outstanding breaking ball. We kind of said that was his best pitch going in. Whether it be lefties or righties we were trying to hunt the fastball because we knew he could leave it up sometimes and we could do some damage with it.

But he did an outstanding job just mixing and matching and throwing strikes when he needed to and keeping the ball down for the most part. When he did elevate it we just weren't able to put our best swings on it. We were never able to string together enough quality at-bats like they did to push a couple of runs across.

Q. Connor, do you guys have a sense of the scale of the road you have now facing you?
CONNOR WANHANEN: Absolutely. First game, always want to win that one, put you in a good position. But I think the depth we have and the pitching staff, the experience we have on the position player side, you know, I think we're built to do anything we want to do, and obviously it's going to be tough now. We'll have to put together some great baseball over the next week or so.

But we're excited to get back out there. Obviously Florida outplayed us tonight, and we're looking forward to Texas A&M on Tuesday.

Q. Connor, looked like Faedo had a lot of run on his fastball too. Was that something you expected tonight?
CONNOR WANHANEN: Yeah, we've been talking the last couple of days about lefties, seeing the ball, seeing the ball in so you could run back over the plate, and righty, if it's middle, it's going to run in to you.

But you can talk about it all you want, putting a plan into action is a different story. And like we've said, he was just outstanding tonight. We were never able to put enough good swings on the ball to get things moving.

Q. Coach, did you sense any nerves out there just the way the team played as far as having a couple of players picked off and a popup dropped out there?
COACH SCHLOSSNAGLE: No, not at all. On the first -- with regard to the base running, you know in the first one, Warner got a bad jump and then shut it down when he shouldn't have. One of our sayings, when you slow down the bases, it gives the defense time to catch up.

And he knows that. Then the next one he did an awesome job. He read a ball down angle out of the dirt. We practiced that every day. We're really, really good at it. Rivera made a great play. And I would be really, really upset with Cam had he not tried to do that, because that's who we are. And especially against Faedo, the way he was pitching, if you expect us to sit around and wait to string together two hits, that's not going to happen. At least it wasn't going to happen at that time. And Nolan, just the same thing, trying to get something going, stolen bases, you can see his percentage, it's really good. But it's not perfect.

And so you have to give Faedo credit for not just -- and we talked about that going in. He's a complete pitcher. He's just not a guy out there executing pitches. He fielded his position, he made a nice play on Humphrey's bunt, and holds runners well. Rivera is both -- every catcher they run back there is good.

So the College World Series. You're not going to play somebody bad. It's all about just executing pitches and making plays on defense. And obviously we were hoping that Jared was going to have a great night and Alex would have a really bad night. And usually that's what has to happen when you beat a first rounder, and he had a great night. But no, I'm not -- there were zero nerves at all.

And that's what gives us hope the rest of this tournament, is nobody's panicking whatsoever.

Q. Jared, you pride yourself on your composure. The leadoff walk and the error, did that do anything to you?
JARED JANCZAK: It's upsetting I did that, but I had to come back and focus down and notice that it happened. So what, clear it out and focus on the next. That's what I tried to do the whole game. Obviously I'm not trying to walk people out there.

That's not my goal. But it happens. And I gotta take care of it, you know? That's about all I can do.

Q. Connor, you had a play in the first inning, and Elliott had one in the middle part of the game. What was your impression of the defense behind Jared tonight?
CONNOR WANHANEN: Those two plays especially I think were great for us. And our defense has been picking up over the last several weeks. And that's something we've been talking about and we've really been harping on in practice, a lot of reps on plays like that.

But at that point in the game, it's the College World Series so we're trying to do everything we can to get off the field and get back in and try to score some runs, especially off a pitcher like Faedo. But as long the pitchers are throwing pitchers and doing their job, we're doing everything we can to get them off the field so we can give them support.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach.

Q. What did you see from Faedo that was making him so effective tonight?
COACH SCHLOSSNAGLE: Well, from where I stand, it's hard to tell. I thought he threw some really good what looked like changeups. When he punched out Skoug with the bases loaded, looked like a changeup to me. But he really commanded his off-speed pitches no matter what they were. And he obviously has great presence. He's pitched in a ton of big games.

Again, when you're facing a guy like that, you're just hoping he has an off night, because if he has his good stuff, man, you're really just going to have to pitch with him and then try to beat the bullpen.

And we couldn't pitch with him enough. Just Jared just had a bad night. The guy's been money in the bank when he's been healthy the whole season.

But tonight, you know, for whatever reason, he was behind the count. Left the lead-off hitter on a fair amount of the time, I thought we made enough plays to keep us in the ballgame. We were very fortunate to be in that game Coughlin did a great job, too. And obviously they're very comfortable in playing in close games. Even though we had opportunities, 3-0 felt a little bit more than 3-0 with that pitching staff that we were facing.

Q. Your impression of Evan at the plate tonight. Third inning at bat where it's a big point in the game, what did he look like at the plate to you tonight?
COACH SCHLOSSNAGLE: Made a good swing; that's all we can ask on our end. Faedo, they played with each other this summer, and Rivera and Skoug were roommates on the U.S.A. Team. There was nothing hidden; it was just a matter if Evan could have got a few of those balls up, make better contact or make contact.

But it's all about Alex, man. He deserves all the credit. There's no question about that. And that's what you're going to face at this time of the season, bottom line. And there's been historic great pitchers come through, Rosenblatt and now TD Ameritrade and tonight has to go as a great, great performance in the College World Series history.

Q. You faced Texas A&M in the past two Super Regionals can you take anything from that to this?
COACH SCHLOSSNAGLE: There's very little chance of the Florida and Louisville game starting on time (laughter). And you're going to sell a lot of concessions because we normally play much more than nine Innings when we play those guys.

No, it's going to be a great ballgame, no doubt about it. Rob and I are friends, and we compete like crazy, but excited for him and his team that they're here. And I'm sure it will be a great ballgame. No doubt about it.

Q. You had a chance to put in three-year guys to pitch tonight, and they all looked like strong outings. How important was that for you tonight?
COACH SCHLOSSNAGLE: I thought it was really important to get Nick Lodolo in the game. Hadn't pitched for us in two weeks. At one point when Janczak was hurt, was our Friday night starter. We needed to get him out there. And the beauty of the tournament, there's enough off days where you can space your pitching out, get guys your opportunities like that so he can be ready to start if we're fortunate enough to continue to be around later in the week.

But I was really proud. That's three freshmen that are going to be a big, big part of what we do in the coming years, and all three of them did great.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297

COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 18, 2017

Jim Schlossnagle

Jared Janczak

Connor Wanhanen