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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

May 21, 2018

Danny Hall

Durham, North Carolina

DANNY HALL: We are certainly excited to be in another ACC Tournament and realize that -- I kind of heard the end of Coach Martin's. I do think just about anybody is capable of winning this thing. You know, but we're excited to be part of it and look forward to playing tomorrow morning against Pitt.

Q. Do you know the order you're going to throw your guys yet, or is that to be determined still?
DANNY HALL: No, we know that Xzavion Curry will throw tomorrow, and then Connor Thomas will throw on Friday.

Q. If you get that far, who will you go with next?
DANNY HALL: Next would be just -- we'll see where we're at. Those are the two games we know we're guaranteed to play, but those would be the two starters for those games.

Q. When we asked you last about kind of the NCAA tournament, you felt like either you had to win the two series or do some damage in the ACC Tournament. Is there kind of a threshold you feel like you need to meet to be safely in position?
DANNY HALL: Oh, I mean, I think we're flat on the bubble, and there's so many variables outside of what's in our control that it would be hard to predict how the at-large bids are going to go down. So with that being said, the only guarantee that we would have to get in would be to win this tournament, and that will be the focus is do everything we can to win this tournament.

Q. You've obviously had some success being in this theater. I know you and the staff kind of know how to guide a team through this. What kind of help does that have, or do you see anything in this team that makes you think that this sort of thing is possible?
DANNY HALL: Oh, I think it's possible just because of the format. If you win your first two games, you are in the semifinals. I think it's definitely possible, but I think it's possible for all of us for sure. The formula is you've got to pitch well, you've got to play defense, and then you hope you get some timely hits when you've got guys on base and in scoring position.

Q. How do you feel about the bullpen right now?
DANNY HALL: Oh, I think we've gotten better. I mean, I think the fact that we saw some good things last week from some different guys, Jonathan Hughes in particular pitched well last week, Datoc pitched well last week, so Archer ended up with a save I'm pretty sure in one of the Duke series. I think that has gotten better for sure the last two weeks.

Q. Talk about playing against Pitt; are these one of the surprising teams in the ACC this year in baseball because I know they had a tough schedule, but it seemed like they came out of nowhere to make it to the tournament.
DANNY HALL: No, when we played them, they played very well. We had three really, really hard-fought games. They won two of them. So we know that they're a good team. They pitched very well when we were in Pitt in April, so we know that they're definitely worthy and capable of being where they're at for sure.

Q. What do you guys got to do to get to Sunday for the championship game? What do you guys have to do to get there?
DANNY HALL: Well, we have to -- like I said earlier, we have to pitch well. We have to play good defense. Then you hope you get timely hits when you need them. And you hope you get a couple breaks. I think sometimes you've got to get a break or be lucky to advance to get to that -- the finals or even the semifinals because all you've got to do is look at the national rankings and look at the RPIs, and that top 10, top 15 is loaded with ACC teams.

Q. Coach Martin had mentioned that he thought the league this year was as good as it's ever been top to bottom. Could you give some of your -- you've had some longevity in the league, as well; could you give some of your thoughts on that?
DANNY HALL: Oh, absolutely. I think the national perception of the league is the league is down just because -- we'll just use ourselves as an example, coming in at 14-16, but there's a lot of teams kind of in that -- a little bit under .500 mark, but I was talking with Chris Pollard, I think Saturday here, and we kind of talked about this subject, and I'm just like, every team from 1 through 12 has a couple good starters and usually has a couple good relievers. And so if they pitch well, they have a chance to win.

I think the records of some of the teams are what they are just because day in and day out everybody is capable of beating everybody. I think our league is as good as it has been and probably deeper than it ever has been.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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