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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMay 23, 2018Joe JordanoFrank MaldonadoDurham, North Carolina Pitt - 5, North Carolina - 4 JOE JORDANO: That was a heck of a baseball game. You know, the one great thing about this league is that you know every night is going to -- every night has potential to have big drama either way, and you saw that tonight play out. We did some really good things defensively. Might be an understatement. I thought we got off to a rough start on the bump but settled in, had some great timely hits, and obviously a spectacular play by Frank to really close out the fifth inning for us. But it was a great win for our program. I'm very proud of our guys. They worked very hard. They stayed focused, had some great at-bats, and we played some blue-collar baseball today, which is what we are all about. Q. Frank, it seemed to us watching from the stands, press box, that the entire game changed after your catch. Did you feel -- did you and your teammates feel in the dugout a momentum change after that point? FRANK MALDONADO: I just had that comment made to me by Dave Yanni. He said once I made that catch, he knew we were winning the game. But to be honest, I was having a hard time figuring out where I was after I made the catch, so that was my primary concern. But yeah, I think anytime you have a big play like that where somebody really shows a good amount of effort, it just kind of reinforces everyone's belief that this is possible, and I think one thing I've learned throughout this season is the power and the value of such belief. We have such belief in our locker room amongst each other, so much trust in each other when we're in situations, trust in our coaching staff that they put us in the best position to be successful, and it's just something special, and I'm unbelievably lucky to be a part of it. Q. Frank, in that fifth inning, it was bases loaded, perhaps game on the line right there, you're tracking the ball. Do you know where you are and where the wall is, and then just talk about advancing to the semifinal on Saturday. FRANK MALDONADO: Yeah, my defense is something I've always taken great pride in. It's something we work really hard on at Pitt as outfielders with Coach Alvino. The number of reps we take allow you to go into the game feeling extremely confident and really comfortable, and even at the end of the game, we're constantly talking in the outfield, almost joking around, like saying stuff like watch this play I'm about to make, stuff like that, and it keeps it light and it keeps guys wanting the ball, and I think that's -- part of the success -- part of the way you can be successful as an outfielder is wanting the ball and wanting to make those great plays and expecting them to happen, because it's just like seeing it in your mind and then it happens, and it's just -- you're not surprised by it. It's awesome. And advancing into the semifinals, you know, a lot of people may be surprised. We had talk in the locker room, talk on the bus, the plane ride here, that we were here to win this thing. We've got a group of guys, again, with incredible belief, incredible trust in each other and the coaches, and people may be surprised that we're here, but we're not, and people may be surprised that we won the first two games. We're not. We're accepting all challenges ahead of us, and we're ready to take this thing. Q. Where does that catch rank for you as far as your career? Take it back to tee ball if you want to. And the second part of the question was what exactly was the injury after you made that catch because you were on the ground for a while? FRANK MALDONADO: In terms of personally, I just told my mom and dad when I was walking off the field, I said, that was the most fun baseball game that I've ever been a part of. So I mean, as a highlight in that, just having that play be a part of this game gives it so much more meaning for me personally. You know, this is my last go-around at Pitt. I've loved every bit of it, and there are other guys on my team that are dealing with the same thing, whether being seniors or expecting to be picked up in the draft. It's just something special, and I think that's why that'll rank No. 1 without question. What was the second question? Oh, the injury? You know, that happened at another point in the season. I ran into the wall against Georgia Tech. No injury. We're a blue-collar team. You know, running into the wall is nothing. Q. Really for both you guys, I feel like people talk about your power arms, something that really stands out about this team. Does that give you guys a lot of belief heading into a tournament like this, like we can shut these guys down with these big arms we've got? JOE JORDANO: I think any team is going to really concentrate on pitching and defense. I mean, that gives you an opportunity to win any game. And this is the first year in a couple of years that we've been healthy for the most part. And that really provided us some depth on the mound that we knew that if we could get, especially with Matt in our rotation, that he was going to chew up six to seven innings of a 27-inning weekend. So we didn't particularly look at it as Friday, Saturday, Sunday. We had to play it out as 27 innings, and how are we going to fill those innings. So we felt if Matt could do his job and then fill in with Hammer. We've had several different guys in those rotations, Derek, who was phenomenal tonight. I mean, you've got a guy coming in out of the pen, throws five innings, doesn't give up a hit. You know, that's a great job. In that situation, and technically he's a freshman, this is his first year pitching in college. So when you look at that, we knew that those arms when they're on can beat anyone. We've been clicking a little bit better from the offensive perspective, and the entire year we've played really well defensively. So you put all those three things together, when you have the good pitching, the defense, and you get those timely hits, we can beat anybody. Q. Derek tonight, what made him so good in your opinion, and how have you kind of seen him develop over the course of the season in his first year at this level? JOE JORDANO: I think Derek has -- he's very -- as you can probably see, he's kind of mechanical out there. And he's working through that. He's a very analytical young man. But he's really done a good job taking a little bit off his pitches and keeping it in the zone. When that breaking ball works, and he lost a feel for it early in the year, and he's been trying to develop a changeup, but the fastball has some life on it, and it's downhill. So he has some depth to it. It's a tough pitch to hit. It's heavy. So when he's around the zone, he's pretty good, and you saw that today. Q. Joe, it probably looks like a negative that you had to play two games the first two days, but now does it become a positive that you'll have two days off, you can rest your bullpen and possibly even get Matt back for the weekend? JOE JORDANO: Yeah. I mean, this worked out really well. I mean, we knew coming in, as Frank mentioned, we came down here to win. We felt that we believe in ourselves. We believe in what we do and how we do it. Our approach to the game of baseball is very simple. We practice it and talk about it every day. You know, so when you have back-to-back games, it's not unlike going into a series, so you're used to playing three days in a row. But now in this type of format, obviously it's going to benefit us by having a couple of days off before we play again. That rests the bullpen. I thought RJ lost his legs a little bit later in the game today. Threw okay, but was having some difficulty. Q. Frank, first of all, your at-bat coming off that catch, I think it was right after you made that catch, you're woozy, you go up there, hit a double and it kind of jump-starts the offense. How were you feeling, and what do you remember about that at-bat? FRANK MALDONADO: I just remember coming out of the dugout, getting a little last piece of advice from Coach Alvino on the steps about our approach going into the at-bat, and again, like Coach Jordano said, we keep things really simple. I went up there with a plan. Fortunately I saw what I was looking for on the first pitch, was able to execute it and get the inning going. But aside from that, one other thing. We've been chosen last in this conference -- this is going back to the belief I'm talking about. But the biggest lesson I've learned from college baseball it's not where you start, it's where you finish. Q. Coach, the squeeze, what were you thinking heading into that situation, and can you walk us through your strategy there? JOE JORDANO: Sure. By the way, I'm not sure if everybody is asking how Frank felt after that catch. I don't know if anybody noticed my run out to the outfield, and the third baseman from North Carolina says, hey, is everybody okay. I said, are you talking to me? That was a long run for me, all right. But thank goodness he was okay. You know, it's funny, a very good friend of mine sent me a text message, and if you don't believe me, I'll show it to you on my phone. He said he had a dream that we would win today on a suicide squeeze, and I'll show it to you. Name is Greg Morris, one of my fraternity brothers, been a friend for 30-some years. There was no hesitation. As soon as Caleb got to third base, I said, Caleb, we're going. And I immediately gave the sign, and he looked at me, and I said, first pitch. I figured we were going to get a fast ball, especially to Cole, and he did a tremendous, tremendous job getting the bat on the ball. But there was zero hesitation. That was the right situation, the right scenario, and it's crazy that he sent me that text message and I had the opportunity to play it out in real life. It's pretty neat. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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