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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMay 25, 2018Dan McDonnellDevin MannAdam WolfDurham, North Carolina Louisville - 10, Duke - 2 DAN O'DONNELL: Yeah, these two guys sitting next to me were obviously phenomenal today. Give a lot of credit to Duke. This is the first time we have played them and seen them. That's a good-looking team. That team is going to do damage in the NCAAs. It was big for us to put up some runs there in the first, and then Adam Wolf did what Adam Wolf has done all year. I think he's had 15 starts, 14 real quality starts. I mean, it's the epitome of consistency. And then Devin Mann, he's been doing that for three years now, driving in runs and having big at-bats, and that bases-clearing double there in the fourth was big. Offensively we got it going, and then obviously Adam was very good on the mound, and we did enough to win. Q. Adam, you take the mound for the first pitch, you've got a four-run lead. Does that change how you approach the game at all? ADAM WOLF: Oh, no. I mean, you have to approach the game the same way no matter what the score is, but it's always awesome when the offense is putting up runs early, and often especially. Q. I'm struck by your efficiency; 109 pitches and no walks. That's not easy to do. ADAM WOLF: Thank you. I appreciate that. Q. Does it make it easier to pitch to contact, I guess, with a big early lead? ADAM WOLF: I mean, Duke has a lot of great hitters on their team. They're first-pitch swinging a lot, so that helps out, but I mean, they've got incredible hitters on their team, so just tried to do everything I could. Q. Devin, obviously the first and the fourth innings were the big ones for you. What were you seeing at the plate to allow you guys to not just get on top of Stallings like that but to keep those rallies going? DEVIN MANN: I think first inning was good to -- I could draw out a walk and then Stow comes up and does what he does all year, and so he got me in, and then I was fortunate enough to come up with bases loaded in whatever inning that was and battled into a deep count and got a pitch I could hit and hit it, so it was definitely good to have those big innings. It helped Wolf out, too. Q. Devin, broadening the question about your offense, you got 10 runs against Wake Forest, then nine against Duke today. Both those teams have good pitching staffs. What are you doing offensively to consistently generate offense as opposed to Clemson which is maybe taking the big inning to an art form here with 17 and 6 again last night, but how are you getting so much offense on and on throughout the game? DEVIN MANN: I think everyone is staying locked in throughout the entire game. Everyone is bringing a solid approach, taking good batting practice and taking a solid approach into the game and just taking it pitch by pitch. I don't think anyone is throwing away at-bats, and everyone is grinding out the at-bats and seeing pitches and then getting what they're getting and just doing the most they can. Q. Devin, obviously you've had a great career here at Louisville, and it's going to keep going for a while, but this season is seems like it's been your best performance so far and especially of late. How do you evaluate kind of your development as a player and as a hitter here, especially in the second half? DEVIN MANN: You know, it's been a great career here. I've had a lot of fun. I've learned a lot from the coaches, both from things on and off the field. I think lately just working about -- just having a mature approach and trying to hit more line drives, but I think it's just having the mature approach and just growing up as a player has helped me a lot over the past few weeks and months. Q. Coach, obviously two wins like this and you're going against a team tomorrow that many might not think they would be there. What's your message for the team tonight as you go into tomorrow to kind of keep this thing going here, keep the momentum rolling as it has been? DAN O'DONNELL: You know, we've been playing tournament baseball we feel like for the last month, and we've been using the phrase celebrate each other. This is about others, just enjoy being with your teammates. We've got a lot of respect for the game of baseball, a lot of respect for the teams in the ACC. We had a really hard-fought series at Pitt with some close games. We understand at this time of the year, just throw records out the window. They beat two really good teams. They got good players, man, good hitters and good pitchers. We'll have a scouting report, but a lot of it's about us, and just continue to play for each other and enjoy that. We're choosing energy. We're choosing the hustle. We're choosing to enjoy this, and the guys are. Q. Dan, Coach Pollard mentioned you guys' approach on two strikes today was a big factor in the game, particularly in the first inning, but then I think Devin worked back from a 1-2 to a full count before he got the bases-clearing double. What did you see from them today that made it so successful there? DAN O'DONNELL: Well, I think you've got to give Coach Snider, Coach Vrable a lot of credit. When you look at our stat sheet, I think sometimes people get a little caught up with home runs and some of the sexier numbers, but I think when you look at our stat sheet, the doubles, I think we lead the ACC in doubles, the on-base percentage, and look at our walks and HBPs to strikeouts. There's not many teams in the country that have equal walks and HBPs to strikeouts. I think we're more offensive than people realize, and when you've watched us the last two days, like I said, I think we got a lot of balance up and down the lineup. We're not one-dimensional, and if you look at the batting numbers for guys like Mann, Stowers, Wyatt, the number of walks that they have compared to strikeouts, they're not just free swinging. They've got a really good approach. They do a really good job with two strikes, and again, give those coaches credit and give these hitters credit because they've worked hard this year, and this last month we've been especially good on offense. Q. I've been asking coaches about the format. This is the second year you've used it, and some coaches feel it needs to be changed or at least tweaked; others feel like this is the best way to guarantee the maximum number of teams at least two games but not too many games. Your thoughts about the format? DAN O'DONNELL: Yeah, the reality is one team is going to win this thing. You've got 12 teams here, and you've got 11 coaches that didn't come away with the prize, so I think it's always challenging to have everybody leave here happy. You know, I think the goal was get as many teams in this tournament as we could, give everybody a chance to play a couple games. But yes, if you don't win your pod, which we did not last year, that's okay. You're fresh and you go back and you rest a little then and when you can a week to get ready for the postseason. You know, it's new, so it's only the second year for us. I liked the old-fashioned double elimination. I didn't mind the three games in the pod. But we're trying to do what's best for the league, so I think we just need to evaluate at the end of the day, and how many teams we get in the NCAAs and how well do we do in the NCAAs I think is probably most important when it's all said and done. Q. Would you like to see it tweaked in any way? DAN O'DONNELL: No, I don't know about tweaked. I know there was another format that I think two teams advanced from the three-team pod, so the top two teams advance. But if you win it, boy, I think that could lead to maybe five or six games. That's probably just too much for -- especially with the talented team to win it could be hosting a regional the following weekend, you don't want to crush the pitching and everything. I just like that -- we've only been in the league four years. We've experienced two different formats. I just like that we're open to -- let's see what's best, let's see what works for our teams in the postseason, and just kind of evaluate it from there. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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