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COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 20, 2018

Omaha, Nebraska

Arkansas - 7, Texas Tech - 4

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Texas Tech coach Tim Tadlock and student-athletes Brian Klein and Davis Martin.

Coach, an overview.

COACH TADLOCK: Arkansas's got a really nice club. Congratulations to them. Got a really nice lineup. They threw three really quality arms at us. And they played awful good. They earned the right to win.

As far as our group goes, we'll get -- we'll put this one behind us, regroup and get ready to go. The neat thing is nobody's picking us to beat Florida or Arkansas. And we're going to show up tomorrow and try to earn that right.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Davis, as you looked at Arkansas's lineup, they're pretty hot. I guess from your standpoint, how did you try to approach those guys? And just talk about the difficulty of going against a lineup like that.
DAVIS MARTIN: We were going to pitch to our strength, sinkers away, change-ups, mix early and often. You gotta give them credit. They have a great lineup. I think both home runs were mistakes.

The single to Beeter's hit in the fourth was also a mistake. And you're kind of walking a tight line. You've got to hit your spots, gotta get ahead early in the counts and try to keep them off balance.

But those times they did get a hold of some stuff, they were mistakes, and you've just got to give them credit.

Q. Brian, Loseke had a lot of success against you guys dating back to the mid-week game. How was he able to keep you off balance? Not many pitchers were able to do that.
BRIAN KLEIN: Biggest thing, he throws a lot of fastballs. We weren't picking up that well, quick motion, lower arm slot. It gave us a little bit of trouble in the mid-week and a little bit today.

But we're looking forward to possibly being able to see him again, and maybe we can make some adjustments if we face him again.

Q. Obviously the rain delay last night and also the rain delay today, what do you guys do in the locker room to stay sharp? And kind of what does that do to -- does that have any impact on the game?
DAVIS MARTIN: I mean, I think we take a different approach than a lot of teams do. Instead of trying to stay sharp, we try to stay relaxed. Especially after last night's rain delay, if you try to focus for that long, you're just going to drive yourself crazy.

We're a fun group. We try to relax. We try to have fun, and I feel like that's what we did in the locker room. We were joking around, having fun and enjoying each other.

BRIAN KLEIN: Exact same thing. We're just trying to stay loose. We play games. We just hang out. Tell some jokes. Laugh together. Trying to grow that bond.

And as far as we go for staying focused, I would definitely say being a loose group together, just enjoying it and trying to have some fun is the way that we can stay focused.

Q. What kind of games do you guys play, and also have you guys ever had this much rain to have to deal with in the span of a tournament?
DAVIS MARTIN: I mean, we played a game, Mafia, that's across all Division I teams. I think we all play it together.

Yeah, we've definitely dealt with some weather this year. We went on a spring trip Louisville and Kentucky, and it was windy, rainy. We've dealt with rain before. It's not an excuse for how good or bad we've done. It's just something you've got to deal with, with the game of baseball.

BRIAN KLEIN: Like he said, we gotta take what we get with the weather, so we've got to be ready to go if it's 1:00 in the morning or if we're playing at 10:00 a.m. Then when we get a chance to play, like it did, it cleared up today, we've got to be ready.

Just hanging out, enjoying each other, play games. Like we've got a whiteboard like hangman or tic-tac-toe, stuff like that to keep us loose and enjoying each other.

Q. You guys are at the win-or-go-home stage of the season. Does that create pressure, or is it freeing in some ways? How are you going to approach this?
BRIAN KLEIN: I wouldn't say it's more pressure. But each game is the same to us. Coach Tadlock has been preaching all year it's just another baseball game, you have to play 27 outs, the bases are 90 feet away. We've just got to take the same approach, just to simplify the game, just to go each pitch at a time and just be ready.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach.

Q. Looking at your starting options with Caleb or Davis, what did you like a little bit more about the decision to go with Davis over Caleb in that spot?
COACH TADLOCK: Davis has been here, done that. They've both probably thrown the ball about the same. Really felt like could put us in position to get to Monday with Kilian going the next game.

I mean, Davis is a guy, he's won a lot of big games for us. He's a competitor. He's going to be around the zone. Gotta play defense behind him.

Sinkerball guy, ball is going to be in play and you gotta go play defense. And Arkansas did a good job tonight of attacking him.

Q. You have to feel pretty good about what you got out of your bullpen today. Is that just kind of more of the same from those guys all year and do you feel like you're still set up okay bullpen-wise going forward to the loser's bracket?
COACH TADLOCK: I think we'll go one day at a time right now. There were some good signs down there. Good to see curt Wilson come in and throw the ball well. Quezada threw the ball well. McMillon threw the ball real well. It wasn't that bad. It's good to get him on the mound. That will be good.

There's got to be some positives as far as getting him in a game. Absolutely, those guys executed some pitches and as far as moving forward, you want to build some margin for error with your starting pitching. That's probably where Florida, to me, has an advantage maybe a little bit right now over us. And might say the same thing about Arkansas.

But the beauty of it is you don't play the game on paper; we get to go play.

Q. Could you talk about that play in the first inning where the outfielders collide, Arkansas gets a couple of runs? What did you see there and how did that maybe affect the game?
COACH TADLOCK: First of all, I'll take full responsibility for that. I mean, we made that change. Game 48. We put a guy at second base that had played right field. Put a guy that played right field at second base. And really hadn't bit us up to this point. Both of them played really well.

I think they were both trying to make a play as far as I don't think Gabe heard Cody. I think if he does, he lets him catch it. But that's on me. Really that's a deal where maybe we need to do some more outfield communication. That's something that you can do and it's something that's fundamental. When you break down fundamentally, that's on the coaches.

Q. That's the third time you've faced that lineup of Arkansas's. Just how tough is that lineup to navigate and as a coach what's your impression of those guys top to bottom?
COACH TADLOCK: It is a really good lineup. It's an impressive lineup. Those guys have all gotten stronger since they got in school. They hit a couple of balls out of the ballpark today obviously. Seems to me that when you miss, they're doing a good job of hitting it. 1 through 9, they can create pressure on you. There's not an easy out in there. And so you're right, they've kind of -- we've kind of had the same thing two games in a row last time we played them it was a ball in the infield.

You definitely want to make them earn what they get. And they got some nice pieces there. Coach Thompson and Van Horn, those guys have done a great job.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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