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COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 20, 2018

Omaha, Nebraska

Oregon State - 11, North Carolina - 6

MODERATOR: We're joined by Oregon coach Pat Casey and student-athletes Cadyn Grenier, Nick Madrigal and Adley Rutschman. Coach, an overview.

COACH CASEY: Well, our club represented everything that I ask teams to be. They were resilient. They were tough. They fought. They scrapped. Everything -- put up with my emotions. And I ask guys all the time just be as competitive as you can possibly be and I'll live with that, and they were.

So I gotta tell you, it was a great comeback and they stayed with it. Very, very proud of them.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Adley, the eighth inning, you're coming up there, the bases loaded, and the (indiscernible) series down three, what's going through your mind, what did you look for in that at-bat and can you kind of walk us through it?
ADLEY RUTSCHMAN: Yeah, you know, when you're up there, bases loaded, I think the biggest thing for me is just being relaxed. I try to stay as relaxed as I can, because with the situation, the crowd and whatnot, you can get intense and I hit best when I'm relaxed and that was the biggest thing for me.

Q. For any of the players, did you notice it started raining in the eighth and did it look a little bit like home?
CADYN GRENIER: Yeah, it's kind of like a little -- it's not an ongoing joke, but every time we for some reason started playing a game and it starts to rain, everybody kind of looks around going, okay, we're going to come back and do what we do at home. And just like you said, when it's raining like that, it's just like we're back in Oregon. Obviously we play a lot of games in the rain.

When the rain comes, we know there's a possibility of a storm coming and that's from us. And that's kind of what we saw tonight.

NICK MADRIGAL: What Cadyn said, we're used to playing in the rain. The ball feels a little wet. And you can't throw it as hard as you can because it will slip out of your hand when you're at the plate. It's definitely not easy to see through the rain, but all year long we've seen that. We're used to it. But a lot of teams are not used to it. So maybe that works to our advantage. But we're definitely used to the rain in Oregon.

Q. I know you guys always think you're going to win every game. But down six, three there in the eighth, O'Brien had been cruising, did it feel like that lead-off single by Taylor, I think it was, to start that inning -- did it feel like maybe that gave you guys a little life and could you feel something kind of turn there?
CADYN GRENIER: Absolutely, baseball is a game where hitting becomes contagious, once you get the lead-off man off with no outs, it's definitely a confidence booster. I was thinking about my at-bat when I was on defense. There's something about it. I told myself I'm getting on base, I made a conscious decision I was going to do it, and there was no doubt that I was going to get out or anything like that.

So when I got up to the plate, I felt good about my at-bat. Zak Taylor had an awesome at-bat, got us going and one after another, and that's what our team is, sometimes it just takes one hit to kind of break it open, and that's the way baseball works.

Q. Nick, during the rain delay in the last game, you talked to the guys, and after that you guys played differently. Seemed like you carried that into today. Did that game sort of give you guys a renewed confidence, did it feel like you're back to playing the way you were before you got here?
NICK MADRIGAL: I've got that question what did I say during the rain delay. I really didn't say a lot. We played games. We joked around during that time. I said a couple words. But I didn't say anything that changed our team in any way. I think everyone's mind was made up during the rain delay that we're going to do this.

We felt like the pressure was never on us. For some reason it was always on them. Even if we were down by one run, we just made a decision we're going to win this game. And that's the way it's been all year long.

And until that final out happens, we feel like we're never out of the game, and that's the way Oregon State baseball is. You've got to make the last out against us, we're going to fight until the end.

Q. Adley, you obviously had the big double, but you seem like you hit everything hard today. And really since you've gotten here, do you feel -- you've had a great year, but is this as locked in as you've ever been right now?
ADLEY RUTSCHMAN: You know, it helps to have good hitters around me. I get some good pitches to hit. And I think just staying relaxed, like I said, and to be able to play on this stage in front of these people with the team I have, I think I feel very fortunate.

And I think their energy and stuff carries me, too. So it forces everyone to play better.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach.

Q. I know this is a completely different group of players from the '06 and '07 teams, but when you come to the ballpark and see UNC in that other dugout, do you almost expect a game like this, kind of classic kind of game?
COACH CASEY: Yeah, I mean, I got a ton of respect for Mike and that program. They do it right. They play clean. They play hard.

And we knew that we were in for everything we had. We got ahead. They come back. They get ahead, we come back.

And I thought Muly probably was the difference in the game, when he came in, it was -- he came in at the right time did the right things and got them off balance a little bit. And we just got a little more momentum going, hit some balls where we needed to. And Rutschman's hit -- once that ball got over his head and we got tied, the dugout got going pretty good.

Q. What is it that makes it so hard to put this team away? It seems like that guy O'Brien was mowing you down and all of a sudden they let up for one second and you score eight runs in two innings, what is it about this group?
COACH CASEY: Well, I think that there's some good hitters in that lineup. I think there's some good players, obviously. But I think that we just started demanding that type of an attitude from the day they walk in the door.

Why else do you show up? I kind of -- I think there's a difference in your mindset -- I think you can separate things and be a good guy, good student and everything and when you get between the white lines, we want to win.

And we want to be competitive. And I always tell guys there's a difference between activity and achievement. Activity is shadowboxing and achievement is knocking somebody out. So and you've got to have the right guys. Everybody knows nobody's getting here without good players. So we got great players.

Q. So in the eighth there, you put Andy Armstrong up to pinch-hit. And with two outs and the bases loaded, you have him put down a drag bunt. What went into that decision?
COACH CASEY: Well, we didn't have him put that drag bunt -- but I appreciate the question. You want me -- Andy felt like he had a good opportunity to do that. We had a great discussion about it afterwards. (Laughter) and the kid's young and he wanted to do well and I'm supposed to say, yeah, I put the drag on. But anyway, it's just something in baseball that happened.

And if he would have -- the other part if it would have got down scored a run it would have looked like he was a pretty smart guy. But it doesn't work out that way.

Q. I think at this point everyone knows how special Adley is. But this performance tonight, I mean, this was really special. What have you seen out of this guy here on this stage?
COACH CASEY: Well, you go all over the country. That's why you're asking the question, because there's something special about in the way he catches, the way he gets the pitchers under his arm and gets them going and how he controls the game. And now the offensive pieces jump. This is the first time in his life he's ever been a full-time baseball player and took the fall before he played football, really didn't have a chance to work on things.

He's such a worker. His aptitude to do things is off the chart. He's intelligent. And it doesn't hurt to be 6'3", 215 pounds. So the gene pool is pretty good there.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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