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COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 21, 2018

Omaha, Nebraska

Florida - 9, Texas Tech - 6

THE MODERATOR: Coach, an opening statement.

COACH TADLOCK: Congratulations to Florida. Played a good game. I like to thank everybody associated with Texas Tech baseball, everybody associated with the College World Series, it's always a lot of fun. Wish we could have hung around a little longer.

Really proud of our team. Really proud of the way they competed. I wish it could have lasted a little longer.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Josh, Florida's starting pitcher was somebody who was a freshman and seemed like he handled himself pretty well out there. What was he able to do against you guys tonight?
JOSH JUNG: He was just hitting his spots. Seemed like every time we got a baserunner he was able to shut us down pretty quickly. Just hats off to that guy for pitching good.

Q. Josh, you guys are down 5-0 there I think after, what, six innings, and you battled back. Seemed like every time you made a push, they came back with kind of a counterpunch. Did that get discouraging at some point? I know you never quit in this thing, but does it take a little out of you every time they fired right back to you?
JOSH JUNG: They killed our momentum there for a minute after we scored three. They came back, scored three. Just killed our momentum. But we got it right back and put up three more. Hats off to them for a great performance.

Q. Caleb, seemed like you were in a pretty good groove there early on, and then what was it about the fourth or fifth inning I guess they broke through got a couple of hits against you. What happened there in the fifth inning from your perspective?
CALEB KILIAN: Well, I really didn't have my changeup. I think they started to hit fastball on me, get some hits, and that got them in rhythm.

Q. What happened in the fourth inning, a couple of wild pitches and a stolen base in there, and how did you get your focus back?
CALEB KILIAN: I think you're talking about the changeup I pulled, the fastball to score the runner.

Q. And the wild pitch before that.
CALEB KILIAN: I don't know. My changeup wasn't there today, like I said earlier. I was pulling it. Spiking it a lot. Got me into trouble. I don't know. I just tried to get past that and my curveball was there and just commanded my fastball for the most part.

Q. Looking at the season as a whole, you lose your ace before the season even really gets going. You battle through some adversity in conference play and you get hot at the end. How do you put the season into perspective? I know it just ended, but when you look at it, how do you evaluate it?
JOSH JUNG: I think we handled the adversity well throughout the season. We definitely had our ups and downs. But as the season goes, I think it was a success.

Tadlock always says to play your best baseball at the end. So we were looking towards coming here and playing our best baseball.

CALEB KILIAN: We had adversity, but I think a ton of guys stepped up and we all saw that. Everyone had each other's back, and we really were a united team. I think that's what helped us get through the season, helped us be so successful.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach.

Q. Coach, kind of the same question, I guess, the way that they were able to respond when you guys kept fighting back, how discouraging is that? How about the way your team fought today? You have to feel pretty good about that, right?
COACH TADLOCK: Right now you don't feel too good. Our guys are going to compete. If you line up and play here in 30 minutes, they're going to compete.

If you play tomorrow, they're going to compete. They love playing baseball. We're very proud of the way they go about and play the game.

It doesn't come easy. I don't think our staff takes that for granted that we have a group that does that. It all starts with guys like Josh Jung and Grant Little and Caleb Kilian, a lot of guys in there. Brian Klein, Cameron Moore. You just name all of them, nearly, they really like playing.

I don't know right now if it feels too good, though. I mean, we obviously felt like we could get through this thing and get to next week. And right now it's probably a time where you just need to -- probably need to process all of it.

Q. Josh and Grant I guess more of the same all season long. Continued to perform well on this stage. I know it's early to look ahead, Coach, but with what you've got coming back, with those guys leading the way, future looks pretty bright. You feel good about where this program is?
COACH TADLOCK: Absolutely. We've got a good group coming in. Really excited about it. Had a bunch of guys going to fit playing here. Got some guys who will be able to put some pressure on some people. Got some good arms coming in. And got some good guys coming back.

At the same time you've got to go out and there's definitely -- it all starts again tomorrow as far as everything goes. I mean, you're constantly trying to get better and get guys, develop guys.

That's one thing about tonight, we brought some power arms out of that bullpen. And they're probably not where you want them to be right now. But, again, if we're guilty of believing in those guys and believing that they're going to get better, that's just what we're going to be guilty of, because we're going to believe in them.

We've got some really good players. Got some good players coming. And obviously always excited about that. And that's whether you're playing for the National Championship or not, you're excited -- you two guys especially know, you know what's there in '18, '19 and getting close to the '20 class. It's going to be fun.

Q. The way that you guys were swinging in the seventh and eighth, did you have a moment on Rheams hit the last out of the eighth, did you have a moment where you thought it had a little more than it did?
COACH TADLOCK: Maybe in another ballpark, or maybe with big league ball, yeah. But not today. I really didn't. He got a little bit under it. If it was down the line, obviously. But where he hit it, probably not.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297

COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 21, 2018

Tim Tadlock

Caleb Kilian

Josh Jung