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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMay 23, 2019Dan McDonnellTyler FitzgeraldDurham, North Carolina Clemson - 7, Louisville - 1 DAN McDONNELL: Defensively they obviously put some runs together there early off of Reid which doesn't happen often, and of course you saw the performance on the mound, almost threw a CG. So that was impressive. So congratulations to them, and give them a lot of credit. Q. Tyler, what's the mood like in the dugout knowing the guy on the other side has the perfect game going? TYLER FITZGERALD: You just try not to think about it too much. He went out there and he pitched great today, but try not to change anything, and we were kind of getting ourselves out today, and as you see the top of the lineup all the way through the lineup we weren't really having good at-bats. We weren't really focused on him, we were more focused on ourselves. I think it's a contagious game, and just seeing one after another bad at-bat just kind of put us down a little bit. But nothing really changes, to be honest with you. Q. It wasn't a great overall offensive showing over the week. Going forward with selection Monday coming up, how do you plan to ride together and hopefully have a better run in the postseason? TYLER FITZGERALD: Yeah, we're going to have a good week of practice starting tomorrow and we're going to get our stuff together. We've got to have better attitudes, just better at-bats, better defense, better pitching. Everything has got to come together at the right time. Luckily we can get that out of the way right there and hopefully move forward from here. Q. Tyler, you've been here, you've experienced similar outings and enjoyed success following it. You kind of answered a little bit, but how is it possible to put something like this so quickly out of a mind and start focusing on your next task? TYLER FITZGERALD: Something that we say in this program that I learned early was just turn the page. This one's going to hurt, especially on this long plane ride home, but you've just got to turn the page tomorrow starting at practice and we've got to get better because we can't have any more games like that come down to the regionals. We've just got to get better from here on out. Q. Dan, as you mentioned, another great pitching performance yesterday, a complete game. Today almost -- he flirted with a perfect game. Is that something you worry about your offense, or is it more of a tip of the hat, just phenomenal outings from those guys? DAN McDONNELL: Yeah, you want to start with giving credit to those pitchers. You don't want to take anything away from them, and you don't want to lose faith, or as we like to say, hope. You're not going to steal our hope. We've got really good hitters. It's baseball. It happens. You know, as you watch the hockey playoffs and the basketball playoffs, and you watch the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird E60 last night or 30 For 30, and after the Lakers won one of those games, I remember them, they said they didn't even care about the next game, they just wanted to get back to LA. You see it in all of sports. You've got to have a short-term memory. You've got to have a lot of respect for your opponent in this game. When you get beat up, it's just -- you know, don't mull over it. Learn from it. I told the guys in the outfield, it's my favorite week of the year. I mean, we have not had a full week of practice until before the first weekend. I mean, we played a mid-week game every week of the year. We have to have an NCAA off-day every week of the year. Like the kids want to practice and play, and for me as a coach, knowing I can schedule an entire week, which I've already scheduled it, once I knew this was our last game, we met last night, and I kind of ran down the schedule briefly. I love it. I'm chomping at the bit. If we couldn't fly back tonight, I'd be going back myself just to get organized so when they get back, or now we all get back, we're ready to go. Like Fitz said, it starts tomorrow, and we've got a full week to address some things and coach better and get these guys to play better. Q. Same question as Tyler; obviously you've experienced this where the teams haven't done exceptionally well in the ACC, I think just really getting out of the pools just once, but it is something you guys have been able to get out of your mindset quickly. Is there a magic trick to doing that? DAN McDONNELL: No, just like I said, don't let people steal your hope. You can have a bad day, you can have a bad week. It's a long year. These guys are good hitters. But the one thing they do know is I keep my thumb on them pretty good. I put a lot of pressure on these guys throughout the year. The magnitude of every game, every game counts, every game goes on your resume. Don't take a game off. So our history shows a pretty good track record in the postseason, not because of me but because players like Fitz and these guys have responded, so I'm confident that these guys will respond. And like I said, I'm just chomping at the bit. They know I love practice to begin with, but knowing I've got a full week, it's almost like Spring Training where I mean, I literally run through everything. I mean, everything that we do in a month before the season I try to shortened version cram it into one week as a tune-up just because I want these guys to feel good about themselves, to know that they're prepared. And they're super talented. They won 43 games and won the most in a really good baseball league. Like Fitz said, it's not fun. We don't try to show up and not play good, and we sure don't try to lose, but it happens, so we turn the page and tomorrow the sun will come up and we'll win the day tomorrow and win about six days in a row and get ready for next Friday. Q. Your thoughts on Reid's performance today? DAN McDONNELL: You know, they got to him -- they're really good against left-handed pitching. They beat both of our lefties earlier in the year. The game we won, we threw a righty, and a righty has had a little more success today. They're good hitters, but they do a good job against left-handed pitching. Sure, he got some balls up, and it happens. You know, Reid will turn the page and he'll get after it this week. He'll have over a week to prepare for his start, whenever that is, Friday, Saturday, night, so it will be nice for him to get an extra day's rest or two days' rest, and like I said, it will kind of be nice for our entire pitching staff. We welcome it, because the last couple weeks of the season, being that we do play a mid-week game every week right up until that Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and then you've got to turn around, play on Wednesday, Thursday. So sometimes it's -- as I always say, sometimes when you win you really lose, and sometimes when you lose, you really win. So let's hope we really won when this is all said and done. Q. You mentioned getting these guys prepared in advance for the postseason starting next week. On top of that, how difficult is it for you personally to help build up everyone's confidence after going 0-for during the week? DAN McDONNELL: No, it's not that difficult. These guys are really good. They know I know they're good. Like I said, for me it's just pushing them and challenging them and getting them to -- when they say "play ball" next Friday night, just making sure that they're confident and they're ready. And it's not just me, I mean, we're pointing the finger at me. We've got a lot of support. Coach Snider, Coach Vrable with the hitters, Coach Williams with the pitchers, and then our whole support staff, Zach and Pat and everybody that works with these guys. We'll make sure that these guys are feeling good, and like I said, we've got a saying going that you can't steal our hope, that this week is not going to steal our hope. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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