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COLLEGE WORLD SERIES: LUBBOCK REGIONALMay 31, 2019Micah DallasTim TadlockCameron WarrenLubbock, Texas Texas Tech-11, Army West Point-2 THE MODERATOR: We'll start again with an opening statement from Coach Tadlock and then we'll go to questions for the student-athletes. TIM TADLOCK: Congratulations to Army. You got to really like what their kids stand for and what they do each day for all of us. I can't help but walk away from there and just really like their team. Really proud of the way Micah Dallas went out and threw the baseball, gave us seven strong. Made some big pitches when he needed to, really never felt like they were really threatening at all for the most part and I felt like he was really commanding the baseball. Really proud of the way the guys went out with a sense of urgency and created some margin for error there early in the game. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Micah, kind of going into your first start here in the postseason, I guess, what were your thoughts going into it? MICAH DALLAS: It's definitely different going into it. I was probably a little more nervous prior to the game, but when it got time to start stretching and get locked in, it was just felt like another game. Q. For you I guess, what did you do to kind of set that tempo for yourself and your teammates? MICAH DALLAS: I like to work really quick and I think that my job as a pitcher is to try and get back in the dugout as fast as possible, so our batters can get back out there and put up some runs. And I feel like if I do that, then it will give us a chance to win. Q. What do you feel made you so successful today because I know obviously you weren't paying attention to what was happening but what kind of made you feel like you were pitching pretty good today? MICAH DALLAS: I feel like my fastball command, I had it most of the time. My slider, I couldn't really lean on that as much as I normally do, but I think that my fastball had good life on it, so I think that's why. Q. Cam, can you speak to the two-out hitting especially with Cody giving you guys that two RBI early on, to give you that 3-0 lead in the first? CAMERON WARREN: That was huge, Cody said he didn't barrel the ball or have any hits today. I said, you had one of the biggest hits of the day, giving us the 3-0 lead, it was huge. It was one of the biggest hits of the day. Q. It was early on but did you realize how special you were? Did you realize that you had a no-hitter going into that sixth inning? MICAH DALLAS: Yeah, I think that's a problem. I think I need to get more mentally strong in that standpoint because I was thinking about it a little bit. So moving on hopefully I can just push that away and just go attack each batter. Q. At the same time though did it make it easier to go out there when you guys got that big lead pretty much early on? MICAH DALLAS: Yeah, for sure. Our offense was incredible today. They gave me the confidence out there, knowing I didn't have to be perfect every pitch and the defense, Easton at third base made some incredible plays that for sure saved whatever I thought I had going, but, yeah. Q. How long into a game can you kind of feel that you're in that groove and that you know it's going to be a good day, where you're going to go six or seven innings? MICAH DALLAS: The first inning I would say, honestly maybe the first batter. It's just a feeling you have. If it's there, then you feel really confident, just yeah pretty early on you can tell. Q. Micah, whenever we have asked Tim about you earlier this year and why they pitched you at the front rotation, one of the things that coach said was that nothing seems to bother you, particularly being a freshman. Why do you think that is? Are you able to block stuff out or is it your competitiveness or always been like that? MICAH DALLAS: Yeah, I think I'm pretty competitive when I'm out there. I try not let things bother me, but just knowing that if we have one of the best offenses in the nation that even if I do give up a run, I know that they're going to pick me up and so that's definitely something that you can count on. So it's easier to let things go. Q. One of the coaches yesterday, I forget which one, said that the freshmen aren't really freshmen any more. How comfortable have you felt since you've kind of gone all the way through conference, pitching on Friday nights and getting accustomed to everything? MICAH DALLAS: It's definitely pretty special. I don't take it for granted, but yeah, I'm definitely comfortable being out there in the toughest situations and those are the times I enjoy it the most. Q. You were asked about when you lost the no-hitter, but was it irritating to lose the perfect game by hitting a guy? MICAH DALLAS: Yeah, that's something that I can control and you've got to give it to Army, they were trying to basically any way to get on base. They were crowding the plate a little bit, but I definitely, yeah, that was all on me. I let that pitch go. Q. Micah, from your perspective how special was it to have Easton over there at third today? MICAH DALLAS: Yeah, Easton was a huge part of everything, this win. He made some incredible plays over there, kept the momentum on our side when it looked like it was shifting, but he for sure helped us out big time. Q. When you get up 8-0, 9-0, so on and so forth, mentally how do you kind of stay locked into a game like that, is that just a thing that you got to get used to? MICAH DALLAS: Yeah, Gardner actually came up to me. He comes up to me basically every inning saying, stay locked in. John McMillon came up to me after we put up a bunch of runs and he's like, hey it's a 0-0 game, keep it up out there, just compete just like have you been. I have a lot of people helping me out trying to stay focused like that. Q. Everyone is going to mention Easton's defense but how big was Tanner just offensively coming in and stepping up there in the two hole? CAMERON WARREN: I talked to him before the game and he hasn't had a lot of at-bats lately. I told him to go up and have good at-bats. He went 3-4 today and had some good at-bats today. Q. We would be remiss if we didn't ask you about your home run, Cameron. What did you hit and did you get all of that one? CAMERON WARREN: Just a fastball over the middle. Tad gave me green light, so I was like hopefully I get a barrel on this one. THE MODERATOR: We'll release the student-athletes and take questions for coach. Q. You were pretty confident yesterday when you told us who was going to start. Has it been an easy decision throughout conference play and especially going into this game to go with Micah in that first game? TIM TADLOCK: Yeah, I mean based on really when he threw last week and I think he threw on Wednesday, and we really felt good about the amount of rest he got between then and now, kind of very similar to between finals and when he started against TCU, threw the ball really well then. No, it was a really easy decision and he had good stuff. Q. What made him so special today? TIM TADLOCK: He probably told you, fastball command. I mean, that's where it's usually going to start. The breaking ball was good, his competitiveness was good, strike one was there quite a bit, so a combination of all those things. Q. I know the fact that Dylan wasn't able to go played a part in it, but what went into your decision to go with Tanner? He hadn't started since back in April at Duke. TIM TADLOCK: Yeah, I mean really it was Dylan more than anything. It was a little bit like the Astros right now, they got a bunch of guys on the DL, and really want to protect Dylan's -- you know, try to give him the right amount of time to get healthy. And Tanner did exactly what you want a guy to do when he gets an opportunity, he jumped in there and put together some quality at-bats and played good defense. Q. Along the defensive lines, is that why you went with Easton there at third or was it a matchup at the plate? TIM TADLOCK: Well, we played Easton quite a bit last week in Oklahoma City. Baker played a little bit over there, obviously Parker's there. Really the sense of urgency to come out again and when they went right-handed, we pretty much wanted a sense of urgency to go score and create some separation. And really just the first time through the lineup you're looking at it going, hey, that gives us our best shot. Q. Early on can you speak to the two-out hitting of your guys, obviously you kind of extended the lead a little bit and then Cody kind of really kind of got you guys kind of going with that hit. TIM TADLOCK: I think Cam said it best, Cody's hit was a big hit. To give you a 3-0 lead and there was two or three innings there, it was 6-0 and the fly ball deal happened, I was a little concerned there. I mean, you know you just don't want it to come back and bite you. Was kind of wondering if I should have went out and asked if we could look at it or what we could do and kind of wished I would have ran out of the dugout and get back to first, because I saw the guy put his hand up. Well, I kind of got off track there, but, sorry about that. Q. In terms of Easton playing there, the ball found him today a lot. He was busy, I guess just what did you like from him in terms of the seven assists. He came in with seven total so far and he was kind of able to make every play that kind of went to him? TIM TADLOCK: Yeah, he's getting more adjusted over there. You're talking about a high school shortstop that played shortstop for Prosper High School for four years. Went to the state tournament a couple times at least. A lot of times those guys -- and third base is different, I mean it takes a little time over there and he reacted well today and made the plays and we're thankful that's the way it happened. Q. Generally from a coaching perspective is this probably the best outcome, other than getting the win, that you could have expected from your team, just the way that they came out focused and dialed in? TIM TADLOCK: You'll take it any way you can get it. You want them to keep their feet on the ground and understand it's just Game 1 and we are on a path for as many more as we can get, and guys know what that is, and take one day at a time and be ready to go. Q. A follow-up to that, I'm sure somewhere today a fourth seed will take down a one seed or give a one seed trouble or what have you. How big of a, is it a relief that everything today went about nearly as smoothly as it could go? TIM TADLOCK: Yeah, I mean, it's definitely good you didn't go to Floyd and you didn't go to McMillon and you didn't go to Haveman. There's a lot of positives where you go back to last week, I think we went to Floyd on Wednesday, went to a bunch of those guys, John, Haveman, and kind of used a bunch of those guys on day one. It's always, to put one behind you and kind of check it off and start getting ready for the next one. Q. Talking about O'Tremba for a second. His first five plate appearances, sacrifice fly three straight hits, a walk. I believe he had like four at-bats in the last month. I remember last week when Sublette had the good pitching performance you said it was because he had stayed sharp in inter squads. Did O'Tremba kind of look good? TIM TADLOCK: He played really good on Tuesday. We had a good inter squad Tuesday, six or seven innings, and was very aggressive and had a lot of intent about him. And he's been that way and he's been waiting for the opportunity. And he put together good at-bats. You're not going to get hits every day but you can prepare the right way and have some intent and I mean he's very capable, that's for sure. Q. Keeping him in the two spot too for him filling in for Dylan, is that you showing the confidence in him keeping him up there or is that just trying to keep the continuity of the lineup? TIM TADLOCK: A little bit of both. A little bit of both. You look at all that stuff and I wish I had a crystal ball, but I don't, so... Q. One of the other ramifications of Dylan not being in the lineup today you moved Gabe from right to center. Is there any little anxiety since -- when is the last time he's played center? TIM TADLOCK: Oh, it's been early, I would say early this year. We looked at quite a few things in bating practice and we're kind of going, trying to figure out the best way to go about it. And he's not going to cover ground, I don't think, like Dylan, that's why Dylan plays center. But he's very capable and the more he's out there, he'll cover just as much ground. Center's a spot where your angles, going to both gaps, they need to be really good to go catch the ball and that's something you learn it the more you're out there. Q. Obviously you went with the combination that you went with. Was Marusak a consideration given his ability to play defense and go get it? TIM TADLOCK: Absolutely. You bet. Q. Checking to see if -- I guess Caleb is starting Game 2 is my guess. TIM TADLOCK: Yes, sir. You got it. Y'all going to watch the next one? All right. That's good. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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