SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE BASEBALL TOURNAMENT

May 26, 2021

Owen Diodati

Hoover Metropolitan Stadium

Alabama Crimson Tide

Postgame Press Conference

Alabama 3, Tennessee 2

Q. What's been working for you these last two days? You had a two-RBI single yesterday and two hits today and the game-winning one. What's been the difference? These last few days, you've really seen the ball well at the plate.

OWEN DIODATI: Yeah, I think a lot of it had to do with the mental part of the game. I'm young and got some growing up to do. I think part of it is just remembering it's just baseball and we're here to have fun, and baseball doesn't have to be so serious all the time.

I think that's been a big change for me the last couple days. It's just about going out and having fun. I've made some small mechanical changes with Coach Bo and our hitting coach over the last couple of days that I think have helped me with the way I'm being pitched and things like that. It's been awesome winning these two games and being in a good position going forward in this tournament.

Q. Congrats on the win today. You guys had a solid start today, and on top of that, Lee got you guys out of a couple of jams. What's it like having solid pitching on the mound, especially yesterday and today?

OWEN DIODATI: It's huge for us. Those guys go out and give us a chance to win pretty much every time they're out. That's all we can ask for. Jacob McNairy was huge today. It's been unbelievable what he's done the last two weeks, just coming back off of an injury and going out and really shoving for us.

I have nothing but good things to say about him and what he's done. Just going out and battling and getting through the 4 2/3 for us. And obviously the bullpen between Will Freeman and Chase Lee, they were unbelievable as well. When you have guys like that on the mound, it's really fun to play behind, and I think we kind of feed off their energy.

Q. I wanted to ask you about the play in the 9th inning. What did you see on the play, and what was the chatter like as you guys were kind of talking through whether the game was going to keep going or whether they had walked it off?

OWEN DIODATI: Yeah, I think in the dugout, there was a little bit of a confused stage, and then we all kind of saw what happened up on the screen. The way it looked, I think they got the call right. I'm not an umpire by any means, but it looked like there was some extra contact there that shouldn't have been there. You know, it was huge for us to get that bounce. Never a doubt in my mind, but that was really big for us as a team, and obviously we went on to win it.

Q. I just wanted to ask, how big has it been for you to get your bat going here in Hoover? I know you had been slumping a little bit, but you've come through in the clutch on two straight days. So how are you feeling right now?

OWEN DIODATI: I feel great. You know, big situations, I think maybe it's just a little bit of a coincidence that I've gotten hits in those situations the last two days, but I'm really just trying to play loose, play free, and have fun when I'm out here. I said it earlier, but baseball is supposed to be fun. We're at the SEC tournament. A lot of kids dream of being here. I don't want to take one minute for granted being out here. It's really unbelievable.

As a team, we're really, really close, and it's just really cool to be out here doing what we're doing, and I'm really excited about what the rest of the tournament holds for us.

Q. How big was this win coupled with yesterday's to push you guys towards the NCAA Tournament?

OWEN DIODATI: It's huge. Obviously, we have work to do, just kind of how the regular season ended up for us. These two wins are huge. We don't plan on stopping here after these two wins. We're a really confident group, and I think we're a really good team, and we can do something really special here in the tournament and hopefully afterwards.

We're just going to keep playing our game, keep doing what we're doing. Coach Bo always talks about just going out and playing and competing. I think we do that really well. We don't get too high or too low. As a team, that's something we really thrive on. I'm really excited about what it holds, and these two games have obviously been huge for us.