SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE BASEBALL TOURNAMENT

May 27, 2021

Sterlin Thompson

Hoover Metropolitan Stadium

Florida Gators

Postgame Press Conference

Florida 7, Alabama 2

THE MODERATOR: Good evening. We'll begin with questions for Sterlin Thompson.

Q. Sterlin, starting pitcher kind of had your guys' number early on. Was it just seeing him again getting through the lineup again, and what adjustments did you guys make?

STERLIN THOMPSON: We started off slow with the bats at the beginning, and we all had really good ABs. By the second go-round, we got his pitch, his fastball. We started jumping on it. The second round, second ABs, we started having multiple hits and getting runners on and having good two-out hits.

J.Y. had a good day. Nicky had an early home run at center. We found a way early in the game to score runs, which is good.

Q. How has your first-year experience in Hoover been?

STERLIN THOMPSON: It's been great so far. Like I said yesterday, there's a lot of talent, lot of great pitching, really good teams. It's just good to come out and do really well.

Q. Chris said you guys had like a players-only meeting after Arkansas. What was that message? Whatever it was, it seems to be working.

STERLIN THOMPSON: Yeah, like we have a lot of leaders on this team, and we just like really come together as a team. We battled adversity on the road at Arkansas, and to come to Hoover and play hot, it's a really good feeling.

Q. Can you talk about what it does for you guys with this pitching staff throwing so well these last three games? They've really been doing it.

STERLIN THOMPSON: Yeah, it was big for Tommy to come out and pitch against Kentucky, single elimination game, and just to come out and be on go from the first inning. Then we have a really big first inning with runners on second and third, and just to finish throughout the gate.

Barco had a really good game against Mississippi State, and we had really good bats. Franco pitched really well today. I really liked how Trey and Jack came in from the bullpen and pitched well from the get-go. It's really nice to see our starting pitchers go late in the game. It's just a really good feeling to have all around. We're playing good baseball, pitching, offensively, and defensively too.

Q. How good is it -- do you feel for Franco after his struggles early in the season, and now he's really had several games where he's gone long innings, and then today was just lights out?

STERLIN THOMPSON: He had a really good performance in Arkansas, and he's always had a really good performance. He may have started out slow, but that's just adversity throughout the season. I felt like he got really comfortable, and he's been good ever since. Every appearance, he's able to get a groove early in the game, and it's really good to see him go through seven innings and eight innings each game.

Q. Obviously, this is your first experience, your first postseason experience in college baseball. How important is it to do well and then to carry that momentum into regionals and further on?

STERLIN THOMPSON: This is perfect. I think like coming from Arkansas, like we had to get going. I felt like this is a perfect tournament to come in and just get confidence, like defensively, pitching, and hitting. It's just a really good feeling to be 3-0 in this tournament and to carry it over into regionals and Super Regionals. I'm looking forward to the future too.