ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

May 29, 2021

Alex Tappen

Truist Field

Virginia Cavaliers

Postgame Press Conference

Duke 4, Virginia 2

Q. I was curious, not a lot of guys had a ton of success against Luke Fox today. You were able to hit a home run against him. What went well for you in that at-bat and what was challenging about facing Luke today?

ALEX TAPPEN: Yeah, he did a nice job mixing up his pitches, but at the end of the day it was kind of the two stroke approach, which is just centering up, battling and doing everything that we do and fighting the box. But credit to him; he did a nice job keeping us off balance, and at the end of the day just needed a little more execution. It was close, and then at the end of the day, a characteristic of this team is just fighting until the end, and to go down early and still have a chance late in the game, it's literally what this team is about.

Q. Coach called this a bloodbath coming into it. Is that kind of how it played out in your eyes, both teams playing such good baseball right now?

ALEX TAPPEN: Yeah, absolutely. Between us, Duke and NC State, we're pretty much three of the hottest teams in the country.

At the end of the day we knew the result was going to be determined by who stepped up and who executed more. At the end of the day I think we were really close. There were a couple more things that we could have done to take this home, but at the end of the day we take this as a learning opportunity, and we move on to next week, and we've got bigger goals ahead of us, and we're prepared for those.

Q. I know you guys obviously are going to turn your attention now to next week, but this was a big spot for you guys. What's kind of the level of disappointment after not being able to get that one?

ALEX TAPPEN: Yeah, we were really confident coming into it. I think we were coming off of a stretch of our best baseball all year. We finished the year winning six out of the last seven series and started 2-0 in pool play.

At the end of the day we take it with a grain of salt. We know how well we've been playing and how well we've been executing as a whole, as a unit on both sides of the baseball and defensively. We're going to just keep working, keep working this keep during practice and we're going to get ready for next week. There is disappointment, but at the end of the day we can use that disappointment to fuel us for next week, and where we go, that will be determined on Monday. But we're really excited for the future of this team.

Q. This is the first time since you've been here that we're not talking about the bubble. How nice is it to not have that all that looming over you now?

ALEX TAPPEN: Yeah, absolutely. I've been talking about it with some of the seniors and the fifth years who have been here for the longer time of the team. We're really excited. We're really excited. At the end of the day we knew what we had to do, pretty much starting with the Georgia Tech series, and we were able to do that, and then we came in here and got it done in pool play. We're pretty much showing everybody what type of team we are, and we're going to stay confident. We're going to learn from what happened here in the semifinals, and we're going to take advantage of it for the future.

Q. What is the confidence level in the team right now going into that regional next weekend, just given the success you've had since the start of April really as a team?

ALEX TAPPEN: Right, yeah. I mean, we knew all along, even through the ups and downs of the season, which we knew was going to happen, because the ACC is just so loaded this year, but we know that what we've been doing is our potential. I still think there's a little bit of room for improvement, which is awesome. It should give us even more confidence and even more fuel to continue to get better this next week during practice, and I think we're really excited. We're really excited. We're really confident. And we've just got to learn from today and take advantage of the next opportunities that come.

Q. Kind of on a personal level, I know you want to be in there every day and things haven't worked out the way you expected this year, but when you do get these opportunities, what does it mean to you the way you've been able to capitalize and help the team and contribute the way you have the last couple weeks?

ALEX TAPPEN: Yeah, it's awesome. It's awesome. At the end of the day, it's the mindset that everyone on this team has, no matter what the situation, what the opportunity is. We're always ready to take advantage of that opportunity and to help execute for the team on the mound, in the batter's box, whoever it is really.

It's kind of the driving factor of this team. Everybody has got that same mentality. Yeah, it's been awesome. It's been awesome to be able to execute and make the most out of my opportunities, but it's a testament to pretty much the team, just how we view every opportunity that we get.