2021 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 19, 2021

Elliott Avent

NC State Wolfpack

Postgame Press Conference

NC State - 10, Stanford - 4

THE MODERATOR: We'll begin with an opening statement, Coach.

COACH AVENT: I think we just played well and fortunate to get off to a good start against a pitcher the quality of Brendan Beck. And I think that was good for Reid, not that anything bothers Reid. I think he had a couple of long innings. And I thought we left some men on base.

When they came back got that 3-spot there in the seventh, all you could think about is the men you left on base. Then we come up in the ninth. And that was a big, big inning for us.

And so just Reid Johnston was Reid Johnston. Evan Justice was Evan Justice. And I thought some of the guys at the top of the lineup had big, big days.

Q. Looking at Jonny, you mentioned the top of the lineup, but looking at Jonny, obviously he's a guy all year for you who has come up in big spot, (indiscernible) big spots. But when you look at some of the big hits he had today when you guys needed them, how valuable is it to have a guy you can count on, a guy you know is going to go out there and get it done with runners in scoring position?

COACH AVENT: He's just a tremendous player. I've said it all year. He's that guy that when you coach him every day and you see him in practice every day, and you see how consistent he is, he's the model of consistency in everything that he does -- base running, outfield play -- everything he does.

And guys like that sometimes fly under the radar, but I think it's hard for Jonny Butler to fly under the radar. I think people started taking notice of him midway through the season. And he's just a tremendous player, who continues to play better and better.

Q. This really felt like a team win today. You mentioned that there's a good production from a group of your guys. Unless my scoring is incorrect, I believe everyone of the starting nine reached base in some form or another. How would you say about that, how each of the member of the team today, how they contributed to the win?

COACH AVENT: It's always been a team win with us. That's the way it's been all year. We played -- the last three months, it's no secret, we played nine guys pretty much every day. Murr likes to say it's nine guys from nine states. And they've all throughout the year, I said it at the beginning of the year, this is a team that throughout the lineup can figure out how to be productive and score runs. And that's the name of the game.

And we scored in different ways, because we can bunt, we can run, we can hit with power, hit gaps, singles. And we just do it in different ways. When you get to this stage with all the quality pitching that's out there in the country, you have to be able to be versatile to score runs in this environment. And I think that's, once again, that showed.

Q. Jonny Butler said that they don't worry when Evan Justice is in the game. He said he feels like when you guys are up in the seventh or eighth that he feels confident because he knows Evan's going to get it done. We talked about that so much this year. But just his consistency and him bringing that here in Omaha, just how much of a boost, how much does that help the team to have him being the guy that can go two, three innings and you know what you're going to get from him?

COACH AVENT: Well, it's just Jonny's referring -- it's not just to the quality of stuff that Evan has. It's his work ethic; it's everything that these guys have seen each other do all long.

Luca Tresh come in before everybody an hour early and he's caught every game this year to keep his body in tremendous shape. And Evan Justice, the things that he does with treatment from Scott Ensell and all the things he does to prepare himself for these situations.

So they're talking about they know the preparation, they know the work ethic, and then they know the will to win and how the intensity with which Evan goes about his business, but is still able to relax to the situation. And he shows great poise and confidence in himself. So we have that confidence in Evan, but we have that confidence in a lot of people right now.

Q. Love the old school T-shirt there. Obviously the scouting report paid off. Could you give us your thoughts of the approach at the plate, obviously 12 hits, ten runs and how you guys were able to produce offensively?

COACH AVENT: Thanks for the comment on the whatever you call it, you call it slobbering wolf, whatever you call it. But this is the wolf we had when those guys Monte Towe, David Thompson, Tim Stoddard, those guys won a national championship, Tommy Burleson.

And this was the wolf of the '70s, and I'm glad to see they brought it back, because this is what we all remember in the glory days of NC State. But, anyway, back to your question. Say your question again.

Q. I'll ask a different question. You got two home runs today. I'm curious does this park feel like it plays bigger than other venues, or did you expect to hit home runs like you guys have all year?

COACH AVENT: The ball that Devonte hit, even though I thought he got it off the end a little bit, when he hit it I thought it was gone. It reminded me of the ball Trea Turner left the ball park back against UCLA in '13.

We noticed the ball was carrying a bit better in BP today, and obviously it carried a little bit better during the game. This is definitely carrying a bit better than it has at Omaha from what I remember in 2013.