2021 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 19, 2021

Jayson Gonzalez

Vanderbilt Commodores

Postgame Press Conference

Vanderbilt - 7, Arizona - 6 (12 innings)

Q. Considering everything you've gone through at Vanderbilt, missing last season, how does it feel to be able to get the walk-off hit in a huge moment like that?

JAYSON GONZALEZ: It was great. It's just a dream come true to be here, be in this situation. We've all worked so hard to get to this moment. So it's a pretty special moment.

Q. Was there ever a time where you weren't sure whether you were going to even be back at Vanderbilt and be in position to do something like that?

JAYSON GONZALEZ: No, not at all. I knew halfway through last year I was coming back. I had talked to Corbs over my break, and he was helping me with whatever I needed. And I knew I was coming back to school for sure.

Q. You're in the No. 9 spot. That's not a place where you expect a whole lot of hits to come from. What was your approach when Corbs put you in that spot?

JAYSON GONZALEZ: I would have the same approach if he put me any higher in the lineup, you know? I'm just glad I'm in the ninth because I get to see a lot more at-bats. I get to see a lot more pitches. And when I get up to the plate I get to know what the pitcher has and what he can land and not.

So I think my approach would be the same if I'm at the bottom, top, middle, yeah, it wouldn't matter.

Q. You're down 1-2 in that last at-bat. You're facing a strike throw, what were you thinking there? Were you thinking trying to put -- were you looking for a certain pitch? Were you looking to put a certain pitch in play in a certain spot? Walk me through your thought process as you're going through that pitch.

JAYSON GONZALEZ: My whole thought process was just try to get a ball over the plate. Put the ball in play and hopefully something good happens out of it. And thankfully something good happened out of that pitch.

Q. The home run, your home run in the sixth inning, fifth inning, whichever inning it was, what was your approach to that at-bat?

JAYSON GONZALEZ: Kind of the same thing, try to get a ball over the plate. We knew that the opposing pitcher had good stuff. So just try to get a ball over the plate and put the ball in play. That was my game plan. And I was able to do so.