2021 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 21, 2021

Brock Jones

Stanford Cardinal

Postgame Press Conference

Stanford - 14, Arizona - 5

Q. Can you start by talking about your day at the plate?

BROCK JONES: I was just talking with Esque a little bit about it. Happy and unhappy in some aspects. I kind of threw away some at-bats throughout the game, but I'm glad I was able to come back and get that big homer there to end it, kind of put the icing on top.

But things started out great for our offense. Hitting is contagious. So we had a lot of momentum rolling early. Then started to shift towards their dugout. Once we were able to get it out we were able to just keep rolling.

Q. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about how the team's mindset at the plate changed from Saturday to today?

BROCK JONES: I think it was really just us coming out and being loose. I think Saturday we were kind of uptight a little bit. A little nervous, like Alex said, a little star struck as well. Being in this atmosphere, it's totally different than we're used to, like Alex said.

But I think today we were able to come out and just be loose, have some fun. And we've played Arizona earlier on in the year. So we kind of knew what to expect. And I think that just got us the win today.

Q. I was going to ask you a little bit about that, how does the familiarity between you and Arizona, how did that kind of affect the dynamics of some things we might have seen out there today?

BROCK JONES: I mean, for us we really don't care about who the opponent is. It's the same game whether we're here, whether at Stanford, who ever we're playing. It's the same game we're playing. We really don't really care who the opponent is.

I've actually got a lot of good buddies over there and they've got a really good ballclub over there at UofA as well. But obviously familiarity is good but at the end of the day it's the same game.

Q. Did you make any adjustments leading up to that at-bat where you hit the home run? Or maybe what distinguished that at-bat for you? You mentioned that you were glad you ended somewhat on a high note there.

BROCK JONES: I think the game started to speed up a little bit for me throughout the game. I started to chase pitches down, some off-speed down. I think just slowing the game down -- and I usually tell myself just to be really aggressive and swing hard. That's kind of my cue because sometimes I take some passive swings and I'm a little passive in the box. I think that's kind of my cue.

And when things are going well, I really don't know what pitch is being thrown, where it's being located. It's I'm going to get my swing off and I'm going to go.

Q. Moving forward, going to be facing the loser between NC State and Vanderbilt. Given that you have experience with Arizona, do you have a team that you would rather face, come back against NC State or play against Vanderbilt?

BROCK JONES: Like I said earlier, I really don't think it matters who we play. I don't think any of us have a preference. Because I have a lot of faith and confidence in this ballclub and where we're at right now. And I think we're going to ride it out the rest of the tournament.

Q. You were close to making a couple spectacular catches out there. I guess how close did you feel and what's it like playing center field in this ballpark with so much room to roam?

BROCK JONES: It plays pretty straight up. We had some crosswinds today that were moving around a little bit. But I definitely should have made both those plays. The first one especially tipped off the end of my glove, so I was pretty upset about that one.

The second one, just a little out past my glove there. But I got a good jump and was able to get pretty close. But I'm glad that we were able to just get the runs back on offense and get momentum back.