2021 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 23, 2021

Luke Murphy

Vanderbilt Commodores

Postgame Press Conference

Vanderbilt - 6, Stanford - 5

Q. You came in at a big spot there in the eighth, bases loaded to a kid that hit a couple of grand slams. What's going through your mind with the pitch sequence with him? I think you started with maybe five or six fastballs and ended with a slider, if I remember correctly?

LUKE MURPHY: Not too much thought behind that. I just kind of went in, knew I had to fill up the zone, bases loaded. I was just trying to attack and hope for some success.

Q. What did Coach Corbin -- I was going to ask you do you have any idea what Coach Corbin said to the guys in the dugout in the fourth inning?

LUKE MURPHY: I was in the bullpen.

Q. Just talk about the work from the pen tonight, really important. Clearly if you guys are going to continue this, but the work you got out of you guys tonight, just explain your effort tonight.

LUKE MURPHY: Starting with Maldo, he filled up the zone and did what he needed to do to get us deep into the ball game. McElvain did the same thing, attacked the zone. Produced weak contact. And I think that put us in a great spot to kind of stay in the game. Fish came in, tough AB right there, close calls.

And I just had to come in, bases loaded, just do what everyone else is doing, just following after one another, hoping -- going from there.

Q. What did you see out of Christian Little tonight, starting a College World Series game at the age of 17, especially since he hadn't pitched in a month?

LUKE MURPHY: It's difficult for a 17-year-old kid coming out there in an environment with 25,000 people. He gave us all he had. It's kind of difficult coming out there and expecting a lot. He's a young kid. I think -- give him some urgency about that, and hope for the future, I guess you could say.

So, I mean, he's a tough kid. He's going to bounce back. Hope we can use him for the rest of this tournament.

Q. Vaz was down to his last strike of the season. What was the mood like in the dugout, what were you thinking at that point, especially considering how Beck was mowing everyone down?

LUKE MURPHY: Our team, we're a pretty tough team. I don't think we were down. We were still motivated. Everyone in the dugout was thinking that we're going to win this ball game. There was no doubt about it.

And Javi had a great AB, followed by Spencer and then Enrique putting the bat on the ball and knocking in the run. There was no doubt about it in our dugout. I had full trust in our offense.

Q. Working your way from the losers' bracket in this tournament to the finals is one of the toughest things you can do. But is tonight a pretty good indication that for this team anything is possible?

LUKE MURPHY: Yes, sir. Anything's possible. We're a tough team. If you haven't noticed, our last couple of games are one-run ballgames, two-run ballgames. We'll keep putting up the fight, and I think we'll have a good chance to keep advancing.