2021 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 24, 2021

Zach Zubia

Texas Longhorns

Postgame Press Conference

Texas - 6, Virginia - 2

Q. I'm sure that hit felt very good for you in the ninth inning. What does this team need to do to survive these next two days against Mississippi State?

ZACH ZUBIA: The first thing we've got to do is go home and get some rest, get back on our feet tomorrow and learn from what we did wrong, learn from what we did right and just come in with the same mentality, to compete and fight for every pitch. Just scratch and claw.

Q. Do you feel like the momentum that y'all have from tonight and the Tennessee win carry over? And do you feel like y'all really hit y'all's stride up here?

ZACH ZUBIA: I think that we take every game, like, with a different mindset, a clear mindset. But, yeah, I mean, I think we're doing things right. We're doing some great things on offense. Doing some great things on defense. And we've just got to continue to use that and just keep on focusing and just keep on with the same mentality and same approach.

Q. Coach Pierce said that you need to trust yourself more at the plate and maybe be a little less analytical. How do you change that this late in the game for you and your college career?

ZACH ZUBIA: I just gotta trust myself. I think that's something that is really important to me. It's important to every hitter, is just trusting yourself, trusting your work. And I think I showed that in my last at-bat. Obviously the first three were not the results that any of us wanted. But just still grinding away and just keeping your head down and taking every at-bat new and you're going to come up and put up a good swing and be big for your team. So that was the whole mindset for me the whole day.

Q. You've seen a lot of everything in 3-2 counts, breaking balls earlier 3-2, did you think you were going to get a fastball after that 2-2-1 miss? Take us through what you were thinking before you drove that ball in the gap?

ZACH ZUBIA: I was just going up there, trying to react. The guy had good stuff on the mound. And I was just trying to go up there, react, put a good swing on whatever pitch was coming. I wasn't looking for anything specific. I was just ready to react to whatever pitch was thrown and try to get that run in any way possible.

Q. How did you kind of keep yourself mentally and physically ready during the whole weather delay? And the ninth inning, I asked about with Coach, what was going through your mind when you guys started scoring on UVA's pitching?

ZACH ZUBIA: During the rain delay, we just kind of kept a light focus. Our teammates, we're pretty close. So there were some jokes, some laughs. And we were just sitting there just kind of waiting to get the show on the road. And when we started putting runners in scoring position, the shortstop made a great play in the ninth. And when we scored those runs, I think it just gave us more confidence when we went out on the field for the bottom; those insurance runs were huge for Nixon to just go out there find the zone, and obviously it worked out.

Q. You look at Tanner, Aaron, Cole what they've been able to do out of the bullpen, even Keith in Game 1, having the comfortability of knowing what the bullpen can do for you guys late in game, does that give the offense a little bit of comfort when you're in a close game or in a tie game even?

ZACH ZUBIA: Yeah. I mean, I think any guy we run out on the mound we trust as position guys because we know they're going to pound the strike zone and that we're going to play great defense behind them. And that's kind of been the bread and butter, everyone trusts each other, regardless if it's a relief arm, pinch hitter or starter, everyone trusts each other; that's the culture around here. That's just our team.

Q. Did laying off that 2-2 breaking ball in the ninth hit your chest, did it give you more confidence going into the 3-2 pitch, and how much did you need that double just for your own kind of confidence?

ZACH ZUBIA: I mean, I'm going to be the first one to say, obviously my College World Series start hasn't been the greatest. But that's just a credit to my teammates, to my coaches just to have my back, keeping me mentally right, keep on telling me that you're going to come up in a big situation. And obviously that's what happened.

And I'm just happy to have great teammates, great coaches, great support staff, it's just very encouraging. And who doesn't like a bases-clearing double at the very end of a game to kind of solidify a win.

But, yeah, just happy for this team. Happy I can contribute to this team and just get ready for tomorrow.