2021 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 28, 2021

Jayson Gonzalez

Vanderbilt Commodores

Postgame Press Conference

Vanderbilt - 8, Mississippi State - 2

Q. You were the first guy to see the reliever they brought in, Patrick there. Did you have much of a scouting report on him? Because you couldn't sit on deck and watch what he was throwing. What were you looking for? Were you looking for a certain pitch to hit when you got the home run there?

JAYSON GONZALEZ: No, I think the biggest thing was just trying to look for a ball over the plate. The guys in front of me had great at-bats. And they were just passing the lineup along. So the biggest thing for me was trying to keep the line going and continue that first inning.

Q. I seem to remember a couple years ago you hitting a few balls out of this park in batting practice. Do you remember that? And how is this experience different for you two years later having an impact on the game?

JAYSON GONZALEZ: Yeah, I remember it a little bit. I just remember coming out here, having fun. But this time around I'm playing, and I think the biggest thing was just slowing down the heartbeat and just trying to enjoy the atmosphere that we had tonight and help my team win and play with a lot of confidence.

Q. Talk about playing behind Jack tonight. What was it like seeing him pitch on the mound and scoring all those runs tonight? Talk about this lineup. Seems like no matter who you guys face you guys can put runs on the board?

JAYSON GONZALEZ: To start off with Jack, he's been great all year. He's had our back when we weren't doing too hot on offense. And we've had his back. So it's been a great year playing behind him and watching his pitches and just the maturity that he has, the confidence, I think, from him bounces off to a lot of us. So it's great playing behind him.

And with our lineup, we're just trying to put the ball in play, put as much pressure on the defense as possible, trying to get as much runs across the board. And, like I said earlier, trying to slow our heartbeat down and trying to help the team win.

Q. I know how much family to you. What were some of the emotions running the bases being able to look up and see them tonight?

JAYSON GONZALEZ: It was special, you know, coming all the way across from California and having the support system that I have from them. So much sacrifice that they put into this. It just truly means a lot. And my family means a lot to me and it was great seeing them up in the stands today.

Q. Just going back to playing behind Jack tonight. And I know you guys came into this one with, like, seven errors, not conventional for you guys obviously the way you played defense. What changed in this game? You mentioned maybe just playing a little looser.

JAYSON GONZALEZ: That was the biggest thing, we knew Jack was going to throw a lot of strikes. The biggest thing was playing loose, having fun. Like I said earlier, enjoying the atmosphere that we had. We knew the atmosphere was going to be loud and a lot of fun. So the biggest thing was just having fun, playing loose and just helping Jack win.

Q. You talked about playing loose. Was that you guys were loose when you came out and that helped it happen that way? Or was it the base runners and the hits pile up and then that helps you to get loose once you put a 7 spot on the board there?

JAYSON GONZALEZ: I think it started did during BP. We were having fun out there hitting BP loose, taking ground balls loose, just trying to have as much fun as we could. And just trying to enjoy the atmosphere that we had tonight.

Q. What's it like -- you talk about the atmosphere -- what's it like when it's seemingly 30,000 of them are wearing maroon?

JAYSON GONZALEZ: We've played on the road at a lot of tough stadiums. And I think throughout the year that's helped us a lot. Coming in tonight, like I said, we were trying to enjoy it as much as we can. We knew what the atmosphere was going to be like. We knew what the mood was going to be like. So we were just trying to go out there and have some fun.