SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE BASEBALL TOURNAMENT

May 27, 2022

Brad Bohannon

Caden Rose

Hoover Metropolitan Stadium

Alabama Crimson Tide

Postgame Press Conference

Texas A&M 12, Alabama 8

BRAD BOHANNON: Obviously a tough loss tonight. Really pleased with the way we came out. We came out hot again. The energy was good. I thought Grayson gave us a really good start, and for as well as we have pitched out of the bullpen this tournament and a lot of times this year, we weren't very good out of the bullpen.

Look, Texas A&M is a really good offensive team. I think in league numbers, they're the best offensive team in the league, in the league games. And we just gave them way too many freebies. You can't hit them and walk them as often as we did. They're going to make you pay, they're going to run into a ball or two like they, and that was kind of the story of the game.

If you had told me before the game that we were going to score in four different innings and put up three crooked numbers, I would have felt really good about it, but to their credit, they made us pay for the mistakes that we made and got a really quick turnaround for the biggest game of the year tomorrow morning.

Q. Caden, you guys have been able to score early and then kind of struggled after the fourth inning. What do you think has gone into that?

CADEN ROSE: I mean, we've got a really good team, and the other team, they've got really good pitching. In the SEC you've got to score when you can, so we scored early and we scored a couple late today, but it wasn't enough tonight.

Q. Caden, early in the year you were kind of looked at as a replacement for William Hamiter when he got hurt and then you've kind of really embraced your starting role and you've moved into the leadoff spot and you've become one of the better bats on the team. Aside from the loss, what do you think you've really done best at improving your game this season?

CADEN ROSE: Man, it's a team game. I've got -- I'm the same person I was at the beginning of the season as I am now, and some balls are starting to find some holes. Got a little bit of confidence at the plate, and that's helped.

Q. Caden, you made a big catch when the bases were loaded at the end. Talk about the effort in the outfield right there and making that big catch to keep your team in the game?

CADEN ROSE: I mean, I'm going out and I'm just trying to win. That's the goal here, we're trying to win. I knew that that needed to be an out. If that ball gets down, they score. I think it was tied at that point, so I was trying to keep it that way.

Q. Going off that, how do you find ways to sustain scoring in the latter innings of each game?

BRAD BOHANNON: You know, I think a part of that is a lot of these really high-end teams that we're playing have really good bullpens, so I do want to credit the opposing team. We scored two in the seventh. And second and third, nobody out, you need to get one or two of those in, and they made some really good pitches.

You know, these teams are good. You're not going to score in every inning. I would love to score early and score in the middle and score late. Hitting is hard, and you score eight runs against a team like Texas A&M, you've got to win that game if you can, and we didn't do enough out of the bullpen tonight.

Q. A really tough way to lose the game, but the run is not over. You've got to play tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. How do you leave this game late and wake up early and refocus for one or two games tomorrow?

BRAD BOHANNON: I mean, there's no other option. We've been playing with our backs against the wall for three weeks now, and there's no time to pout, there's no time to feel sorry for ourselves. It's a really quick turnaround, and it'll be Florida's fourth game in four days. We've got our dude going, Garrett McMillan. Dylan Ray is fresh. Everybody's on the board. It's tournament time. Everybody is going to pitch, and I don't have any doubt that our kids will come out with good energy and be fired up. It doesn't mean we'll play well, but our kids will be ready to play tomorrow.

Q. The decision to leave Grayson in, was there any talk to take him out? It looked like he was at the end of his rope right there before giving up that home run.

BRAD BOHANNON: Those decisions are always easier in hindsight when you see the result, but I thought Grayson really executed a lot of pitches and was really pitching well. Those are tough decisions of knowing what you've got in the pen. I thought he had just kind of earned -- Dylan Rock, he's scary. I just thought Grayson running sliders in on his hands and fastballs in was a better matchup than what we had getting loose in the pen.

And no disrespect to those guys. Look, man, they're really good. Sometimes they get a hit, and even if I had it to do all over again, I would have given that batter to Grayson. I tip my cap to Dylan Rock. He put a good swing on a 3-2 breaking ball.

Q. You guys have won five games in a row before this. Do you feel like you need to win one more to lock up that regional, or do you think your team has already done that?

BRAD BOHANNON: I mean, I haven't looked at that stuff in depth enough. I know I'll feel better if we win another one. We're going to approach tomorrow like our season is over if we don't win, I can tell you that. Then we'll read what all you guys write and check all the Twitter and all that and figure out what load -- do you want a mid major tournament winner we need to be cheering for, but all of our focus right now is just on beating the Gators tomorrow.