WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL C - GREAT BRITAIN VS CANADA

March 12, 2023

Ernie Whitt

Edouard Julien

Owen Caissie

Tyler O'Neill

Chase Field

Team Canada

Postgame Press Conference

Canada - 18, Great Britain - 8 (7)

Q. Ernie, how would you describe that game?

ERNIE WHITT: Wow. I don't know how to describe it. I really don't. I don't know. There was a lot of offense out there. A little bit of sloppiness on their side. We hit the ball extremely well, extremely well, which was nice to see.

Q. Tyler and Owen, you guys got down 3-0 and the first pitch in the bottom Edouard goes deep. How does that change things in the dugout to strike that quickly?

TYLER O'NEILL: That was awesome, first pitch, wasting no time, he went out there ready to swing. Kudos to Jules for getting that done. That really got the wind back in our sails and we were steam rolling from there.

The boys kept the rally going today. A lot of good at-bats out there. A lot of walks, not giving anything away, it was really fun to watch.

Q. Edouard, the homer you had, were you coming out there thinking you were going to hit first pitch? Was that part of your game plan?

EDOUARD JULIEN: Not really. I just treated that at-bat like a normal one, not the first one of the game. My plan was to hit a fastball up in the zone. And I knew he had a good changeup, and he threw the first pitch, a fastball up, and I was fortunate to put a good swing on it.

Q. How would you rank this U.S. team against others you've faced over the years in this tournament?

ERNIE WHITT: The U.S. team, on paper they're pretty sound. But I think their '06 team was pretty solid, too. So you're asking about the U.S. team?

We'll know more about them tomorrow. But right now we're celebrating this win, and we'll take it one day at a time. And we come out tomorrow and you play the game to win. And that's what we're going to do.

Q. After the way things went in 2017 with the offense kind of not really coming out, do you feel like this is a bit of like a redemption tour for you guys, you scored 18 times and tied the WBC record in the first game?

ERNIE WHITT: I'd like to score 18 every game we play. It will make it a little bit easier.

Great Britain, they just kept battling, battling back. But as Tyler said, we had some great at-bats. We grinded out our at-bats. We took our walks. And we capitalized on some of the mistakes they made.

So it was nice to see. We have a lot of good hitters on this team, a lot of good young hitters, and they could be around for a while.

Q. Owen, on the home run did the umpire not signal homer on the field? Why were you sprinting around the bases?

OWEN CAISSIE: I saw it go up. I was like, well, you better get going here. But really I'll just keep running hard until they tell me to stop. I didn't see any umpire go like that, so I'm going to keep going.

Q. For all the hitters, when there's a lot of balls out there, you have to grind out at-bats, how tough is it to balance wanting to be aggressive but knowing that you've got to be patient a little bit, too, because you might not see a bunch of strikes?

OWEN CAISSIE: Well, I really just look at it as focusing on one zone. If it's there, I'll take a hack at it. But it's just really being disciplined, and I feel like every one of us in the lineup is a good hitter. We did a really good job of that.

TYLER O'NEILL: I think the situation will dictate that, too. There's times you have to shoot the ball the other way, and there's other times you want to put the ball in the gap. Also other times where you want to take pitches. So game dependent.

EDOUARD JULIEN: I think every time we don't go out there to walk. I think the pitchers were just getting behind in the counts and every time -- we have good hitters in this lineup, like they said.

And we're patient and we're about to drive the ball like we showed today. And we did a good job.

Q. Owen, with this being your first one, what will you remember most about tonight?

OWEN CAISSIE: I'm not going to lie, the win. The win is pretty good. Obviously the hitting is cool. But honestly just a great team win, like the guys said before.

We were down a little bit at the start, and Eddie hit a nice lead-off bomb and it got us going. But definitely the win for sure.

Q. Ernie, it could be a disaster for the pitchers because of the rules, but with the mercy rule, is a little bit better, no?

ERNIE WHITT: As long as we're not getting mercied, that's fine. But believe me, we wanted to end it in the seventh inning. We were out on that field a long time today. There was a lot of pitches thrown. We just want to get the players off their feet and get ready for tomorrow night.

Q. About the use of the relievers, it's better to have -- that so many players who were used?

ERNIE WHITT: I think we've only lost probably two of them. I believe Rutter is probably down for a day. And Cal is probably down until the quarterfinal. Other than that, I think all the pitchers are within their limits that they could come back and pitch.

But to be honest with you, I doubt if they will until the following day. I try not to do that in this tournament and this early in spring, try to give them a day off from the days that they pitch.

Q. Tyler, have you noticed any difference or a shift in your mentality with preparing to wear Canada on the chest instead of an MLB club?

TYLER O'NEILL: I don't know. Like there's something special about wearing this uniform. I relish the opportunity to put it on every time I can. They come few and far between now. Like, the last WBC was six years ago.

And now it's 2023. I'm not sure how many opportunities I'll have to wear Canada across my chest. I'm trying to make the most of it every time I can.

Q. Ernie, do you have a starter for tomorrow night?

ERNIE WHITT: We do. Mitch Bratt will be pitching. 19-year-old kid out of the Texas organization. Good-looking young prospect. We have limitations on him.

Q. What kind? Less than the 65?

ERNIE WHITT: He won't see 65. He'll be a little south of that.