2023 MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 25, 2023

Kevin O'Sullivan

Jac Caglianone

Wyatt Langford

Ty Evans

Florida Gators

Postgame Press Conference

Florida - 24, LSU - 4

COACH O'SULLIVAN: A lot to be said. We swung the bats really good today. And the wind was in our favor. It was obviously a tight game to start. And then we just swung the bats extremely well, obviously.

I thought the double play that Blake Purnell got was a huge play in the game. And obviously Nick came in and did a terrific job on the mound.

We're excited about the opportunity to play tomorrow. Obviously we can't take any of these runs into tomorrow. We'll have to reset, reboot. But awfully proud of the way they responded from last night's tough loss.

Q. Jac and Wyatt, a difference in the middle of the order tonight. What was flowing for you guys in terms of seeing hitting the ball creating the run-scoring opportunities?

JAC CAGLIANONE: We couldn't really take what happened yesterday into today. We played with our backs against the wall before. (Indiscernible) not to let it creep into today. Really just went up there stress-free, taking it one pitch at a time.

WYATT LANGFORD: We did exactly what we said we were going to do -- flush last night and come in today ready to play. The balls were falling for us today. And that's just kind of how it went.

Q. Ty, take us through the grand slam that somehow stayed fair for you?

TY EVANS: I honestly thought it was foul off the bat probably just like everybody else. But I just started jogging it out and I looked up at Luke and he was spinning around in circles. I didn't see the ball. I just knew it was out when he started doing that.

Q. Jac, how much did that big grand slam from Ty, from your perspective, kind of let everyone breathe a little bit given that it gave you a little bit of a lead and you thought, okay, we're in this game now?

JAC CAGLIANONE: Ty stepped up in the biggest way possible this week. Couldn't ask any more of him. Really kind of helped take the pressure off as a team having a comfortable lead, something we haven't had this week so far. And we were really just able to roll with it.

Q. Ty, what has this Omaha run felt like for you?

TY EVANS: It feels pretty incredible. I mean, not just me contributing, but just our team as a whole. We've got a lot of older guys leaving next year, a lot of guys that just really care about this team. To be able to help give our team a chance to win, it's been incredible.

Q. Tale of two games for you guys. Yesterday six hits; today 23. There's a chance you might be going up against Paul Skenes tomorrow. What are you going to take away from today into tomorrow, whether or not Skenes ends up pitching?

JAC CAGLIANONE: Just gotta go into it like it's any other game. There's a lot on the line, but as long as we just keep playing our game, I think the cards will fall where they will.

TY EVANS: I mean, same thing, we have to just go into tomorrow like it's any other game, just with a bunch of confidence and just to know that our team is going to win.

WYATT LANGFORD: I mean, all the runs we scored today, obviously we can't carry those over to tomorrow, but we can carry over the momentum. It doesn't matter who they pitch, we're going to be ready to play.

Q. Jac, do you feel like Skenes will pitch, just your gut feeling? He pitched on Thursday.

JAC CAGLIANONE: Be kind of crazy, but anything's possible in the postseason.

Q. Jac, can you talk about the pitching, the dominance of what you got to see from your guys today? And breaking some Omaha records scoring all those runs today.

JAC CAGLIANONE: Yeah, I mean, our bullpen has been really solid throughout the whole postseason. They've really done a great job stepping up for us as hitters when our production rates aren't too, too high. And having a guy like Fic step up and do exactly what he did today was amazing. I'm just happy for him.

Q. Jac, how does it feel to break the Division I BBCOR home run record set by Ivan Melendez last year? And how do you feel your approach, not just offensively but within your pitching strategy coming into tomorrow, and what aligns for the pitching staff as well?

JAC CAGLIANONE: The record's cool and all but the biggest thing on my mind is winning tomorrow. You can't -- like Wyatt said, you can't take any of these runs into tomorrow. It's all fresh ball game. And hopefully our bullpen keeps doing what they're doing, and I think we'll be fine.

Q. Jac, probably getting the starting assignment with the season on the line. How much are you looking forward to that coming off the game you had today?

JAC CAGLIANONE: I'm really excited. I'd give anything for this team to win. I said it earlier in the year, my biggest goal is just to get a ring on these guys that have been here a while. That's the whole game plan for tomorrow.

Q. Why did you pull up at second on the last hit, Wyatt?

WYATT LANGFORD: It definitely crossed my mind to not stop running, but I didn't want to make the third out at third.

Q. Just the job of the bullpen tonight, obviously with Thurston struggling and you mentioned Blake coming in and Nick giving you five innings. How big was that as the runs kept on pouring on?

COACH O'SULLIVAN: Obviously it was the difference in the game. I mean, we had a 3-3 game. And then Blake came in, like I said, and got the big double play, 6-4-3, and sunk the ball. He did a really nice job the following inning.

Then they were going to go left-right-left, and he was having a little trouble throwing strikes to left-handed hitters. So we went to Fic. We were at the bottom of the order.

And what can you say about his effort? It was outstanding. Because our bullpen was a little light today. We weren't going to use Neely or Cade in this game, so some other guys needed to step up.

The goal was to, if we got into any trouble, was to go to Slater in the middle part of the game and hopefully ride him for three or four innings. But turned out we didn't have to use him today.

Q. How do you feel about your pitching overall going into this last game? You talked about going into this, your players are rested, but you wanted to keep their edge and whatnot. How do you feel about it the last game?

COACH O'SULLIVAN: We've got one of our weekend starters going on four days' rest. And, like I said, Neely and Cade, who have been pitching an awful lot for us out here, got the day off. Ryan Slater hasn't pitched.

I think we're in as good a shape as we possibly could be in game three of a weekend series. That's what this is.

The irony of the whole thing is, obviously Jac has struggled a little bit throwing strikes in the middle part of the year. And just felt like if we were ever going to have an opportunity to win the last game of the year he was going to have to stay in the rotation. He'll have that opportunity tomorrow to pitch. So it's kind of funny how things work out.

Q. You were beaming after the game. Obviously elated. But then it looked like you kind of sat by yourself in the dugout for a minute. That swing of emotions, what is that like? Where does it come from, especially on this stage?

COACH O'SULLIVAN: It's really hard to unwind, to be honest with you. You lose a game like last night and it's just really, really hard to kind of let it go. But you have to. That was the message last night.

And then just to flip the switch and the whole story -- the whole narrative changes, it's just -- yeah, it's emotional. You just take it in and support all the fans. They're singing the song at the end. And it's a really, really cool. It was a really cool deal.

Q. Do you look at the LSU pitchers and tell your team this guy may pitch, this guy may pitch? And do you expect Skenes to pitch? I don't think you've ever played against him, I would imagine.

COACH O'SULLIVAN: I've really got no comment -- whoever pitches for them, that's their decision to make. Whoever they decide to throw, we'll be ready to play.

Q. You discussed yesterday about offensive approach. Did you see a difference today in terms of the approach at the plate early on, and did it snowball during the course of the game?

COACH O'SULLIVAN: I think once Jac got the single back to the middle, I think that kind of took some pressure off of him, even though it was a 4-hopper through the middle of the field, I think he relaxed a little bit.

Obviously your best players have to perform. Wyatt had an unbelievable day. I think he went 5-for-5; Jac, obviously had a good day at the plate; Cade couple hits. When those guys start going, our offense, obviously, is a lot better. And our best players performed really well today.

Q. Between the two games, there's obviously been a little bit of a swing of emotion one way and back the other way. What do you tell the guys coming into tomorrow?

COACH O'SULLIVAN: Not a whole lot. Honestly, what's there to say? We're playing for a national championship. I think the more you talk about things, the more maybe uptight they might get, and relax.

They don't need a rah rah speech tomorrow. We're playing a very good LSU team and the winner is going to have the opportunity to be national champion. Enjoy it tonight and wake up tomorrow and stay in our routine.

Q. Yesterday you mentioned that you thought in the loss the team was taking maybe too many big swings with two strikes. Today, hitting six home runs, do you feel like the team was taking the same amount of big swings or connecting better? What do you think happened between yesterday and today?

COACH O'SULLIVAN: I don't really know, other than we didn't chase balls out of the zone as much. Obviously faced a totally different pitcher today than Ty last night. Ty just threw the ball really good last night.

But once again, we've hit the entire year. We just ran into a really good pitcher last night.