COLLEGE WORLD SERIES: LEXINGTON SUPER REGIONAL

June 7, 2024

Mitch Canham

Aiden May

Travis Bazzana

Oregon State Beavers

Press Conference

MITCH CANHAM: Happy to be here. Happy to have these guys up here, as well, and happy to answer some questions, but thrilled to be playing over the weekend and digging into Kentucky, as well, a solid opponent. We know without a doubt it's going to be a great weekend of baseball.

Great to get in, get acclimated and get out on the field today and put in a good practice.

Q. Mitch, you talked a lot about the road issues you guys have had. It got better at the end of the year. Did you adjust anything? Did you pinpoint what was going on there or was it kind of a fluke?

MITCH CANHAM: Well, I think sometimes you just look at pure road record, that can be misleading. Neutral sites, we started the first three weeks on the road, so it's not necessarily maybe playing on the road that was a bit of an issue. Especially early on, we had been preparing so hard throughout the fall and the winter. I think we hit the beginning of the season full throttle. There were a handful of games that we had a lot of guys banged up, as well.

But making sure that we're finishing games, playing to win as opposed to trying not to lose has been a topic that you can talk about with any team. As you want to win so bad, sometimes those last couple outs can be the most difficult ones.

Overall I think just the way these guys -- when we were on the road at Washington State, the bond grew even stronger, I thought, with the guys, how they were having fun on the bus and at the hotel and there was a lot of laughter. I think you have to have a lot of that when you're out on the road, enjoy the moments, know how to travel, make sure you're staying in a good routine while at the hotel, getting up, getting out of bed, maybe not spending too much time down at the pool, getting some sun.

It's just learning moments as you go throughout the year, but I thought there was many games that we've played very well on the road. A very competitive series right at the end against Arizona, winning those first couple games. Offense was electric. The pitching did a phenomenal job. That's not just playing on the road, that's playing in the heat, too, and then carrying that over into the PAC tournament.

As we've talked about that through the year, it's also just getting acclimated to it a little bit, understanding how to go play on the road and stick with your process, using your pregame the right way, making sure that you're feeling, as Bazz would say, dialed throughout the game.

Q. Aiden or Travis, a lot has been made about this home-field advantage for Kentucky. The fans are excited as they've ever been, first time Kentucky hosting a Super Regional. It's sold out. How do you play that to your advantage?

AIDEN MAY: I think you use the crowd to your advantage. I think they're going to be great fans this weekend and they're going to be loud, but we've played in a lot of loud environments. Obviously Goss is a big example, and that's our fans, too. I mean, we played against Arkansas. There was 15,000 people at that game. We played a series at Arizona, like Skip touched on, which was a big one. There was a lot of people at that game. I think it's just using the crowd to your advantage and trying to use that to amp up your adrenaline but keep focused and just kind of let your stuff do the talking, just win ballgames at the end of the day. It's the same game whether there's 80,000 people or nobody.

TRAVIS BAZZANA: I think that obviously having a home crowd going wild every time something is happening is a nice thing, and we've had a lot of success at Goss, and I know teams feed off that. I think the biggest thing is just stepping in the box with confidence and comfort and being on the mound with confidence and comfort like it's your environment and just using the energy the right way. Some guys get caught up in sort of doubting themselves with no Oregon State fans or no home fans in those situations. So it's about preparing the same way you would, and again, just being able to find yourself and find your focus in that moment and be present with the pitch that's there. And the crowd really zones out. It's just getting to that state of focus, I think. I feel like our guys have gotten to that point more and more as the season has gone on, and Skip mentioned Washington State, and yeah, just starting to feel more confidence and comfort in away environments, and I think the crowds are going to be incredible just like -- yeah, it's going to be a great time. Just got to find that focus.

Q. Mitch, for those of us who don't follow you guys a lot, it looks like you guys had a lot of nicks, bruises, guys injured. You're getting healthy at the right time of year. How much is that going to help you?

MITCH CANHAM: Yeah, we've got a tough group. It would take more than a bruise for these guys to miss out on a few games. We got banged up pretty good. The beauty is we've had a lot of guys who have stepped up and been able to fill those positions and then some. It's been a great opportunity to rise to the occasion, which helped us get to the spot of hosting a regional, and that wouldn't have happened without the entirety of the group and being extremely competitive from our practice standpoint, making the most of those mid-week scrimmages, making sure those guys are ready to go to fill in innings on defense or at the plate or what have you.

But obviously we saw what we were capable of doing early on when we were running the projected starting lineup out there every day, having Micah and Brady in the lineup, Aiden had missed a little bit of time early on. We missed out on having AJ Lattery throw a handful of innings as a veteran guy and Kyle Scott, as well, who we anticipated closing a lot of games for us this year, but other guys like Bridger Holmes has been a huge stopper at the end of the games. Joey Mundt who has missed a couple years, got healthy and has been throwing the baseball extremely well.

So we had a little gap in the middle of the year with some guys getting a little beat up, but at the same time, they went through their rehab and their mental process the right way to be able to elevate at the right time.

We had talked about this last week, how Elijah Hainline is really hitting his stride right now. He's trying to find himself or find his mix in there, but you can see he's really adapted to our culture and is a strong part of the clubhouse.

I think that just opening up and talking with his teammates. I think that stuff happens going on road trips, sitting on the bus, on the flights, having those kind of conversations, and really -- like to the last question, as well, talking to a friend last night, he was a collegial football player. He always said, I want a coach to throw me a quick hitch real quick so I get hit the first time, and once I get hit I don't notice how big the stadium was. I asked him was it different playing in front of 110 at Penn State or 30 or 40,000 somewhere else. He said, as soon as I got hit the first time, it was as if I only saw and heard my teammates on the field. I think these guys do a great job of that, of quieting the noise and just playing together, especially you watch them, when something bad or something good happens on the field, they're communicating with one another or using our defensive time-outs, and that comes with a lot of leadership, especially up the middle.

Q. In getting acclimated to the surroundings here in the park, how do you think it plays to your team's build at all and does it compare to any other places you've played?

MITCH CANHAM: I haven't even stood on the field yet. Got to look out the window once, saw it from Google Maps. They've got a couple bases, there's a scoreboard. I saw there's about 6,000 fans that come through here.

Everyone is excited to get out there and experience a different field. You noticed the flag was moving a little bit to the right side today, so I think Travis is excited about that for batting practice, and even the guys that maybe don't have as much thump are excited about that piece, too. Just getting out there, seeing how the turf plays, fast, slow, hoppy. But knowing that our opponent does a little bit of everything, they can hit the ball out and they can definitely push, drag, sack. They're going to run the bases. A lot of guys with stolen bases and attempts.

I think with all that action happening on the field from our opponent and also the fans, I think it's just being able to control the moment, use our breath. That's why we do mental skills every day, is being able to control when things get noisy.

Q. Bazz, (indiscernible) how would you describe where the guys are at right now and the kind of vibe?

TRAVIS BAZZANA: Yeah, I think we're in a really good spot. I've kind of set this a couple times the last week or so. Really high hopes leading up to the season, really good fall, such a talented squad, and a combination of, again, the little injuries in the middle of the year and just finding ourselves as a group. It always felt like there was hitting at points in time a couple weeks with no pitching and defense and then there was pitching and defense with no hitting. Again, the last couple weeks we've been able to sort of put together all cylinders of the game, and it's been really enjoyable.

I think guys are finding their stride, playing with a lot of confidence, and just being able to flush things really quickly, not taking the AB on to defense, not taking the defense into the ABs, and then the pitchers have just been unbelievable. Aiden came out, Eric has given us a lot of innings, and then we've had our go-to guys out of the pen that have been shut down.

Just firing on the right cylinders. The vibe is really solid, and I think there's a good energy going into this environment that's going to be great here, and yeah, a lot of confidence.

Q. I'm sure you've mentioned this before. You're a long way from home. How did you find your way to Oregon State? And being a former cricket player, talk about the U.S. upsetting Pakistan.

TRAVIS BAZZANA: First question, yeah, obviously pretty far from home. In short, I've always had major league dreams since I was super young, and got to the point where college baseball was going to be the best option for me to take a step towards those dreams. That was about 15 or 16, and I started to look into what college baseball was. Didn't really know much. Again, as a kid researching college baseball, I was just looking for the winningest and most first-round picks and what programs produced great players and also won a lot.

Yeah, I had a kind of list of schools, went to a tournament on the West Coast, so it was kind of only seen by West Coast schools and Oregon State was by far the best program that reached out, and I had an incredible visit, and Coach Canham had just -- that was his first year on the job when I was getting recruited, and I just felt like it was a place I could flourish, really good coaching staff and really good community and environment. It was the right decision for me, and yeah, it's been incredible.

Then the cricket side of things, I kind of always identified as a baseball player. I played cricket, loved it. All of my friends and family did.

But that upset, like that's a huge win. Pakistan is probably not one of the -- they're a huge cricket country, but they're not like India or Australia or New Zealand, but for the U.S. to beat them in a World Cup is pretty incredible. Definitely props to U.S. cricket for the growth there, and that's exciting.

MITCH CANHAM: He didn't gloat about his accolades in cricket. He actually brought that up yesterday about high school stats. How here in the states we talk about our high school stats?

TRAVIS BAZZANA: Yeah, you don't go to high school fields in the U.S. for baseball and the center field fence is 350 and then kids come to college and talk about hitting 17 homers in high school. It's like, no joke, you popped it out to center. I mean, yeah, in Australia you just hit it in the gap and run and it goes 520 feet rolling like a long drive.

AIDEN MAY: Wait until we find out your high school field is 300.

TRAVIS BAZZANA: No. There's no fences. The baseball fields have four fields on each side so you hit it to the other field or to the rugby field that has got a couple dirt patches on it.

There's some good baseball fields in Australia, but a lot of them don't have fences.

Q. Travis, as the season has gone, now that it's kind of closer to the end and there's so much hype around you with MLB and all that kind of stuff, how have you been able to stay in the present and what kind of challenges have arrived and how have you overcome those?

TRAVIS BAZZANA: Yeah, it's been a different kind of year in terms of just things to navigate. But it's came really easily. I've got a passion for the game and a focus on winning that takes away from any noise and external things that have came about this year, I think.

The guys around me and the coaches and just like the community and family we have at Oregon State makes it so easy to kind of leave that and get in between the white lines and just compete. Yes, it's been different, there's been a lot of noise, but having the right people in my close circles and just a great team to go out and compete and care about winning, it just makes it easy to control those things.

But it's been different but great.

Q. Mitch, are Latt and Kyle in the lineup?

MITCH CANHAM: No, not this week.

Q. I know you're not going to give us your game plan, but Kentucky likes to create havoc on the base paths. You have two catchers but they're really different. Is it up to them or are your pitchers going to be cognizant --

MITCH CANHAM: I think if you put too much worry into that, then it can create issues. If you do what you've been trained to do all year and control the running game, mixing your looks, one, three, five or less to the dish, and let our catchers do their job -- sometimes if you worry too much, you start calling too many fastballs in the wrong situations or you nit-pick on the corners as opposed to attacking the zone, I think all of our guys have great confidence in both of our catchers as receivers and also as throwers, including blocking well.

If they run, then we get outs. If we didn't do a good job mixing our looks, being quick enough to the plate -- not overly quick, then they're going to take free bases.

But just like they've stole a lot of bags, they've run into some outs, too. I think you have to just be able to mix your looks. If you get sped up because of a base hit or a walk or an error or what have you and then get up there and don't pay any attention to them, then they're going to make you pay for it. If you pay too much attention, then the hitters are going to do the same.

We talk about that, creating an identity and pressure while you're on the bases. If anything you're trying to get them to think more about you on the bases than the guy in the box. So there's a balance there, but stuff that we'll cover today in our meetings and at practice. But no different. We've played against teams this year that got a lot of speedsters, a lot of them that will play small ball, a lot of them that can hit, too. So it's just blending it, but they do a good job of a little bit of everything.

Q. Who came up with the pitchers picking the hats on their start? What's the origin of that?

MITCH CANHAM: Forever, as far as I can -- yeah, being a catcher, I never got to choose the hat or the jersey. It was always the guy who got the start. Whether he was going 1 or 9, he gets to choose the jersey and the hat.

Q. Same thing?

AIDEN MAY: Yeah, around all the programs.

Q. You're trying to win a championship for a conference that's going away. What is that like for you guys to carry that banner?

MITCH CANHAM: I would say we do this for one another and our community. I'm born and raised in the northwest. I have a lot of pride in where I'm from and that community up there. I wouldn't say it's necessarily a chip on our shoulder -- personally. I'll let them speak for themselves on this one, but not doing it for the PAC or anything else like that. I think there's obviously a lot of interesting stuff going on across the country in collegiate athletics right now that leadership and adults need to make big decisions and get a lot of this under control and do the right thing for student-athletes, but I think when you go out there every day and you play for your family and my wife and my kids and these young men right now that are also family, the people that show up -- our regional and looking at all of our fans and watching these guys sign autographs after the game, you play for the guys in the clubhouse, you play for those people right there. I think that's where more motivation comes from than the conference. I think you can always use that if you want as part of motivation, but 10 years from now, everything is going to look a lot different. So is it leaning on that or is it the one thing that's always going to remain constant, and that's our Beaver baseball family and our university and our community. Granted, we come from all over. Not everyone comes from the northwest. A lot of our student-athletes do, but it's about being able to go into this clubhouse and this university, and these guys, they don't know it yet, but 10, 15, 20 years from now, that's going to be their closest group of friends, all the guys that shared that clubhouse together, regardless of how much they played or not.

I think that's the motivation that you get for those people, as opposed to the conference. I think that's not really a blip on my factor, I guess.

TRAVIS BAZZANA: I'll just add to that. I think one of the biggest things we talk about as a program is like controlling the controllables. This is just one of those things where it's taking it as an opportunity when things are kind of falling in that front, it's out of our control as players, but it's an opportunity to where things are going to change, and if we can take a team to a national championship, it's going to really allow this program to continue to thrive.

That's the motivation in all that. That's in our control, and it's always the goal every year at Oregon State.

With those things happening, it just makes it more of an opportunity. Yeah, whether it's comfort things or other outside noise, it's just about the people that support us and how this program is built. Everyone's goal is to continue that, and that's, again, part of the reason I came here is just everything is behind it and the pursuit of a national championship.

MITCH CANHAM: Imagine how great this opportunity is. Where others can say, oh, this is terrible what's happening right now, who better to take on something that to others may seem difficult than this group. So anytime something hard comes your way, you're given a gift. Some people mope about it. This is a great opportunity, and I think God gave us that gift of saying, hey, here's something that people perceive as very difficult, and I've given you guys the strength now and the endurance to go through this and thrive through it to inspire. I always say they're superheroes. As soon as they put on the uniform, everyone looks up to them because of the stuff they do, and they're changing people's lives, which is great. Great opportunity.