2024 MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 15, 2024

Kevin O'Sullivan

Florida Gators

Postgame Press Conference

Texas A&M - 3, Florida - 2

KEVIN O'SULLIVAN: Well, another one-run game. Everybody who is coming to the game is certainly getting their money's worth. These were all four exciting games.

Texas A&M was outstanding on the mound today. I think we struck out 16 times, if I'm right, walked three times. Their pitching staff was outstanding. We made a late run at it. We had second and third with nobody out and obviously couldn't push one across at that point. But scored a couple there in the seventh.

And brought in Neely. He kept the score where it was. And got bases loaded with two outs and had an opportunity there. And obviously he made a really good pitch.

And Cade Kurland obviously came within inches of taking the lead there. So obviously a difficult one, but another great game to be involved with. And we'll look forward to playing on Monday.

Q. The offense got flowing especially as the game (indiscernible) but there were a lot of runners, (indiscernible). How did you feel about the team's performance? What went right and what went wrong?

KEVIN O'SULLIVAN: Well, I mean, in all honesty, Lamkin was their third pitcher throughout the year and has been struggling a bit lately but he was really good against us in Gainesville. And Cortez has obviously been one of the best relievers in the country the last month.

I thought we did a good job. But we had some opportunities, and when you have those opportunities to score, you know, you've got to cash in. And one inning we had second and third with nobody out. We needed to at least get one and unfortunately we weren't able to do that.

Q. The way the season's gone, you guys have been playing postseason baseball for over a month. Do you think just the pressure you guys have been under to perform and win games with your backs against the wall can help you win Monday?

KEVIN O'SULLIVAN: Yeah, we weren't particularly sharp on the mound either. I think we walked seven with intentional walks. We kind of wiggled ourselves out of a few situations there. We had a couple of 0-2 mistakes with Liam that cost us. But when you lose one-run games it really just comes down to the fundamentals. And we just weren't good enough in certain areas today.

Q. What was your view of the Kurland hit? And did you think it was going off of the bat? Or do you think the wind was blowing a little bit in on that?

KEVIN O'SULLIVAN: The wind was blowing a lot in the first three, four innings. I did the in-game interview, and right before that saw the wind had died down. Towards the last inning or two, it started to blow in a little bit. I thought he had it because he never reacts like that when he hits one; he kind of just puts his head down and rounds the bases. He thought he got it; I thought he got it. The right fielder made a heck of a play.

Q. Some teams would be crushed by losing a game like this, coming so close with Cade's hit. It doesn't seem like that was it. They don't seem emotionally devastated. How confident are you that they can respond and win out and keep going?

KEVIN O'SULLIVAN: Obviously we have no choice at this point. It's been a tough month for us. It's been a tough year for us. But it's been a tough month for us because we've had to, every game was so meaningful. This one's no different than what we've been going through for the past month.

The disappointing part is we weren't able to do a couple of things on the mound and at the plate today to make a difference in the score.

But once again, you've got to credit A&M, and their pitching was good. They got timely hits when they needed to. That's the way this whole tournament has gone so far. It's been one pitch here, one at-bat there. And like I said, you've got three one-run games -- or now four that have been outstanding to watch and be a part of.