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NCAA MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 21, 2010

Preston Tucker

OMAHA, NEBRASKA

Florida State Â– 8
Florida - 5

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Preston Tucker, Jonathan Pigott, and Coach Kevin O'Sullivan. Opening statement, Coach.
COACH O'SULLIVAN: Anytime you come to your last game, it's awfully hard. But first I'd like to compliment Florida State. They did what they needed to do to win today. They've swung the bats extremely well. Got off to an early lead. Their go-to guys helped them today obviously. Holt had three runs scored and McGee had the big three-run homer in the third, and they kind of distanced themselves.
I was awfully proud of our team, the way we battled all the way back. Shoot, we had the go-ahead run at the plate there in top of the 9th. So I was awfully proud of the way we battled.
Obviously we're disappointed, but we accomplished more than most teams did, obviously, to be one of the eight teams to get to the College World Series, and hopefully we'll be fortunate enough to come back next year.

Q. For all three of you guys, what went through your heads when you saw the ball come off of Mike's bat on that last pitch?
COACH O'SULLIVAN: I kind of leaped up like I do on most line drives. I was hoping it would go either over his head or a little left or a little right.
He put a good swing on it. That's all you can ask of him. I thought we put together a really good inning there. We hit quite a few balls today that were right at them. But that's baseball. If we were playing tomorrow, we might hit some balls not as hard and they find their way through.
But he put a great swing on it, and that's all you can ask of him.
PRESTON TUCKER: Mike had been hitting the ball hard all day. We felt real comfortable coming to the plate with the bases loaded. He hit it hard off the bat. We all got excited about it. Unfortunately, it was right at them. There was nothing we could do about it.

Q. Kevin, your team played so well at home all season. How much do you think maybe this stage and the nerves might have affected your guys over the last two days?
COACH O'SULLIVAN: I don't know if it was nerves. We obviously didn't play like we have all year. I don't want to take anything away from UCLA or Florida State, because they played obviously better than we did.
I don't want it to be the focus, that we weren't used to playing in this type of a crowd. We obviously didn't play like we have all year. We're a much better pitching team than this and defensive club than this.
We just need to get better. And there's a lot of things we need to improve on. But like I said, I don't want to take anything away from UCLA or Florida State. They just played better than we did. We have to improve on a few areas. And hopefully we'll be fortunate enough again to come back next year.

Q. Coach, from your perspective, what was the nature of Hudson's struggle today?
COACH O'SULLIVAN: You know, he threw the ball pretty good. And then in the 3rd, something quite didn't look right. And Mike went out and talked to him a couple times. I went out and talked to him.
I think what happened, I think he got a little overheated. He just didn't look quite himself. And that's why we took him out in the middle of the at-bat there. And it was a good thing we did. He's the type of kid that probably wouldn't admit anything was wrong, but it was the right move.
And took him a little while to catch his breath. He overheated. But he's been really good for us all year. And just one of those things. Just couldn't plan for it, to be honest with you.

Q. Coach, you've seen over -- like we've seen over the past few years, teams like Oregon State come and go and come back the next season, and LSU go 1 and 2 and they win it all last year. What's does this give to your team? What do you hope they learn from this and take from it for next season?
COACH O'SULLIVAN: Coaches and players alike, you give them a taste, and you want to come back again. I think anytime you come to Omaha, whether it's a player or assistant or head coach, you learn from this experience. There's things that we all need to prepare ourselves better if we get this opportunity again next year.
I think we're all foolish if we don't pull something away from this and try to improve and try to make ourselves better for next year.
I do like our team coming back. We're going to have some great leadership. Obviously it's been well documented. We've got a young team. They're competitive. I know this isn't going to sit well with them. This will give us some motivation going into fall practice. And we've got some good players coming in as well.
So I think as a group, we'll prepare ourselves better. But we, like anybody else, we want to get back here as soon as possible. But I do like our team coming back.

Q. Kevin, this is very corny, I'll tell you right up front, but since you're the first team eliminated in the last time that this is going to be played in this stadium, can you just say something about Rosenblatt and what it's meant to college baseball all the years?
COACH O'SULLIVAN: I feel very fortunate to be a part of this whole experience. Obviously, we're disappointed with the outcome. But to be a part of this tournament, the last year in Rosenblatt, that's something that can never be taken away from these players and coaches. But I can tell you we're looking to forward hopefully breaking in the new one next year. So we'll see.

Q. Preston, just from a player's perspective, was this a little disappointing to go out early or what are your emotions like since the season is over?
PRESTON TUCKER: Obviously it's disappointing. Our goal is not only to get here but to win. Anything less than that is disappointment. Especially for the seniors who are going to play their last game of college baseball.
All we've got to do is try hard next year. I think we had a great experience here. It was new for every one of the teams. So I think if we get back here next year, everyone's going to be a little more experienced and be a little more confident, maybe.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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