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NCAA MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIESJune 18, 2011Cody DentBrian JohnsonKevin O'SullivanDaniel PigottHudson RandallOMAHA, NEBRASKA Florida – 8 THE MODERATOR: Congratulations, Coach. Give us an overview. COACH O'SULLIVAN: I was awfully proud of the way we battled back. We gave up those three runs there in the 3rd. Uncharacteristically made a couple of errors. You know, didn't have a really good feeling at that point, to be honest with you, facing the first-rounder and the guys had a ton of success this year. But I was awfully proud of the way we battled back. We kept chipping away at this thing. And Hudson did a really nice job settling in. And obviously our pen did a nice job, too. But it was good to get the first one, but obviously we've got a long way to go but awfully proud of the way we battled tonight. THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. Brian, can you talk about the ball? It did get out of the park, but just talk about that at-bat and coming back and then your first game back having such a big hit? BRIAN JOHNSON: To be honest with you, Sully talked to me before the at-bat. He said it's going to be a big at-bat for the game. So I just went up there really looking for one pitch I could drive. And I ended up getting that pitch. But I was really excited to get back out there after three weeks not being able to play. So I thought after my first at-bat went by it didn't feel like it happened. So I was really excited to get back out there. Q. Coach, from looking at the scouting reports or video of Jungmann what did you see differently tonight that maybe he didn't do in some of these video or scouting reports you saw; why did he struggle so much? COACH O'SULLIVAN: I think it was a command -- I don't know if it was a long inning or what. But they go up 3-0, I believe he walked two guys in a row. I think he walked 8 and 9. And so sometimes that happens. It's a long inning. It's just one of those things. But we put together some quality at-bats. I think we had one hit through three or four innings. And he's got a good arm. He's going to pitch for an awfully long time. We took advantage of a couple of walks that inning. Q. Hudson, just talk a little bit about recovering from that kind of rough inning, and you settled down, 13 in a row there? HUDSON RANDALL: Yeah, you know, Sully always tells me if you give up one, don't give up another. Always stop the bleeding where it's at. That was my main focus coming out there. I kind of slipped up when I got 0-2 on that batter trying to bunt, bunted him over, and he ended up getting a hit. But after that, they weren't getting really good swings on me throughout the game. So I was just trusting my stuff, throwing strikes, trying to get out of it with the least amount of damage as possible. Q. Kevin, can you talk about Bryson, he was on base all five times tonight; obviously he had a nice catch out there as well, and just what he's been able to do after being out for that month, and how you stuck with him and just talk about his story, really? COACH O'SULLIVAN: Well, we recruited him as an infielder. I feel kind of stupid we didn't play him in the outfield last year. That was a key catch of the ballgame. But to have him back means an awful lot to our lineup. He gives us some stability there at the top. He grinds out at-bats. We flip-flop him in the 1-2 spot. But he's done a great job for us this whole year. And he had a great, obviously a great game tonight. Q. Coach, two-part question: One, got Vanderbilt again, could you talk about the pros and cons of an opponent you're so familiar with on this stage; and, two, you and Tim go back a long ways with Jack like at Clemson, could you talk about that association and what that kind of adds to this game? COACH O'SULLIVAN: First of all, they're very, very well coached and I think this will be fifth time we've played them this year. It's not going to be easy. I'm sure they've got Garvin, SEC pitcher of the year. And it's going to be a tremendous challenge for us. The positives are we know each other, as far as our teams are concerned. The negatives are, we're playing a really good club. And it's going to be a little difficult before the game. But I'm sure Tim's going to feel the same way I do; once the umpire says "plays ball," it's back to business. But me and Tim go back an awfully long way. I care about him deeply. Just proud that we get an opportunity to play each other on this stage. Q. Daniel, mentally, how important was this win, especially after what happened to you guys last year here? DANIEL PIGOTT: It was definitely a very, very big win for us. We came here last year and we were very disappointed to go 2 and done. So to start out this way, having a great game, good pitching, solid hitting, I think it was very, very big for us. Definitely going to give us a lot of confidence going through the rest of the tournament. Texas is a very good team; and going into the game on Monday, I think we're going to have a lot more confidence because of it. Q. Cody, just talk a little bit about your postseason resiliency, you had another big hit for them? CODY DENT: Just been trying to put good at-bats together, not be an easy out. Do whatever I can to get on base, work the pitcher, do my job at the time whether it's moving the runner over or moving them in. Q. Daniel and Brian, Coach said he didn't have a real good feeling down 3-0 with Jungmann on the mound. What did you guys feel? DANIEL PIGOTT: I know a lot of it is good, I know who we're facing, we're going to battle, and regardless of the situation, I know I always have a good feeling with our hitters that we're going to put together good at-bats and find a way to score. That situation is just one of those times you have to hope kind of that he sort of gives you something to take advantage of it when he does, and I think we did that. BRIAN JOHNSON: Same thing Daniel said. I knew that one inning wasn't going to obviously slow Huddy down at all. I knew he was going to put some 0s up on the board. I didn't feel bad at all. I knew we were going to come back. I felt very confident. I felt that our lineup's very sparky, we can get going at any time. I knew there was a lot of ballgame left and I knew it was going to be a good game. Q. Hudson, just kind of talk about the confidence you were able to get there after the offense got going, after you guys were down 3-0 and made it 3-2? HUDSON RANDALL: When the offense came back, we made it a tie game, ended up going by one, my confidence grew and I was able to just attack the hitters more. I wasn't trying to pitch to the corners too much. Since we scored four in that one inning, I relied on our offense. I knew we could score at any time. I was just trying to make quick innings out of there, go one, two, three, get us back into the dugout to score more runs. Q. Brian, a lot has been made about maybe this is going to be a pitching-oriented College World Series, because of the great staffs and the new bats. But in this game coming up we're going to have two really, really good offenses. Could you talk about maybe from a hitter's standpoint how you look at all the talk about the pitching and what these two offenses are capable of? BRIAN JOHNSON: I think if you look back at last year, the College World Series was really pitching-dominant. I mean, I feel like pitching is a big aspect of the game. Good pitches, getting good hitting a lot of times, but tomorrow two good offenses, or Sunday two good offenses are going at it. We faced Vanderbilt early in the season, they can swing the bats. But it's going to be a good game. We played each other, I think it's going to be the fifth, like Sully said, and we'll see what everyone's got. Q. Kevin, what explanation did you get from the umpires on the home run that wasn't, and would you recommend a review of the ground rules maybe or a design change or something so something like that doesn't happen again? COACH O'SULLIVAN: No. I just think it's part of the game. I thought it went out. But you don't know. It's a tough call. But it's just one of those things that didn't have an outcome on the game; and, like I said, it didn't have any outcome. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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