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NCAA MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIESJune 15, 2012Beau AmaralJeff GelalichAdam PlutkoJohn SavageOMAHA, NEBRASKA UCLA – 9 THE MODERATOR: John, give us an overview on the win. COACH SAVAGE: Well, the game could not have started any better for us. We were fortunate. We had some plate discipline, had some quality at‑bats, and we were fortunate we got some runs. I'm sure he has not started off a game like that all season long. Like I said, I have a ton of respect for Tyler and the job that he's done. So it was a good way of starting. I thought Adam was himself throughout the game. He pitched out of some problems with second and third. Didn't get any. We had 1st, 2nd, and 3rd and another situation he pitched out of. It was a typical Bruin win, really. Nothing fancy. No big home runs or anything like that. It was just more kind of plate discipline. Using the middle of the field. I think we calked eight or nine times in nine hits, and we played catch and we threw strikes. When you do those things, usually good things happen. It's the first game of our bracket, so there is nothing to celebrate, nothing to get too overly excited about other than we know that we're playing the night game on Sunday. Proud of our guys. Another key thing is I think they took the crowd out of the game a little bit. Whenever you put up 5 and they get 0, I think it calms things down a little bit, because that crowd was ready to go, and that team was very dangerous, and they don't quit. So we pecked away, and we won innings. The other day, if you look at the box score, it was a pretty typical game that we played all season long. Q. Coach, I know you alluded to it, but it seems almost formulaic for you guys, seven innings, and then kind of scratching runs across. Is that how you would draw it up, I guess? COACH SAVAGE: We have faith in the entire bullpen. It happened to be Berg the last three games, and it looks pretty good and somewhat easy to draw up. But we don't take it for granted. Adam battled. He's up to 112 pitches. Adam has not thrown a lot of pitches in his start this is season, so he's got a lot of gas in the tank. His pitch count has been really low all season long. I told him, you've got some left, and he did in the 7th. It was a big zero. He came back with the 3‑0 count, but we handed the ball over to David, and he does what he did. It was a solid win. Q. Adam, the Stony Brook hitters said they got a scouting report and knew what to expect from you, and they just couldn't hit you anyway. How is it you're able to beat so many people just pitching with your fastball? ADAM PLUTKO: I'm not exactly sure of that answer. I think a lot of it has to do with deception in my delivery I'm a flat ball pitcher, and I don't shy away from that. It's a lot easier to get outs with the ball in the air than with the ball on the ground. A lot more things can happen that way. I think deception has a large key in that, but they're good hitters. I don't think they executed as well today, but they're good hitters. Q. Coach, you spoke about the plate discipline. Can you talk about the third at‑bat of the game after you got the first two on? Looked like you were going to bunt them over, but you got ahead in the count 2‑0, and that walk kind of set the tables for the beginning. COACH SAVAGE: Yeah, Keefer's not your typical third hitter. He has no home runs. He's got maybe 10, 12 doubles, but he's an on base percentage guy. He's a money ball guy if you look at him. He sees the ball. He doesn't chase pitches. You've got to throw strikes at Cody. We've put him in that third spot and he's been a tough out. But he's not your prototypical guy. But at the end of the day we get the bases loaded and then they've got to face Gelalich and we want to be in that position. We were bunting 1‑0 even 2‑0 and after that, we were taking. Q. Could you talk about the plate discipline of your team today? JEFF GELALICH: We try to worry about winning each pitch. Try not to look too far into the at‑bat. Your goal is to beat that pitch. Whether it's you layoff a ball in the dirt or foul off a good pitch. You're competing with him, and you try to beat him on that pitch, and I think we did a really good job of that today. Q. Coach talked about it, Jeff, you took the crowd of it, and didn't let them get any momentum going. Your hit in the first, how key was that to relax you guys and maybe put them on their heels a little bit? JEFF GELALICH: Yeah, I think it took the crowd out of it, and helped us relax. It wouldn't have happened if the guys in front of me hadn't gotten on base. By the time I got up there, I had an idea how they were going to pitch. We're trying not to change because we're here in Omaha. We're just trying to have fun. Q. Adam, how comfortable was it for you after the first one when you're up 5‑0, you get out of the jam there, and they didn't threaten too much after that point? ADAM PLUTKO: Any pitcher knows, you get a lot of confidence when your team starts scoring runs. It makes it easier to pitch. They did a good job coming back in that inning, in the top of the second inning. They really put the pressure on. I got out of it, but it gives the team a lot of confidence, and gives the pitcher, for sure, a lot of confidence. Q. You started things off well against Tyler and had success. Is what you saw in Tate pretty much what you expected? Because the team just jumped on him right away, and everyone looked very comfortable. STUDENT‑ATHLETE: Yeah, we had a good idea what we were getting into facing him. He's a groundball machine. He is not a big strikeout guy. So we made an adjustment to to see the ball up in the zone. We really stuck to it with getting the ball on the ground and just kind of pecking away from them. Q. Beau, you guys have been ahead a lot since the NCAA Tournament started. Were you finding the way to stay ahead of people? BEAU AMARAL: Yeah, it's a big deal getting ahead early in the game. It kind of calms things down, especially here in Omaha, like Coach was saying with the crowd. We knew everybody was going to be rooting for these guys and being able to take the crowd out of it early is a pretty big deal. Q. John, you guys did get kind of shoved to the side as everybody talked about Stony Brook. Did that benefit you? Were you able to process that and use it to your advantage? BEAU AMARAL : Two years ago we were in the same situation with TCU, the whole crowd favored them over us. Coming into it, we had to take the crowd out of their game, and not worry about it. COACH SAVAGE: They deserve all the attention they're getting. So everything they got our guys don't read the newspapers. I'm not even sure they watch TV. They're focused. Regardless of who we play, this group has been ready to play when the first pitch goes. They did a great job. Beau, two strikes, 2‑2 hits the ball up the middle off of Tyler and kind of sets the tone for the day of beating some infielders. Of Kevin beat the infielders with the flyball over his head. It's just been a group that's up to challenges. They enjoy it, and so us being kind of pushed aside, I don't think they felt that way. At the end of the day, they knew they were playing a great team, and a great way to start the tournament. More generally, how has that 20‑10 run helped you guys starting this run? BEAU AMARAL: We kind of know what to expect. We got to come as freshmen, which was one of the greatest experiences ever, and now getting to come back as juniors, we kind of know what to expect and what's coming up ahead. We're kind of using it and passing it along to the younger guys. You can't get caught up in all the fan fair and stuff. You've got to just go out and play baseball and try not to make it anything bigger than that and just have fun. Q. Adam, how did you try to handle Jankowski in the fifth inning when you had the two men on second and third, and how big a play was it that that turned into a double‑play for you, a close call? ADAM PLUTKO: Yeah, Coach and I knew this team was going to be aggressive. That's something we definitely talked about early and the pitch we threw him was a changeup. Rolled right over to Trevor Brown, and Trevor did a good job of turning it over and throwing it to home. We kind of played their aggressiveness against them a little bit, with runners on in scoring position. Like I said, those guys have been doing it all year long. It was just a good pitch. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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