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NCAA MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIESJune 15, 2012Johnny FieldAndy LopezJoey RickardMatthew TroupeOMAHA, NEBRASKA Arizona – 4 THE MODERATOR: Give us an overview from that dugout. COACH LOPEZ: Great one to win. Tough one to lose.  In a game like that, with two good programs, two good starting pitchers competing like that, it's a shame somebody has to go home a loser. Real proud of our two freshmen coming out of the pin, Tyler Crawford and Matt Troupe. Combined, they had no walks, which I think is a crucial thing with Coach Martin's club. They do a marvelous job with the strike zone. They got Heyer into a high pitch Count 128 in the eighth inning. So, again, real good one to win. Tough one to lose, and we're fortunate to get away with it. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Matt, talked about it earlier in the week, about this exact position you would be in tonight. Can you talk about the importance of getting this done in the first game? MATHEW TROUPE: Momentum is a huge thing, and being able to get that first win will carry us forward, and I think we'll ride the momentum Sunday and for the rest of the World Series. So the outings by Heyer, Crawford and myself, and these guys stepping up big for us, getting that run and getting the win, was huge for us. Q. Andy, from your perspective, what made Matt so effective tonight? COACH LOPEZ: You know, the one thing that Matt's done, he did it earlier in the year, hit a little bump in the road, which a lot of freshmen will do in situations. I think it's harder when a freshman is in a program with a dominant junior class, with the Rickards and Refsnyders, Heyers, and those guys, they have a saying with these guys, you go from survival mode, to improvement mode, to win mode in college athletics and maybe in life, too. But freshmen are in a survival mode for the most part. And you hope they advance into this improvement mode. Then they get into win mode. The juniors have been in a win mode since the day we suited up. I think it's harder for a freshman because he's got to get into that win mode quicker than maybe some of the other guys. When he's good, he's commanding his fastball, which he did an outstanding job of today. I mean, really he can run both halves of the plate and got movement. We stayed predominantly fastball with him, if you look at his pitch sequences. But, again, he did that early in the year, had a little bit of a blip in the screen middle part of the year but he's been back the last four or five outings. Q. Johnny and Joey, could you talk about the bottom of the order, seemed like you guys came up with guys on base a lot and gave you guys some opportunities to get some things going. JOEY RICKARD: Yeah, they definitely did a great job of making the pitcher work and setting us up perfectly. It's a lot easier to hit with guys on, and it's harder to pitch. They did a great job just working the count and just battling up there to put the line‑up up. JOHNNY FIELD: All year long, 1 through 9, we've had a pretty deep lineup. No real easy outs in the lineup. Even 7, 8, 9, they're going up and competing every pitch, every at‑bat. Tonight they got on base for us, which was really big. Q. Johnny, first of all, could you take us through the at‑bat there in the 12th inning, and this hot streak that you're on now, I think it's seven straight games with an RBI; do you feel like you're just really locked in right now? JOHNNY FIELD: I'd say the opposite. Tonight I wasn't really seeing the ball too well, had really bad at‑bats early in the game, trying to do too much, and chasing pitches that weren't in my zone. The last at‑bat I made adjustments, went back to the drawing board, and tried to look for a pitch to hit the middle off of, and he just threw one over the plate and lucky enough to get my barrel on it. Q. Johnny, being able to see Benincasa a second time, how much did that help you in that at‑bat? JOHNNY FIELD: The first time up I had that opportunity to get that hit here and put us up, and didn't come through. Went back‑to‑back sliders on me. Pulled off one and just hit it right back up the middle. The second at‑bat, I thought he was going to do the same thing, come at me with sliders, like he did first pitch. I was looking for something over the plate and then came a fastball and I think he just made a mistake with it and left it right down the middle. Like I said, I stayed back on it and put a good swing on it. Q. Mathew, can you talk about what Coach Lopez mentioned on the whole freshman mentality, what your mindset was earlier in the year in comparison to the way you felt tonight on the mound? MATHEW TROUPE: When I first came in, the first semester, I was really pitching young, and he beat that in my head, I was pitching young, pitching young; I needed to pitch old. It took me a while to grasp on to that. And going into the season I started off pretty hot. And then, like he said, I started to struggle a little bit. And I kind of went away from everything that he taught me and Coach Cole, our pitching coach, taught me. I had to go over everything I learned before, and fortunately it's helped me going into this part of the season. Q. Coach Lopez, you told some reporters yesterday that Ramsey was the guy that you really had some concerns about. I assume you felt pretty good about what you guys were able to do with them tonight? COACH LOPEZ: We walked him twice and that was not part of the plan, I can tell you that. I thought Crawford did a big at‑bat, Tyler Crawford, when he struck him out there late in the game. He's a good player. You can just see‑‑ like I said, they're just guys with intangibles in them. And it's real easy to see when he comes out on the field, and his mannerisms, just his makeup. He's more than just a baseball player. He's got a little bit more to him. So there's always someone on a club you say "I don't want that guy to beat us." And he's definitely that guy I think on that club. They've got a very good team. Don't get me wrong. But he kind of carries himself a little differently than most. Q. Matt, could you just talk about the sequence of Travis, the last batter, and also what the last pitch was, because obviously it was a really good pitch? MATHEW TROUPE: To be honest, I don't really remember the first pitches of that at‑bat. Kind of a blur. But the last pitch ‑‑ the last pitch, I have been in that position a couple times during the season. One that comes to mind is Oregon State. With a 3‑2 count, I notice that the hitters they don't want to look. They don't want to strike out looking, so they're kind of swinging. I just wanted to make sure I threw a strike and I knew my defense would help me. They're outstanding. So, yeah, actually turned around and checked the screen after I threw it and it did look like it moved. I guess I cut it a little bit. I don't really try to do that. But, yeah, it was a fastball. Q. Coach, you talked a lot about leaving in your starters for a long time. Can you talk about the importance of your bullpen tonight and moving forward? COACH LOPEZ: Crucial. We're being interviewed first without these two guys going out and doing that. Again, it's been a Catch‑22, because the starters have done such a marvelous job, especially in postseason. Many times people say you're not using your pin. And I understand that. I've done it before. But when a guy is going good like that, what are we doing taking him out? And I understand the balance of it all; but as I've mentioned back in Tucson, I really felt like these guys would be ready to go. The things they do on a day in/day out basis, and the drills we go through, our bullpen's extremely intense. And I joke with our guys: The safest place I've ever known is a bullpen. I can get bit by a snake at my house, but I can't do that in a bullpen. So sometimes bullpens have to get a little tougher and our pitchers hear that comment a lot. I don't want it to be a safe place; I want it to be a tough environment. Our bullpen is usually pretty tough. So they did a marvelous job tonight. We do not win tonight, no way, we do not win without Crawford and Troupe doing what they did. Q. Coach, I gotta ask you, you split a flight with UCLA three days ago. And now to look ahead, you got them on Sunday. If you could kind of break down the matchup and the familiarity with one another? COACH LOPEZ: The hardest part is on the flight. My wife is a sorority girl from UCLA, Pi Phi. And halfway through the flight she was going to do the eight count. Do the UCLA count. I said we're getting paid by Arizona, what are you doing; no, she's a good girl. I've known John a long, long time and obviously I have my roots at UCLA. The athletic director there and I are dear, dear friends, long‑time friends, Dan Guerrero and I. Great program. John's done an unbelievable job there. And again kind of sounds selfish, but kind of fun to play a Pac‑12 school in the World Series. We look forward to the challenge. Q. Johnny and Joey, either one of you, the same thing about UCLA your memories of that series from earlier this year and what maybe motivation you've carried out of that into Sunday? JOHNNY FIELD: I know Friday night we had the big TV game we had. And we came in. We got the job done Friday night on, I think, a walk‑off hit. No, it was a play at second, throw him out and we won, I think, 4‑3. And we went out Saturday and Sunday, didn't play good baseball. They definitely outplayed us in every aspect the last two days. And kind of gave them the series. We know they're a really good team. They have good pitching, good bullpen, and they can swing it with anyone. We know if we go in there and Wade gives us a good outing and play good baseball, we have our chances. JOEY RICKARD: Like he said, playing them this year is also an advantage. We know what they have. And they got us earlier this year. It doesn't surprise us that we're playing them here. They're a very good team. Like he said, we go out, slow the game down and play our baseball, we'll be fine. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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