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NCAA MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIESJune 16, 2012Kevin O'SullivanJosh TobiasPreston TuckerOMAHA, NEBRASKA South Carolina – 8 THE MODERATOR: Coach, can you give us an overview from your perspective? COACH O'SULLIVAN: I thought we played really well through the first four; but to be quite honest with you, I thought South Carolina beat us in every phase of the game today. They outpitched us. They obviously outhit us, and they played better defense. It was just a really well played game by South Carolina. Obviously not one of our best. But you gotta give credit where credit's due. South Carolina just outplayed us today. Simple as that. But we're looking forward to coming back out on Monday, and we've got enough pitching to get through this tournament. Obviously we'll just take it one game at a time and see what happens. THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. Coach, you mentioned the first four innings there I think three of those first four innings you were able to work yourselves out of a little bit of a jam there, did you think that maybe tonight's going to be our night after that happened, but then you had the‑‑ they exploded there in the fifth? COACH O'SULLIVAN: I don't know if we thought it was our night. It's a nine inning ballgame. A long way to go at that point. It was good we got out to a 2‑0 lead, credit South Carolina they had the big inning, normally in this game when the winning team scores more runs in the inning than the losing team, through the nine, and obviously that was the case tonight. Q. Coach, in the fifth inning you went out to talk to Brian at one point and you kept him in. That's when they got on the board I think four runs on them and the fifth later on. What went into the decision to keep him in the game at that point? COACH O'SULLIVAN: You know, the bottom line is they had‑‑ I believe it was pane that was up and dancer was on deck. And we elected to let Brian pitch to pane. Obviously pane had a good at‑bat and so did dancer. So it was just one of those things. We had a two‑run lead. Once again, you just gotta‑‑ I thought they had really good at‑bats that inning, obviously. Q. Coach or Preston, if one of the players want to address this, what happened in the 9th inning? Kind of just snowballed? Just was a pretty uncharacteristic inning for a College World Series team defensively? COACH O'SULLIVAN: It was I thought the ball that hit the first was a tough play probably should have held on to it. With the left‑hander running he threw the ball behind him. Pack co‑has been good for us all year long comes out of the pin on a 1‑1 count. Pitched well runner on first and third throw a ball in try to get a ground ball on the left side spiked it and the ball got away from Mike. And you're right, it was uncharacteristic. We just did not have a clean inning that inning and I was hoping we'd try to keep it to two but the whole inning started off with a lead‑off walk and obviously the wild pitch really didn't help our cause. We moved a runner up from second to third with one out. Q. Can you all three talk about the task ahead of trying to come out from the loser's bracket. Last year obviously you didn't have to deal with that? JOSH TOBIAS: Obviously you have to have pitching in this tournament to win ballgames, I think that's one thing our team has. Obviously it's going to be tough but it's been done before. And I think if anyone can do it we can. I think we've got a great bullpen. We've got guys we trust. And I think that we got a good shot if we go out there and pitch the way we know we can. JOSH TOBIAS: Yeah, I agree with Tucker, we have a lot of pitching left. Quality baseball team you bounce back from failure. We're a championship team we'll bounce back come out fighting Monday night against Kent State. COACH O'SULLIVAN: I'm not going to look too far ahead. We got a game on Monday. That's all I'm concerned about. We got Hudson and we got a lot of our pen left. And then we'll take it one game at a time. Once you're in the loser's bracket you can't look too far ahead. Obviously we'll just concern ourselves with Monday. Q. Coach, you guys have gotten familiar with South Carolina, of course. Well, over a long time but the last couple of years in particular here. Can you comment on the unforgiving nature they play with and the way they capitalize on opportunities, not just today, but regularly? COACH O'SULLIVAN: There's a reason why they have such a winning streak postseason. They had some momentum there in the fifth, and it felt like it just got passed down from guy to guy. And in those situations we just gotta be a little bit more, a little better in execution. We fell behind an awful lot that inning, like I said you've got to credit South Carolina's hitters they did a nice job. Simple as that. They got a momentum thing going on right now. And obviously we weren't able to stop it there in the fifth and that was probably the difference in the ballgame. Q. Preston, can you talk about, obviously you had a couple of big hits in the game. Seemed like you guys, especially with Brian there hitting the rope to right, with the second and third, just couldn't get the big hit to fall in after that two‑run inning? PRESTON TUCKER: You know, it happens. And obviously South Carolina had just as many chances as we did when they didn't come through. It's about grinding out at‑bats and scoring runs when you have to. And obviously you know there were some unfortunate balls right at people or stuff like that. But South Carolina had the same thing and they grinded it out. And I think they had better at‑bats when it counted and that's what hurt us. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts by ASAP Sports Q. Coach, in the fifth inning you went out to talk to Brian at one point and you kept him in. And then that's when they got on the board, I think, four runs on them, and then the fifth later on. What went into the decision to keep him in the game at that point? COACH O'SULLIVAN: You know, the bottom line is they had‑‑ I believe it was pane that was up and Dantzler was on deck. And we elected to let Brian pitch to Payne. Obviously Payne had a good at‑bat and so did Dantzler. So it was just one of those things. We had a two‑run lead. Once again, you just gotta‑‑ I thought they had really good at‑bats that inning, obviously. Q. Coach or Preston, if one of the players want to address this, what happened in the 9th inning? Kind of just snowballed? Just was a pretty uncharacteristic inning for a College World Series team defensively. COACH O'SULLIVAN: It was. I thought the ball hit the first was a tough play, and we probably should have held on to it. Obviously with the left‑hander running, he threw the ball behind him. Paco has been good for us all year long. He comes out of the pen on a 1‑1 count. Obviously we threw a wild pitch. Runner up on second and third, we were going to try to throw a ball in try to get a ground ball left side, and he spiked it and the ball got away from Mike. And you're right it was uncharacteristic. We just did not have a clean inning that inning, and I was hoping we'd try to keep it to two, but the whole inning started with a lead‑off walk and then obviously the wild pitch really didn't help our cause. We moved a runner up from second to third with one out. Q. Can you all three talk about the task ahead of trying to come out from the loser's bracket. Last year obviously you didn't have to deal with that. PRESTON TUCKER: Well, obviously you have to have pitching in this tournament to win ballgames, and I think that's one thing our team has. Obviously it's going to be tough, but it's been done before. And I think if anyone can do it, we can. I think we've got a great bullpen. We've got guys we trust. And I think that we got a good shot if we go out there and pitch the way we know we can. JOSH TOBIAS: Yeah, I agree with Tuck. We have a lot of pitching left. A quality of a championship team is when you bounce back from failure. We're a championship team. We'll bounce back and come out fighting Monday night against Kent State. COACH O'SULLIVAN: I'm not going to look too far ahead. We got a game on Monday. That's all I'm concerned about. We got Hudson and we got a lot of our pen left. And then we'll take it one game at a time. Once you're in the loser's bracket, you can't look too far ahead. Obviously, you know, we'll just concern ourselves with Monday. Q. Coach, you guys have gotten familiar with South Carolina, of course. Well, over a long time, but the last couple of years in particular here. Can you comment on the unforgiving nature that they play with and the way they capitalize on opportunities, not just today, but regularly? COACH O'SULLIVAN: There's a reason why they have such a winning streak n postseason. They had some momentum there in the fifth, and it felt like it just got passed down from guy to guy. And in those situations, we just gotta be a little bit more‑‑ a little better in execution. We fell behind an awful lot that inning. Like I said, you've got to credit South Carolina's hitters. They did a really nice job. Simple as that. They got a momentum thing going on right now. And obviously we weren't able to stop it there in the fifth, and that was probably the difference in the ballgame. Q. Preston, can you talk about, obviously you had a couple of big hits in the game. Seemed like you guys, especially with Brian there hitting the rope to right, with the second and third, just couldn't get the big hit to fall in after that two‑run inning. PRESTON TUCKER: You know, it happens. And obviously South Carolina had just as many chances as we did when they didn't come through. It's about grinding out at‑bats and scoring runs when you have to. And obviously, you know, there were some unfortunate balls right at people or stuff like that. But South Carolina had the same thing and they grinded it out. And I think they had better at‑bats when it counted and that's what hurt us. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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