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NCAA MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIESJune 17, 2012Mike ComptonJustin GonzalezMike MartinDevon TravisOMAHA, NEBRASKA Florida State – 12 THE MODERATOR: Mike, give us an overview on your win today. COACH MARTIN: The first thing I want to do is tip my hat to Stony Brook University. It was just a tremendous year, and our players were extremely impressed with them, both as competitors and student‑athletes. It was a game that just happened to go our way, which sometimes it happens in this unique sport that we play. But I'm very, very proud of the way our guys got it done. We had a number of key things that happened during the ballgame. But certainly it all starts with the man on the mound, and Michael did an outstanding job. Could have gone another inning, but we went ahead and made the moves because of the way the game was. But six innings of, I believe, six‑hit baseball against a club as talented as Stony Brook, we were very, very impressed. THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. Mike, could you tell us what you said to the Stony Brook players by home plate after the game? You pulled a couple of them aside. COACH MARTIN: They were the coaches, and, yes, I'll tell you exactly what I said. To go in to Alex Box Stadium and beat LSU is a feat that all of us would wish we could do. That is a very‑‑ that's a great place to play and a very difficult place to win. And they went in there as a 4 seed after winning in Miami and winning that Super Regional, and I just wanted to let them know that feat will be very difficult to match in years to come. It was just a great accomplishment for their program. And Matt's done just a tremendous job with that ballclub. Q. Mike, talk about the job that the top of your lineup did, the top three guys had seven hits. Just talk about those guys coming up big in this elimination game. COACH MARTIN: Well, Sherman, of course, has been our lead‑off hitter all year. And does a great job. He's a very patient guy. He had a couple of knocks, and of course the double was big to drive in a couple of runs. And I have to tell you, I've had these young men with me for a number of years. And to hit a ball out of that ballpark today, that's quite a feat. And of course Devon and Gonzo did it, tremendous lifts when you can get five runs with two swings of the bat. And that was a pleasant surprise, because, of course, of the conditions. But if you ask either one of them, all they were trying to do was hit a line drive and their ability took over. Q. Devon, you guys got some time off yesterday, I guess. What did that do? Was it good to just kind of decompress? Or what was the last 48 hours like, I guess? DEVON TRAVIS: It was pretty incredible for the boys of Omaha. It was awesome. Anytime you get to go over to a place and talk to some kids who aren't as fortunate as we are, it's definitely something that keeps you grounded. Keeps you thinking the man above, it was awesome. Q. Justin, if you could talk a little bit about your home run. Did that maybe lift a little bit of the cloud from the other day for you, just to have something positive happen out here? JUSTIN GONZALEZ: Absolutely. I mean, that Friday game was a test of my faith I feel like. And to be able to bounce back like that, it wasn't me out there. It was kind of a revelation that with God gives us this platform and he tests us and to be able to come out there and help my club the way I did, just shows that I was blessed today and able to do that. So as far as the game before, I mean it's just baseball, man. You're going to have your ups and downs as long as you stay level. Q. Coach Martin, playing Stony Brook today, a lot of talk all week about them being maybe the favorite for the local crowd here. How important was it to jump out early and get ahead? Is that something that you talked about with your team? COACH MARTIN: First of all, Joe, let me say if I was a resident of Omaha, that's who I would have pulled for today. What they did was unbelievable. To get here was an unbelievable accomplishment. Our guys were very impressed also with what Stony Brook had done. We know how talented and how good they are, and we went out there and tried to play as hard as we've played against anybody all year, because we know what this ballclub from Stony Brook is capable of doing. I didn't really have to say a lot to our guys. This group has a very good grasp of the game. They're going to fight you for 27 outs. And this just happened to be a day that things went our way. Q. How big was it to be able to get the six‑run inning and maybe keep your guys from being in a tight game and maybe putting pressure on themselves to be able to get a little bit of breathing room early? COACH MARTIN: Certainly something that I was not expecting. It certainly was a great lift for our team. And if I'm not mistaken, we got them all with two outs, and that's something that you just credit the young men for having great at‑bats and getting it done. In fact, I may be wrong, but I think we got six with two outs and nobody on. I'm not‑‑ dang, I nailed two things tonight. (Laughter). But it just reinforces what Mike Martin, Jr. does with the hitters, spending so much time and stressing getting good pitches to hit and staying in certain positions with the bat. And it's really encouraging to see our young men have this type of success against a very good baseball team. Q. Mike, can you talk about what was able to work for you out there on the mound? Couple early walks but you were able to work around those and stay out of trouble? MIKE COMPTON: Yes, Coach Bell stressed to me they're a team that likes to build off momentum. They like to string a few hits together, really get them going. So for me it was all about making sure I hit my spots, keeping the ball low, and especially with the offense that we had today, they were on fire, and I wanted to get them back in the dugout and hitting as soon as possible. So they're a good ball team, and they made me pay for my mistakes that I made, but I was able to keep the ball low and get some ground balls and let the defense work. Q. Justin, you guys didn't really show any hang‑over effect from the loss the other night. I might be wrong but you don't seem satisfied from the win today. Is that just a sign of good things to come? Can you talk about the ability to stay even keeled in this tournament? JUSTIN GONZALEZ: Coach stressed all the time that the game of baseball one day you're the hero, next day you're the villain. And we know in a series, Regional, Super Regional, College World Series, no matter what happens, we're not going to get too up or too down, we're just going to roll through it. Just having that leadership in Ramsey and having the chemistry we have on this team to pick each other up enables us to continue to roll through things, roll through punches. And everybody here knows what we want to do. We all want‑‑ our goal was to win. And we just gotta continue to play hard, and the outcome, we're not focused on the outcome but we're just going to go out and play as if it's our last game every day. Q. To follow up on a comment that Justin made about Ramsey's leadership. Could you let us know if he had any special inspiration, words with you guys here in the last couple of days, since Friday's game? DEVON TRAVIS: Yeah, definitely, the day before the game, he stressed it in the huddle that God's already got a plan for us, and I think that's something that definitely sunk in my mind. All's we can control is going out and playing the game, playing the game the right way, playing it hard, playing Seminole baseball. And definitely all year, that's someone even as a junior I look up to. He's such a great guy, such a great teammate. He puts on a display of what college baseball's all about. Q. Devon, can you talk about how big Justin's home run was as an early knockout punch for you guys? And also, as a friend and teammate, what you felt watching him have that moment? DEVON TRAVIS: He's come up with so many big hits for us. And yesterday was a great day for us; me and Justin spent about every minute of the day together. I know what it's like. I know what it's like to be the bad guy, to make a couple of errors and have a game where you're not hitting the ball like you want to. And I just think as best friends we are, you just gotta see through all that, and I tried to be that guy for them. And today it was pretty incredible seeing him get that hit. When he was walking by me, I told him: I told you so. Because he's a great ballplayer. He does everything right. He works hard. He's always a big team guy. So it's pretty incredible for him. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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