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NCAA MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIESJune 22, 2012Adam MatthewsJoey PankakeMatt PriceRay TannerTyler WebbOMAHA, NEBRASKA South Carolina – 3 THE MODERATOR: Congratulations, Coach. Give us an overview of tonight. COACH TANNER: Obviously that game could have gone either way. That was one of those typical SEC battles on this stage. And both teams had opportunities to win. Coach Meyers and I were visiting in the wee hours of the morning talking about this game. And we just felt like for us to have a chance to win, we had to get nine innings out of Holmes, Webb, and Price, two or three apiece, and it kind of worked out that way. We felt we had to hold them to three, four runs max to have a chance to win. And it just kind of happened exactly that. They got the two runs and Webb comes in and was outstanding, and Price pitched the last three. It was really, really good. So just one of those games we're very fortunate. We just kept grinding it out. We caught a break there with the walk. And we're able to hang on and win. Q. Adam, you had kind of a rough night those first couple of at‑bats. Get up there with the bases loaded again. What was going through your mind? ADAM MATTHEWS: Honestly, I better do something; I'm never going to be able to live in Columbia again. I was telling Coach Tanner before we came in here that I left a small village of guys on base since being out here in Omaha. But that's the game of baseball. You have to continue to go out there and try to put some quality at‑bats together. And he threw me some good pitches that I watched, and he threw me a good slider there at the end that I held off of, and fortunately I walked. Q. Adam, could you kind of walk us through such a split second thing? You see the ball leaving the pitcher's hand and you have a split moment to make that decision. What did you see that made you initially say you were going to go for it and what did you see that maybe you wanted to pull back and how close did you think it was? ADAM MATTHEWS: Certainly pretty close. When you have two strikes on you like that, the thing is you just want to get your foot down, that way you can track the pitch a little bit better. And he threw me, like I said, some great pitches. And I just want to get my foot down that last pitch and see if I could see, and I saw it away and I about swung it like I did earlier in the game, and thankfully I held up. Q. (Indiscernible)? ADAM MATTHEWS: No, that was a slider at the end. Q. Tyler and Matt, obviously tonight was quite a pitcher's duel. Could you reflect on your performances? TYLER WEBB: Just came in the game, and with a couple runners on there, no outs, and I just tried to play damage control there. And once we got out of that, with the great catch by Adam and everything, just tried to pound the strike zone and get it to Matt. MATT PRICE: Tyler came in and held them to do what we needed to do. When I came in, just trying to control the game and keeping my tempo the same and just go out there and try to get the team a win. Q. Ray, looking at Tyler's performance tonight, just kind of break him down, and in this World Series, throw nine and a third scoreless innings, just talk about the job he's done here. COACH TANNER: If you look at the numbers, he's been good for us the entire year. And he's a guy that in his career we've had him in the starting role a few times. And he just seems to thrive coming out of the bullpen. In any situation we give him, whether it's a short stint or four‑ or five‑inning stint, he just takes it and goes and tries to go at hitters and use both sides of the plate. His velocity has been better I think in the second half of the season. His changeup was very good the other night. Maybe not as good tonight, but still able to make some pitches. And he's a tall left‑hander. He's got some downward plane. When he's getting some velocity going, he can run a ball up in the zone and it's not easy to stay off. They chase just a little bit. It's not easy to stay off those pitches. But he's been outstanding for us, no doubt about it. Look at his numbers throughout the year. Q. Coach, can you discuss or dissect your team's ability to seemingly find every way to win a game, the bases loaded, walks, and just what that says about the makeup of your team? And also the opportunity for Michael Roth to be able to pitch one more time as a Gamecock, what that means to you? COACH TANNER: Kind of hard to explain, because there's so many good baseball teams that we play throughout the year. And very rarely do we think that we're so much better than the other team. Our guys have great perspective. They respect the game. They respect their opponents. And we play in a conference that if you feel like you're one of the best seven or eight teams you feel like you're pretty good. And the thing that we do, and these guys deserve all the credit in the world, they just grind it out. You try not to let the game get the best of you, because it does. Baseball is a game that sets you back. It will humble you. It will devastate you. It will crush you if you allow it to. And we talk about that all the time. There's bad at‑bats. There's a bad play. There's a bad pitch. And if you dwell on that, it's just too hard. And you just have to let those things go and try to stay in the moment. We didn't do very well at the beginning of this game, but we were only down by two. It could have been four or five. Adam makes a great play. Diving play down the line over there. But we kind of kept the game in check. So you had a chance to get back in it. And these guys just keep grinding. They just keep grinding. Yeah, you have to have some good fortune a little luck and we've been a part of that. But, like I said, they deserve all the credit. They understand that. And these older guys have done a heck of a job teaching these young guys that you can't hang on to every single thing that happens in this game. You have to let the bad things go and try to get ready for some good things to happen. And that's all we do. And a lot of teams try to take the same approach. And that's the reason I think we've survived more than anything. We've got some good players. I'm not saying we don't have some good players. We have some really good players up here. But this game is hard, and if you're going to win on a consistent basis, you do have to respect it and keep it in perspective. Michael Roth, the second part of that question. Like‑‑ seems like the last few weeks he goes out there. This could be the last one kind of thing. And now we may get a chance to see him again. And that brings a smile to my face and these guys as well, get a chance to run them back out there one more time. Q. Matt and Adam, both you guys have been around for four years. This year you guys kind of struggled out of the gate, started 1‑5 in the SEC. Did you guys think this would be possible at that point and did you go and talk to some of the younger guys? Did you have any kind of team meeting at that point? ADAM MATTHEWS: Like Coach said, we started off slower than we wanted to. We had guys that had to fill out the game a little bit, had to teach them that. They've come a long way. This whole team has gotten better as the year has gone on. That's what you have to do. You have to continue to go out each day and want to get better and try your best each day. We've done that. So that's my answer. MATT PRICE: Yeah, I mean, pretty much write that up. I just guess we're not going to give up. Our team, a bunch of great group of guys, and we're not going to give up. Q. Adam, by now you're in Omaha. You get a tie ballgame, seventh inning, Matt Price comes in. Does the whole team get a lift, you're in that position, you're in position to win the game, then he's in there? Does it give everybody more confidence, do you think? ADAM MATTHEWS: Yeah, you know, Matt's a great pitcher and I think the whole country has seen what he's capable of doing in big‑time situations and big stage especially here in Omaha. He continues to go out there and pitch his game. And he's done a great job keeping us in the game and giving us a chance to win. And fortunately we get a couple of runs like we did today. And we still have Matt out there just to compete and battle for us. Q. Joey, successful night for you at the plate. Two hits and a walk. Can you just explain what allowed you to be so composed and your approaches at the plate tonight that allowed you to be so successful? JOEY PANKAKE: I've kind of struggled early on in the College World Series. But a couple of the older guys have pulled me aside and said keep battling, keep fighting. And I got a couple of hits to fall tonight and they were at the right time. Q. Matt, you've now won five games in the College World Series, all‑time, you're number one in that category, MCWS history. Did you know that coming in, and now that you do, how do you react? MATT PRICE: Speechless. I know how many great pitchers have been through College World Series. And even though I've been coming out of the bullpen probably vulturing some wins, I guess you would say, but just giving our team a chance to win is what matters to me most. Q. Matt, obviously pitched the top of the seventh there. You're in there in the bottom of the seventh after you guys get the lead. Did anyone say anything to you knowing you had obviously the final two innings with a one‑run lead, or did people just leave you alone? And what was the overall mindset in the dugout at that point knowing you guys had come back, got the run in the seventh and there were two to go with you on the mound? MATT PRICE: Knowing we scored the run, no one really came up and talked to me when we were still hitting. But when I was walking out the dugout to go back on the mound a couple of the guys: Let's go. Stuff like that. Let's get these last two innings. And I guess just the teammates just picking me up a little bit, just keeping me motivated and keeping my adrenaline going. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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