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NCAA MEN'S BASEBALL REGIONALS: BLOOMINGTONMay 31, 2013Jonathon CrawfordKevin O'SullivanJustin ShaferBLOOMINGTON, INDIANA FLORIDA – 3 COACH O'SULLIVAN: I thought it was a well‑played game on both sides. I thought both starting pitchers did an outstanding job. You know, it came down to‑‑ we hit a big three‑run homer, I believe there in the 6th and then they bounced back and hit one obviously in the 8th. But it was a very well‑played game on both sides, and just came down to one swing and one pitch, and you know, this time of the year, that's what tends to happen. Proud of the way our guys battled today. Austin pie just played a little bit better. That's the bottom line. Q. Justin, obviously it was a quick turn of events there, you guys take the lead and they get it back. Can you talk about the challenge of responding tomorrow after a turn of events like tonight? JUSTIN SHAFER: We still have some games left. We have a great pitching staff, so we believe that we can come back and win the next four games. Q. Basically when that ball goes up, did you guys thinkit had a chance of flying out of there? JUSTIN SHAFER: He put a good swing on the ball. Had a chance when it went up, especially with the way the wind was blowing, whenever you barrel it up, you have a chance of it going out. Q. Jonathan, you struck out Michael Davis. What was the feeling like for you when you see him hit that home run off a relief pitcher? JONATHON CRAWFORD: (Indiscernible) Just had the ball over the plate‑‑ yeah. Q. I think a couple pitches before your home run, you laced into one that you hit pretty far foul. I guess what were you seeing in that at bat that got you some good contact? JUSTIN SHAFER: We had a guy, a runner in scoring position. So I was just looking for a pitch I could handle to drive in some runs and he happened to leave it up and make some contact and it went out. Q. Jonathon, you had some control issues, I think four or five walks. How were you able to pitch around that? Your stuff was good but how were you able to work around that? JONATHON CRAWFORD: Things were going quick for me, so just had to step back and take a deep breath and attack the hitter. Q. The way the two pitchers were going, did you get a sense that runs were going to be a premium early on? COACH O'SULLIVAN: We haven't swung the bats great for quite some time now. So we have kind of gone into every game with it being a low‑scoring event. So I kind of had a feel, and their starter was doing a nice job, throwing his change up for strikes and fastball counts, and Jonathon was looking good, as well. Yeah, I think it was pretty evident early on that it was going to be a low‑scoring game. Q. Taylor, your catcher, had his first hit in the Big Ten tournament, and the broadcasters talked about‑‑ your catcher's struggles, he's playing well defensively and he throughout the base runner in the third and the sixth‑‑ would you have helped him through his struggles if he had not had success at the plate? COACH O'SULLIVAN: We have been working awfully hard in practice, and you know, tinkered with his swing a little bit. But baseball is a game of streaks, sometimes good, sometimes bad. He's just going through a tough stretch right now but we haven't moved him out of our 3‑hole because we trust him and we believe in him and it's just one of those things where it's a tough stretch right now that he's going through but he'll be hitting third again tomorrow. Q. A similar question, this town is known for ballparks that can do some funny things to fly balls. When Austin Peay's home run in the eighth when it went up, did it look like it had a chance and did you think it was one that could get caught up in the wind? COACH O'SULLIVAN: As soon as it went up, the only chance it had was maybe it hit too high, but he struck it good. Yeah, I had a feeling it was going to go out. Q. What did you like about Jonathon today? What made you decide that it was time to bring him out of that inning? COACH O'SULLIVAN: He pitched, I think he had 112 pitches, four walks, worked out of a couple different jams, and we had lefty, righty, and he came in and did a great job. I just thought it was time. Q. You guys have obviously kind of breezed through the regionals in recent years, and you have a young team; what kind of message does it give them to fight out of the loser's bracket? COACH O'SULLIVAN: Not a whole lot yet. They are pretty disappointed right now. So we will get them focused for tomorrow. It's a one‑game season now. So we'll approach every game like it's the last and just get them ready to go tomorrow. Q. Just wanted to ask what was going on with Ryan Harris today, why you thought he struggled. COACH O'SULLIVAN: You know, the first hit was not struck hard and was struck away from his head. The next one was a ground ball that never left the infield. The bottom line is he got behind 2‑1 to Davis and he left out the ball over the middle of the plate. It happens. The kid's been really good for us all year long, you know, he has, so I'm not going to second‑guess his effort. It's baseball. And like I said, as the lead‑off man, if the ball goes over the second baseman's head, it's a different inning; it's one on and nobody out, and just kind of found a hole. If the ball goes through, doesn't hit Ryan in the foot, who knows, maybe it's a 6‑4‑3 double play. That's just the way things happen. I credit Austin Peay; they gave themselves that opportunity. And we made the mistake on one pitch and fell behind and they did what they were wanting to do, simple as that. Q. Early in the game there were several over‑slides to second base due to wet field conditions; does that adjust your strategy? COACH O'SULLIVAN: No, we will continue to run. But it was a bit frustrating to be quite honest with you. That's our game; we have to generate runs that way because we don't have a whole lot of power. We talked about it before the game earlier, because the ground was wet. But it wasn't going to change. I mean, it was getting to the pointwhere we overslid the bag twice and they overslid the bag once. But it wasn't a change in what we were doing. Had to make an adjustment and slide earlier. Q. Tomorrow what are you looking for offensively? Hit into a couple double plays. You're getting runners on. Didn't seem like you guys were able to cash in until the home run in the sixth. COACH O'SULLIVAN: We just have to score more runs, simple as that. More quality at bats up‑and‑down the lineup. We had opportunities, got the lead‑off man on, but didn't have a good at‑bat after that. So you have a runner at first, nobody out and next thing you know, it was runner at first and two outs. Need to put together some quality at‑bats and we just need to string them together. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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