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NCAA MEN'S BASEBALL REGIONALS: BLOOMINGTONJune 1, 2013Spencer MahoneyTracy WoodsonKyle WormingtonBLOOMINGTON, INDIANA FLORIDA – 4 COACH WOODSON: First of all, I just want to say how proud I am of the guys. Everybody's asking what it was like last night and I couldn't sleep. I tried to play different scenarios of how we could have done things differently, and I felt bad for Karch, just because of what he's done for us this year and I wanted to take it back somehow. I was interviewed in the fifth inning by the TV and they asked, they said, "Down 4‑1, but looks like your guys are not showing a lingering effect from last night."  I said, "We are never going to quit and we are never going to give up," and I think that showed today with these guys. Q. Kyle, just wanted to ask you, three innings, you ran into some trouble there at the end, and it looked like they might bring in Karch but Coach decided to stick with you; how were you able to work out of the jam? KYLE WORMINGTON: I just wanted to win, throw the ball over the plate. Defense has played pretty good all year, so just wanted to get the ball over the plate, get the ball in play and let the defense take care of it. Q. Elaborate on that, just what worked for you on the last two batters. KYLE WORMINGTON: It was just changeup. I threw a lot of changeups. Changeup was working really well. I could get guys out fat, and they were just driving the ball into the ground; so changeups today. Q. Spencer, first NCAA Tournament win in 47 years, just what are your thoughts on that? Also yesterday Coach McClure said any win over Florida is a good win and Coach O'Sullivan just said there is no rebuilding at Florida. So given all that, what does this win do for this team? SPENCER MAHONEY: It's a huge win, a huge boost and we have been working at it all year. In years past we have had a great group of guys that have come through the program and been able to build it. I think Coach Woodson has build this program up to where it is now and we are just looking to move forward. All the credit in the world to Florida. They played a great game and we were just lucky enough to come out on top today. Q. What does it mean to get the comeback the night after you had your hearts broken; shows a lot of resolve with the way you won and the way you battled. SPENCER MAHONEY: We have been a team that we have been able to stick together. We are a very close team right now. We are not going to let something that happened the day before affect the way we think or play the next day. And we were able to get that out of our minds and focus on the task at hand today, and that was Florida and we were able to play well enough to get a victory today. KYLE WORMINGTON: Last night, it hurt. But our goal all year, after we won conference last year and went to regional, lost two and went home, was to get back here and win. That's been the goal. Last night, it hurt, but I think everyone was over it this morning and ready to go. Q. Spencer, the home run, your first of the season, what does that do for your spirits and maybe your team's spirits, to get on the board first today? SPENCER MAHONEY: It was definitely a huge lift for us to get on the board first today. We were able to jump out on top yesterday, too, and that kind of puts our pitcher at ease and makes things a little bit easier for him knowing that he's pitching with a lead to start out. I mean, that's the biggest thing, our defense had confidence coming in on, knowing that we had a lead to play with, and just went from there. Q. Can you talk about that four‑run inning for you guys, just two hits, took advantage, three walks and an error; what was it like to be in an inning like that, what was your approach, I guess it was three different pitchers when it was all said and done. SPENCER MAHONEY: Our approach at that point was just to make sure we were patient. They were throwing the ball a little bit wildly out of the zone and as soon as we saw that, we kind of took a step back. And that's just the type of team that we've been all year, a grinder team, a team that's been able to put together runs, not necessarily a ton of hits at times but been able to get guys over, get guys into scoring position and get them in, and that's exactly what we did that inning. Q. Just what was the celebration like in the locker room, or do you have your mind‑set on bigger goals than a regional win? KYLE WORMINGTON: You mean today? It's exciting. It's exhilarating to get that win. First one in a long time. So that was huge. But as soon as it's over, I think as a team, we are just looking forward to tomorrow. We want to keep winning. We came to win and that's what we want to do. COACH WOODSON: These guys know knowing about 43 years ago. We try to let them know that all the time. I know what it feels like, but this is their time now and I want to make sure that they understand that; they are setting the precedents for us as a university. Q. Pitching‑wise, what made you decide to go with Kyle and stick with him? COACH WOODSON: You know, we wanted him to go as long as we could. And I think he started to get the ball up a little bit when he gave up the three runs; he got out of it with a double play and then the next inning giving up the run. It was time. I was setting up inning by inning trying to get first of all, our seniors to get in the game, and then a couple of the freshmen that needed to pitch in this, the height of being in an NCAA a regional, for next year. We had lined up Dalton to pitch, Worm to pitch and I had two more guys going. And we came back in in the seventh inning when we scored the four runs, I said, if we score, sit them down, Worm will go back out, and ended up scoring four. I was hoping to score one or two to keep us within a run or two and we could hopefully make that comeback. So that was the decision with that. I wanted to get guys that deserved to be in the game for either next year's experience or seniors that deserved to pitch for us. Q. Yesterday you put Karch right back out there ‑‑‑‑ COACH WOODSON: I knew that was coming. Here is what happened. I went to him in the seventh and said, "How do you feel." He goes, "I'm a little sore, but I want to go out there." I wanted to do it, and Worm was a tremendous matchup. His last three weeks, his ERA is probably under 1.00.  He's a senior and he knows what he's doing out there, and he matches up well. I mean, it's just like Indiana last night. We talked about it. Karch throws hard; Indiana, guys throw 90 to 93 every single day, and if you don't hit your spot, they are going to hit it. Both of our guys, Cole Webb and Worm have the changeup and cutter and run the ball in and we just felt it was a better matchup. I did not want Karch not being 100 percent and bringing him in and just completely ruining the kid. He's got a another year for us and I'm going to take care of him. Q. When they got those two runners on and you had already sat Karch down, were you starting to second guess it? COACH WOODSON: No, he was ready. He was ready. We were debating still whether to bring him in or not. Worm is a decent‑fielding pitcher, and he holds runners better than Karch does. So I want him to bunt instead of trying to steal. I would rather have the one out and try to work out of it, than no outs and second and third. Q.  Coach O'Sullivan was talking about how Richie Martin decided to bunt of his own accord, I believe in the fifth, when he popped out to cribs behind the plate in. Your opinion, how big of a play was that put‑out by your catcher? COACH WOODSON: That's huge. I mean, you know, the biggest out for us was the second and third in the ninth inning and getting a strikeout, you know, to make it two outs. We were playing for the tie there. I wanted to bring the infield in so bad, but I just did not want a bloop to go in and we gave up two runs instead of the run. But every out, every out's big, and especially in that situation. Q. How happy were you guys with the approach‑‑ a lot of teams will start hacking away and you guys were taking advantage‑‑ what worked for you? COACH WOODSON: You've got guys coming in throwing 90 to 94 miles an hour, and we do well against those type of guys. This year at Arizona State, we knocked around their No.1. Last year we knocked around Arkansas's. We do well against those guys. It's guys that can change speed that can get you. When they get wild, we are pretty patient. So it was just a matter of getting guys on and finding the right situation to push certain buttons for us. I'm just proud of the way they came back. It bugged me all night, and as a coach, you can't do anything about it. The players are the ones that have to go out and do the job, and I think we've got good ones. Q. How does this change your pitching rotation the rest of the way? COACH WOODSON:  We just ‑‑ (indiscernible) will try to go will throw the first game tomorrow. That's all we are trying to go, one on one. Worm said that "If I throw two or three innings, I'll be ready tomorrow night." He's a senior, we'll see how he feels. But let's get the first one tomorrow and see if there's a tomorrow night. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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