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NCAA MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIESJune 17, 2013Pat CaseyMax GordonTyler SmithBen WetzlerOMAHA, NEBRASKA Oregon State – 11 THE MODERATOR: Give us an overview. COACH CASEY: I just thought that we did a nice job with a really good arm early. We got into some pitch counts and we knew Ben would give us a good start. I think it's always good. Takes a little edge off the players if they can get a win in Omaha. No one on this club has ever won a game here. So I think it was good to see them relax a little bit. And of course Ben wanted to keep us on the edge of our seat a little bit late. Made it exciting for us. I was proud of the way our guys responded to losing a tough game. Q. Pat, looking that you're kind of giving Ben a hard time over there. But kind of talk about the way he's kind of just set the tone for you guys over the past few weeks. He's been as good as it gets. COACH CASEY: Yeah. I said this yesterday and I've answered so many questions that I don't remember when, but I said he's the guy. You want a tough guy. He's a competitive guy. You want that guy when you're up against the wall. And I knew he'd give us a good start. I thought that long inning affected him a little bit. Sometimes you get a lead and you try to just go out and get ahead of hitters and you leave balls in the middle of the plate because you're asked to get ahead of hitters and you kind of lose that little bit of focus for a second. But we were fortunate not to let him get deep into the pitch count. I think it will really help benefit him down the road here if we extend this thing. Q. Coach, you have several seniors in this lineup. But in particular, to have a senior like Tyler, a senior in two key roles lead off and shortstop, what's the value of that particularly in an elimination game, a game like this? COACH CASEY: Well, you know, Schmidty's‑‑ I kept telling him the best thing that ever happened was last year that he didn't get drafted because I knew it would be a different role for him. He'd come back, he'd be more of a leader, more possessed as proved to people that he could play. Schmidty just does a lot of things for us. And to see what kind of player‑‑ when he came, he was unsure. He was a second baseman and shortstop in high school. He didn't have the same swagger and confidence that he has now. And he's going to take that with him to professional baseball. But he's certainly is the guy that anybody in the country would want in the middle of the diamond and hitting in the 1 hole. Q. Max, I hear that last night you guys were exchanging a lot of text messages, but yours might have been the most passionate. And I wondered if that played a role in today. Conforto said he thought that you played like it was your last game because you don't know if you're going to play baseball after this. MAX GORDON: I wouldn't say that mine was the most inspiring of all the texts, but we had a little conversation, a little group message going. And, yeah, there's a few guys on this team that they're going to hang them up when the road's over. So we're just trying to continue our road to Omaha and we want to have the final say. Yeah, today we really played like we want to keep the jersey on our back as long as possible. Q. Pat, you did this the difficult way. One of your two championship years. After Saturday night or before today did you share some recollections of that'06 season or wisdom from that'06 trip? COACH CASEY: Not really. I think that we addressed the things, you know, throughout the season about what it means to play when‑‑ everybody plays well when it's going good and we talk about those things. We talked a bit about it a little bit after the game today. But I don't want them to think that there's anything that they have to do that the'06 club did. They're all different clubs. They're different personnel. I think they got it pretty good as to what we did. And we talk about things that this team needs to do. And guys usually respond to that. Q. Max and Tyler both, this is the second game already where defense has really cost somebody or been a big part of it. How much do you guys preach, take pride in, and emphasize catching the ball as part of winning games? TYLER SMITH: Ever since we started in the fall, we talk about how much defense has to do with winning games. And it couldn't‑‑ in Omaha, that's the most important part, playing defense, doing the fundamental things, and that's huge. It was huge in a game like this, and it hurt them. And I thought we were pretty sound defensively there until the last inning. So that's real important. MAX GORDON: Yeah, Coach Casey has taught us little things always win the big games. So we just come out and we played real aggressive on the defensive side and sacrifice our bodies if need be. And I just think that if we continue to play good defense, then we can give ourselves a good shot at helping our pitchers out and doing better on the offensive side. Q. Ben, you got the win today in front of your high school team who was here watching you. Did you get a chance to talk to them before the game last night? Any of them say anything to you? And how cool was that for you? BEN WETZLER: I saw them all before the game. They were all down in the left field line, and I gave them a wave. But me, Arntson and Bohlman, the two coaches text almost every day. They're big parts of my life, and they've definitely been through a lot this year, and it was a pretty cool experience to have them come out and watch the game today. Q. Max, what does it mean to kind of have this breakthrough game on offense today, especially yesterday coming in pinch‑hit 4 and 8? MAX GORDON: Feels good to get a couple hits. To get my first hit in Omaha always feels great. Got the monkey off my back, like you said. That's always nice. But tomorrow's a new day and just gotta keep bringing it every day. Q. Coach, how much did that mean for you guys with Max? He was a little spark for you, and were you surprised? COACH CASEY: No. [Laughing]. Max is always a spark for us. Really. And I told him after the Kansas State game, I said, "When we put you in the lineup permanently, we really got consistent as a club." And he just does a great job for us. And his dad clued me in yesterday that he was going to hit today. And he did. So I gotta start talking to the dad a little more, I guess. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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