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NCAA MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIESJune 18, 2013Mike FoxBrian HolbertonChris McCueTrent ThorntonOMAHA, NEBRASKA UNC – 4 THE MODERATOR: Congratulations, give us an overview. COACH FOX: First of all, I'd like to congratulate LSU for an incredible season. They're a tough team, and for us to hold them to only two runs a day, obviously a credit to two of these guys up here. And we certainly are happy to have survived this one. I thought the home run by Brian, though, was really crucial for us, just kind of let the air out a little bit and playing with a lead, something we seemed to haven't done in a while. So that was good. Some pitches down the stretch. We survived. 58 wins is the most ever in the history of the University of North Carolina baseball according to what Dave Smith just told me. That's quite an accomplishment for these players. So certainly happy to have won and stay out here a little while longer. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Mike, talk about Trent's performance and the fact that even when he got in trouble as a freshman on the stage, he was able to go in there, put out the fires so to speak. COACH FOX: Well, we had the utmost confidence in Trent today. I think all of his teammates did as well. He's pitched like that for us all year long. So we're sort of used to that. I think that's his 12th win. So I think might be the most ever by a freshman as well. He works incredibly hard, as do all these guys up there. And he was just terrific, made some big pitches when he needed to, and kind of weathered the storm a little bit, big double play there, big pitch was critical for us. And we got two pitchers up here that got us a win in Omaha from the same high school. So need to give a shoutout out there to Hal Bagwell from Ardrey Kell High School. Coached them good. Q. Trent, just what did Brian's home run do for your confidence there in the first inning, knowing you were starting with the lead after that? TRENT THORNTON: It's always good to get a lead early in the game. And when you get a lead early, need to focus and know that‑‑ just don't give up any runs and you'll win the game. It's just a confidence booster, because you've got your team's back. Q. Coach, your switch with the batting order, moving Holberton to cleanup, sliding Skye down clearly paid off. What was your thought process going into that? COACH FOX: It was a good sack bunt he got down right before Skye's base hit? Is that what you're referring to? I'm kidding. Well, yeah, it made the move look good but it wasn't me. Brian's been in that position before. We felt we needed to move some things around a little bit, and really we did think about that, that having Brian in there, he can do a lot of things for us besides hit a home run. Obviously he can hit and run and he can bunt and he can do a lot of things for us. Paid off today. He did well. Q. Brian, can you kind of take me through that at‑bat when you hit the home run. The LSU coach said he thought you had struck out on the previous pitch. BRIAN HOLBERTON: I asked the umpire after I went out there, I was like, where did you have that pitch? He said, I had that out pretty good. I said, good, keep doing that. I was watching Chaz's bat and he was swinging over some pitches. And he came back in and said the ball was running in on him. And watched Colin. And so when I got up there, I was thinking if he throws one, he's gotta try to pull it because he's going to run in on your hands, and that's exactly what he did. I swung over‑‑ I think it was the second strike. And after that I just stepped out. I told myself he's going to try to throw a two‑seamer in here so don't get beat in. He threw it in and put a pretty good swing on it. Q. Brian, can you speak to the resiliency of this team now, having won for the third time in a couple of weeks when your backs were against the wall? BRIAN HOLBERTON: It goes to show the whole team doesn't want to give up. We've done it all year, with our backs against the wall, just come out fighting. And I think we played better that way. And we're a team that just doesn't want to lose. We just want to keep going. Q. Brian, there's several guys who were either highly drafted or, of course, for one reason or another this could have been the end. Coming into this game, do you think about the possibility this is possibly your last game, making a stand there? Does that kind of stuff enter in there or do you kind of push that out? BRIAN HOLBERTON: I don't think anybody was really thinking that. We were all just trying to win, go out there. We had the lead and that's what we wanted to do. We wanted to keep putting runs on. I don't think the thought ever crossed our mind. We were still playing here, that's what we want to do. Q. Trent, you're screaming into your glove a few times coming off the field. Is that coming from frustration, excitement? What are you saying to yourself in that situation? TRENT THORNTON: A little bit mixture of both. Just tell myself to make good pitches and one inning at a time, that's pretty much it. COACH FOX: It's not profanity. I've asked him. I've asked him not to do that. He said, I'm not doing that. So I want to make that very clear, since his mom and dad are back there in the back. Q. Chris, Trent's been kind of the guy back there, I guess, at the back of the bullpen. But with him moving into the starting role, how excited were you to kind of move into his role, I guess, and be the guy that slams the door at the back? CHRIS McCUE: I actually had an opportunity to close out the door that last Super Regional game, and I was kind of frustrated that I didn't get the job done that time. And obviously it was good that we won. But this time I was just really making sure that I just made good pitches and that I was going to get out. I refused to not finish the game. Q. Coach, you switched Brian and Skye in the lineup a couple of weeks ago what caused you to put Skye in the six spot out of the seven today? COACH FOX: Just sort of gut. I kind of talked to Coach Jackson a little bit, just felt we needed to make a change. Really just for the sake of just change, nothing really negative or positive, really. Just maybe just get Skye out of that four hole and drop him down a little bit. It gave us some righties back to back with all the lefties we knew that were coming at us today. So that was basically it. Q. Skye, you probably struggled as much as anyone on the team in the postseason. The last couple at‑bats did you do anything different? Did you feel different? SKYE BOLT: Yeah, I just really reverted back to what got me here, and that was staying tall and taking what the pitcher was giving me instead of trying to drive some extra base hits there in the four hole and try to move some guys around with runners at either first or second in scoring position. So that first at‑bat I got a little pull happy, a little overexcited to hit the baseball, and especially with an umpire back there that was giving us a lot off the plate as far as balls and strikes there. So the last two at‑bats, just shortened up a little bit. Had a talk with Coach Jackson, just revert back to what got me here, that was staying tall and using my hands and use what the pitcher's giving me. And he gave me some pitches to hit. Q. Mike, Colin's been struggling lately as well, but he seemed to get back on track today. What went into that and how nice was that to see after a while? COACH FOX: It's really good to see. I think the lead helped a little bit, just to relax. And Colin's just so talented, I think it's just a matter of time that he's going to kind of get back into it a little bit. I thought he looked at the ball a lot better today. Although, he swung at ball four when he flied out to left field. That's something you don't see him do very often. So he kind of reverted back a little bit. That's something that he's gotta continue to look at the ball good because that's one of his best traits. Nice to see him get a few base hits and us getting double digit in hits today. Hopefully that will help us going forward. Q. Coach, here you are, I guess you've got to win three more games, I think, to get to the finals and you still have two of your weekend starters that haven't gone yet and Kent didn't throw a whole lot the other day. Do you feel pretty good about the way your pitching it setting up going forward? COACH FOX: Yeah, we have Hobbs and Benton and they'll have to start some games for us. One will have to start one game anyway. Hopefully more than one. We need to get a good start out of whichever one that is. And possibly Kent can come back, so we can't look too far ahead. It's just about winning, trying to win the next one. But we're in good shape as far as that's concerned. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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