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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMay 20, 2014Conor KeniryGrant ShambleyTom WalterGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA Georgia Tech: 5 THE MODERATOR: We'll start with Coach Walter, a brief opening statement. COACH WALTER: Well, congratulations to Georgia Tech, played a good ballgame today. They had the one big inning and obviously made a bunch of great plays down the stretch and made some pitches when it counted. Just really proud of this team and glad to be associated with this bunch. Q. Tom, did you feel like with the way the wind was blowing it would be not such a challenge to get back in the game? COACH WALTER: No, I mean, the way we've been swinging the bat and I felt like we would battle and we would have chances to win if we could keep that score down. Obviously the 5‑run inning hurt but we battled back to get it 5‑3 and we had a guy or two on base in the sixth, 7th and 8th with chances to score and couldn't bet the big hit to go over the hump. Matt Conway made a great play on that ball, and then the two double plays. Those are all huge turning points in those games, if any one of those go our way we would probably find a way to win that game. Q. Conor and Grant would you talk about the frustrations of battling back and then them making the place that your Coach just mentioned? CONOR KENIRY: We had a couple of bad breaks, and I thought Conway's catch took the care out of us but kept fighting and came up short. GRANT SHAMBLEY: We were starting to feel good about ourselves and felt like we had the momentum and didn't give us the chance to get that 4th or 5th run and give us a chance to win the game. Even that play that Gonzalez made in the 9th that drops we had a chance to get back in it but he got it. Q. Grant, when were you cleared to play? GRANT SHAMBLEY: Had a full practice yesterday, started to feel better. Felt the best since I've felt good to go and Coach said he wanted to ease me back into it but when the time came I was ready to go. (No microphone.) CONOR KENIRY: It was a two‑strike approach, I was trying to stay inside something and trying to get a good long at‑bat out of it, tried to get the ball to it but the kid made a nice backhand, nice double play. Q. (No microphone.) COACH WALTER: Yeah, you start off with a guy like Jack Fischer and you don't expect him to give up that many hits in a row and to their credit they found a way to battle and he had two strikes on a couple of those guys, even that ball in the left center gap that hits K.J.'s glove, and it's inches away from making that play and it would have been a great play and that would have kept it to 3‑0 there and then we get the ball in the 4‑hole right after that and it gets thrown away and we had a chance to keep it at 4. We had chances to keep it a 2‑run, 3‑run, 4‑run inning and they came up with the big place and we didn't. That was the difference today. Q. (No microphone.) CONOR KENIRY: It hasn't hit me it's over but these past four years have been unbelievable. I would do anything for Coach Walter and the rest of the guys. Leaving it hurts, but it was the best experience of my life. Q. Grant, what do you see next year? GRANT SHAMBLEY: If you look at our lineup it's obvious, young talent, young bats up and down the lineup and we're losing some seniors in there but I think our program is going to be in a good spot going into the future. Q. Tom, you bragged about your senior class, for good reason, where do you see it right now and where do you see it headed? COACH WALTER: It's a good program because of these guys, they have shown the younger guys how to come out and play hard and play for one another and make sacrifices for the program and for each other, that's because of our senior leadership. These guys have advanced our program by leaps and bounds just by this year alone, where it's been. We're not taking a backseat to anybody anymore and it's because of these seniors. Q. Are you worried about losing juniors to the draft? COACH WALTER: Yeah, certainly Conor Keniry going to be on some draft boards but I think we'll hold on to most of our juniors if not all, and same thing with our incoming recruits. But that's part of it, every program has to deal with collateral damage around draft time. Q. It's kind of a split team, you had that senior class and yet you got a lot of production out of your kids this year. COACH WALTER: We have good, young players for sure. Like Grant said our freshman class Mondou and Craig, Breazeale and our sophomore class with Rodriguez and some of those other guys we have counted on for big at‑bats all year. They will certainly miss the senior leadership and their production on the field but we will be ready to go. Q. Coach, can you talk about the competitive nature within this conference, the ACC and how your boys performed this year and they were able to get into the tournament? How tough of a conference is this matched up with the rest of the country? COACH WALTER: Well, there is a half a game that separated 4th from 11th, I think, or 4th from 10th so obviously it's competitive and those games along the way that you let slip away are the difference between being in a game and not being in a game and then you see Zac Ryan, and Sam Clay after him and Dusty Isaacs after that, those are three premium power arms that you're seeing in a Tuesday playing game in our league but that's the way it is. It's a battle and 14 teams on any day can beat anybody. That's why you're here, you're here to play against those people and see what you're all about. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach, thanks, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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