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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMay 24, 2014John SzefcCharlie WhiteGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA North Caolina: 13 THE MODERATOR: We welcome Maryland, Head Coach, John Szefc, student athlete, Charlie White. We'll start with comments from Coach. COACH SZEFC: Yeah, I thought our guys really played hard today. They showed up, they played hard. The result obviously was not what we were look for necessarily, but I said to them after the game, all we have asked from these guys all year is to be consistent, to be able to show up every day and to play real hard and to fight through it. Whatever comes our way. We used a lot of different guys today and we're sitting there, it's a tie game in the 7th, we came back from a 5‑run deficit. We have played well from behind lately and played well on the road. I think that even though the result wasn't what we were looking for, I feel like we were absolutely prepared to go into tomorrow. Q. You had the momentum going and then that inning happens. It kinda seemed like the wheels fell off. What were your thoughts on that inning and sticking with Jamie and Rob. COACH SZEFC: I thought Rob got us through the 7th really well, he gave up that hit to Charlie, almost caught in the 8th and it's a bang‑bang play at the plate, if that play goes in another direction the whole inning might go in another direction. We were in a position after that where we got behind and we had a pitching plan going into this game, as far as how we were going to try to manage it. To try to be successful today and also be very well loaded for tomorrow. In our bullpen, and we just stuck to that plan. Q. (No microphone.) COACH SZEFC: You could say that. Q. Tomorrow obviously a very big game. Talk about the significance of you guys making it to the championship game, when not very many people were behind you guys thinking you were going to make it through? COACH SZEFC: It's significant for our players. These guys have worked very, very hard. Certainly since August, and some of these guys obviously have been at Maryland longer than I've been here. There is a lot of blood, sweat and tears going into it, you know. They've put themselves in a really good position, as they have throughout most of the season. I feel very, very good about going to war with these guys right now, certainly in a game like tomorrow. We have a well rested Drossner to start the game, he's been outstanding lately, and our bullpen is as fresh as you could want it to be after three games against the type of people we played. Coming out 2‑1 against the people we just played that's harder than any NCAA Regional that you ever want to go to, and our guys came out 2‑1 out of that and potentially could have won a third game and set themselves up for tomorrow. I realize it's significant for Maryland in general but the thing I really concern myself with is our guys and the most significant thing is that our guys get what they've worked for, for a long time. Q. Charlie, talk about batting. CHARLIE WHITE: We were swinging the bats well all tournament and the 7th inning, it was contagious and took off and put up a big inning there. Q. Did you have to adjust your strike zone? CHARLIE WHITE: Not necessarily, we were trying to hunt pitches over the plate and put good swings on them. Q.  Charlie, any preference with the Georgia Tech guys and what's it going to take to hit against those two? One is a lefty and one is a righty? CHARLIE WHITE: Stick to our approach and keep doing what we've been doing the past month of May and put quality at‑bats together. Q. Coach comment on the play at the plate that gave North Carolina the 8‑7 lead, and how much impact that had on that inning for the momentum they had? COACH SZEFC: Well, I said earlier, if that call goes the other way, you don't really know where that inning goes. It could head in a completely different direction. As far as commenting on the play, I mean, I'm not going to tell you what I would really like to tell you about it, to be honest with you. From what I've seen in the past, when a runner slides into the catcher, the guy's normally called out. You can take it from there, you know! Q. How do the players bounce back? Obviously it's a Championship game but it's depressing to tie the game up late and give up that lead. COACH SZEFC: Our guys are loose, they're mature guys. We have been through a lot of up's and down's. I can understand how it would look from the outside but trust me it's not even close to the impression. We have a lot of guys get a lot of good swings today. We could have played a bit better defense but our guys battled throughout that game. I know the score doesn't look real pretty but it set us up‑‑ we got a lot of guys work. Our guys will be absolutely fine tomorrow. No question about that. Q. Coach and Charlie, what was it like to have those people be able to kind of stop your momentum? CHARLIE WHITE: Throwing strikes and finding the strike zone and when pitchers do that, they're usually efficient. I put some good swings on it, but they didn't really find a hold there. COACH SZEFC: I mean, he's one of the best relievers in the league, so that's what those guys are supposed to do. Q. Anything different tonight for your routine? COACH SZEFC: No, my only big thing was once we left the field, that game is over, man. It's over. Just think about what we got to do to come back here tomorrow and win a Championship. Q. Coach, there are a number of teams on the NCAA "bubble" so to speak. Do you think you have to be deep to go through this league? COACH SZEFC: I would say yes, to go through this league 10 weeks and through this tournament, it's an absolute grind. You can have really good players in this league and still lose, a lot! It's just a matter of having really good pitching and really good defense and having guys that can come from behind and can play, and that have thick skin. Obviously the teams that are in this tournament have all those things and they wouldn't be here if they didn't, you know? I would like to think that‑‑ I have no idea what the selection guys look for, but I can tell you all the teams we played in this tournament, man, obviously two of them are going to be national seeds but we played North Carolina four times this year and those guys‑‑ it's tough, they keep comin' at you. That's just a fight right there for nine innings, you know? It's that way in all the games. It's not like it's‑‑ you guys watch the games, you know what it looks like it's it's 9 innings worth of blood. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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