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NCAA BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SUPER REGIONALJune 8, 2014Monte LeeBrandon MurrayBailey OberLUBBOCK, TEXAS TEXAS TECH – 1 BLAYNE BEAL: We'll start with an opening statement from Head Coach Monte Lee, and then we'll move to a question‑and‑answer session with the student‑athletes. Coach? COACH LEE: Oh, just another tough loss, obviously, to end the season. You have to give Texas Tech a lot of credit. Their starting pitcher, Dusek, and their bullpen were outstanding. Defensively, their centerfielder made maybe one of the best catches I've ever seen. I've been coaching for 14 years, and seen a lot of baseball games, and for him to cover that kind of ground. He made two great plays today. What would have been a leadoff single early in the ballgame, he laid out and made a catch, and we had a two‑strike hit with runners in scoring position. He covered a lot of ground to make that play. Just a phenomenal play. But you have to give those guys credit. They did a great job. Pitching‑wise, Bailey was phenomenal. He had to battle through some innings early. They had multiple innings where the leadoff guy got on base, but he was able to keep them at bay and make some pitches, and I thought we played very well defensively. We just couldn't find a way. Offensively, we had a couple situations late in the ballgame, and we just couldn't come up with that big hit when we needed it. You've got to give their centerfielder credit for making a great play on a ball that could have tied the ballgame. So congratulations to Texas Tech. I'll definitely be pulling for those guys in Omaha. Q. Bailey, second day in a row, great starting pitching. You didn't get the win. What is that like to go through? BAILEY OBER: It's obviously pretty tough. You go out there and try to pitch to the best of your abilities, and sometimes that happens and sometimes you have your bad days. Also the hitters, sometimes you get a hit and you're feeling it, and sometimes you have your bad days. Just right now we couldn't feel it or hitting‑wise, but I think we played overall pretty good. Q. Brandon, talk about facing their pitching staff these last two days? Is it one of the best pitching staffs you've seen all season? BRANDON MURRAY: They're very tough. I think they had four lefties go this weekend. That was pretty hard for us to deal with, especially myself and the other left‑handers in the lineup. They kept the ball down. They kept changing speeds. They made it difficult for us to zone in on a pitch. When you have a pitching staff that knows how to compete and knows how to pitch down, it makes it hard for the offense to score runs. Q. Brandon, as a senior to have this type of season, I know it's tough now, but looking back, what was this like to go through? BRANDON MURRAY: It was a good run. I mean, I couldn't ask for more for my senior season. This is the furthest this school has gone in my four years. The second time in school history we've been to the Super Regionals, so I'm happy on that end. Yeah, it's bittersweet to lose your last game.  Everyone goes through it except the final winners, but I couldn't ask for a better senior season. BLAYNE BEAL: Questions for Coach Lee. Q. Monte, I hate asking questions like this, but going into the regional, you get two starters. You go eight innings, give up one run, you certainly would have liked your chances? COACH LEE: No question about it. Our two starting pitchers did an outstanding job. But you have to give Texas Tech credit. They made big pitches in big situations, and we had a couple opportunities. We had first and second today with our best hitter up in Carl Wise and he lines out to centerfield. Then the centerfielder makes a great play. I thought today we were better offensively than we were yesterday. That being said, you still have to give their pitching staff a lot of credit and their defense a lot of credit. Probably the best defensive ballclub that we've played all year and probably the best pitching staff top to bottom as far as depth and what they can do match‑up‑wise out of the bullpen, bringing lefties, bringing righties. They make it awfully difficult when you've got a starting group of pitchers who can give you five or six innings, and then you can turn to the bullpen with no problem and match‑up on the lineup. It makes it tough. You know, the atmosphere was great here this weekend. The hospitality to our program and our players was just tremendous. It was A‑plus on all ends as far as an experience for us. But, yeah, it was tough. I mean, it's disappointing that we couldn't find a way to score more runs, but you've got to give them credit. They deserve to win both ballgames and they deserve to be in Omaha. Q. For this program, what has this done? What has this Super Regional trip been like? COACH LEE: We've always had very high expectations for a mid‑major school. We've always had high expectations, and we try to preach to our guys, you know, if we do certain things very well, that we have a chance to play in Omaha and we came close. We came close. We didn't get there, but we've had these types of expectations. I wouldn't say it raises our expectations. We've had these kind of expectations in our program. We were just fortunate to be able to make a run, and a lot of times that's what it boils down to. You've just got to make a run at the right time. I've got to give our players credit, our pitchers and defensively we were good throughout the whole postseason, and we had some big hits leading up to this weekend. I'm very proud of our guys. It's pretty emotional. It's hard to watch our seniors. All of our seniors are just crying their eyes out in the dugout, and Brandon Murray who started for four years, just to see that, see a kid like that who has just meant so much to this program. Being a former player myself here, and Ben Boykin, those guys, just so emotional, Ryan Welke has been a leader on this ballclub, he's a senior. Blake Ross is a senior, a big part of our pitching staff, was injured for the majority of this year and didn't get to compete for us. You know, and Michael Hanzlik, what a great story there. Senior that winds up being our closer this year and sets a school record for saves. I'm just, I feel bad for those guys. I'm going to miss them because of what they're able to do for us. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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