2024 Men’s College World Series Championship Game 2 Tennessee Postgame Press Conference

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coach congrats on the victory um if you could give us opening statement about today’s game yeah it was uh an SEC war or or just a postseason War more and um you know in that situation if you had your brothers you’d like to have the last that bat uh because you know uh the ninth inning is going to be full of drama but I think our kids kept their composure in that ninth inning including Ariel in a real tough play you don’t want to see anyone get hurt there but that was kind of a a Do or Die deal where you couldn’t shy away or you had to make a decision with what you were going to do so that to me was kind of the theme of the day I know it was an exciting win maybe not the um you know the sex or whatever you want to call it but U there was a lot of teammates taking care of teammates a lot of coaches picking up players players picking up coaches with decisions and things like that and uh obviously it’s easy because the score is what it is but I just felt like we were more true to who we were uh today in pregame in The Dugout during the game and again it’s easy to say that because uh we end up doing okay on the scoreboard but uh I’d rather go into battle with that group the way they showed up today and and hope they do the same tomorrow thank you we question a few questions for the players we’ll start down here and then we’ll go here and there K Rogers D wi baseball Cal I guess just looking at the job that a did against that lineup just he kept him from getting in any kind of GrooVe at all what did you kind of see from him stuff wise uh he was very competitive um you know we we mixed pitches well um and he threw a lot of strikes uh used his defense really well um and really just just kept us in that ball game um kept the momentum on our side for the most part um and he’s done that all year um um so that it just it was really good to see here K I guess throughout the frustration offensively those first handful of innings what gave yall confidence y’all would get the big hit and and be able to do some stuff uh I mean we always know we’re one inning away um you know weing to keep stacking qus together and and and good things will end up happening um kid to my right put a good swing on the ball and and you know gave us a lot of momentum going late into the late into the game um so we we really just knew that you know just keep doing what we’ve been doing all year just trying and get quality at bats pass to the next guy guy behind us has his back um and and not try to do too much okay back there then down here Matt tal from World Baseball Network Dylan you guys left six runners in score position before you hit the two- run home run that gave you guys the lead in the seventh um what’s just the mentality for you guys to just be such dogs you know when you guys are um behind in the game like that I thought as an offense we were just trying to you know keep leaning on Cortez um he did a good job today and we’re just trying to get his pitch count up and get deeper into the pin questions for the players right here C why do you think Dylan’s so good in those clutch moments um well he’s he’s already a quiet kid but um I think his his heart um you know just kind of stays calm his mind stays calm and I feel like he’s kind of built for those moments um he’s done it all year um so let’s hope he can continue doing that Aaron what was able to make you so effective today it looked like they were having trouble with that spin a little bit yeah I would say that um I I had some struggles throughout the game just with command a little bit so I had to be uh I had to adapt with my mechanics I had to uh I mean I was missing some fast balls up so I had to you know fix my mechanics and make sure I could get the ball down uh the curveball was definitely there I mean same thing with the curveball I I had times where it was more horizontal than vertical and opposite so just dealing with what I had in that particular at bat or inning or whatever um Cal your first hit was that to run home run just how good do that feel leaving the park and then obviously have back toback frames with home runs yeah yeah no I felt pretty good um you know finally um you know getting that first hit out of the way um whatever but um no it felt good um you know every kid dreams about about playing in this in this sta at this stage and then being able to to do that um late in the game like that was it was pretty cool and something I’ll never forget um and then it I feel like it just kind of kept us rolling momentum wise um and and I think that was in the eighth inning so um it it just kind of set the tone for the ninth okay one more question for the Doug du to ESPN Tri Cities Aaron could you just talk about uh your pitching coach in Frank Anderson and what he means to you and what he has done for you yeah he’s been a huge help he’s really made sure I I’ve locked in and he kind of preaches that just got to do your job and and it kind of makes me focus on on the game instead of everything that comes around it I mean the there’s a lot of A&M fans that are trying to ball me so [Laughter] nice so uh it’s just it helps me lock back into the game when stuff like that happens just knowing the mentality that he’s giving me he also wants to be coached and um I mean he says he’s available tomorrow so maybe it’s premature but one of my favorite guys to coach gentlemen thank you congrats on the Victory and good luck tomorrow you guys excuse [Music] [Music] you go one two three real quick and four go ahead Tony I wonder if you could Tony right here to your right if you could elaborate on that with Aaron and also the performance by Drew today in in his last game um he’s just awesome man I mean he’s got that stupid chuckle um and obviously he’s got some talent but he’s so receptive to anything that you bring to him and he’s so easy to have a conversation and um he’s got a real good balance of believing in himself which you know these kids all see Swagger and they listen to rap songs and stuff like that so they they have their chest out but it’s there’s got to be a decent combination there you should think you’re the best when you’re between the lines but you also need to realize you wouldn’t be between the lines without all the people that helped you whether it’s his his family’s awesome and we’re excited about his brother coming here um next year um but there’s a lot of coaches besides Frank that have helped put him in a position and and it applies to other players too and in this day and age you see it fading a little bit and um I’ve kind of had comos with a couple of their guys just because we’ve been passing the stadium there’s a lot of kids that are really talented for both teams but also a lot of kids um that just do it the right way and it’s helped both teams maximize what they have on their roster and I just com’s fun as hell he’d be a fun hang man but I guess I’m too old um and and your your other question was about true today yeah he was he was what he did the other day and he was what he did you know we weren’t able to win uh his first game that he threw in Omaha for us but our record when he pitches is pretty damn good um you guys can look it up and tally it up whatever it is um but his record for three years was incredible uh just in general but then if you look at the outcome of the game just when he was personally on the mound it was phenomenal and uh I think it again speaks to what type of person he is totally different than Aaron but those same positive traits you really enjoy as a coach and you never got out of your car going into our parking lot whether or not wondering whether Drew was going to show up to work with the right mentality whether he was going to be receptive to coaching whether he was going to have an unselfish approach and you always know he’s going to hook it up on the field for you go one two three four five get it Haron fan FC unfiltered coach you go to Kirby late just kind of the most used guy out of the bullpen just try to close it out and then gets a little bit of a jam and you change and go to Nate sne was that just some of a matchup kind of thing that you’re looking for at sne or what was that like yeah the the Colmes decision was tough again um we wouldn’t be in this position without him and if you took a vote in The Dugout which sometimes you do or sometimes you just have to take responsibility for decision like the bunt you can feel free to ask me about and it was split it was split in The Dugout and then he comes down and says I’m fine I mean what are you going to do I I think if you’re a VA fan you you probably Boo the coaching staff if you don’t see that guy come out of the Dugout but I’m not so sure he wasn’t on fumes there so uh just to peel back the curtain what we uh talked about to the bullpen was this is going to be a three-man effort no matter what to finish the inning and in an ideal world comy gets a guy and then we might have went to Kirby anyway for that matchup and then Sneed was hot to come in and we had kind of been telling him he was going to finish the game and I don’t know that it’s exactly like that but kind of shades of Vanderbilt um you know we had typically been using sne on Sundays and I think that’s a game where Sneed came in and got the last two outs and and today he had to get three yeah Tony what what if anything do you think has changed with Xander as he’s gone from the quote unquote midweek guy to the role that he’s in now and does he have the kind of mentality you think is is suited for for something like this I don’t know I don’t care to be honest with you it’s a it’s a baseball game you know it’s kind of like the bunt thing um I wanted to throw myself off a ledge there uh because it it looks like hey let let’s get Simo in a position where um he can drive in two runs potentially and then you take it off cuz cows in an advantage count and I could explain the numbers and all that stuff but the bottom line is you have to make tough decisions over the course of a game and um you know fans can tweet about them and say this or that but um the the one thing with all due respect we wouldn’t be here without our fans is they get to do that on Twitter and voice their opinion and then they get to go to the bars because I can hear it goes all night long I can hear from from from my level and I wish I could do that to be honest with you too but I grew up in this damn household with crazy Greg vitello and and kind of got into this deal right here and with your decisions you you got to you have to live with it and when the ho when when the game’s over we go back to the hotel and I’ve worked with the guy across uh the The Dugout too no one’s more invested than him and we we live with it and you think about it and then you start preparing for the next day it’s all you do so trust me it means a a lot to us you know what I mean so but having said that I would like to come to the park and say Aaron comes you’re in the game and that’s the best feeling in the world it’s like having Redmond Walsh out there we win we won because he’s good we lose I I’ll go right or die with that guy any day of the week so and we got a ball game tomorrow and Xander’s going to get to pitch again to me I’m more excited of the fact he gets another opportunity to run out there and and do whatever the stuff is that he does and and I think you know his progression has been just getting more comfortable I mean you got to kind of navigate through certain situations whether it’s pitching on the road uh pitching in the postseason you build up reps and and you if you’re smart you got some aptitude you probably get a little bit better at it here we go one two three four five said after Super Regionals that Cal’s your guy and obviously you’ve rode with him here through some struggles this week just why is he your guy and why have you had confidence to keep going with him um similar um same answer without getting too dramatic on you is um he he he’s he’s a ball player and he’s an unbelievable kid and he’s so sound defensively um pees does it different I I think you know you you could argue he can match up with Cal with some certain things but you know C has been our guy for a couple years and he’s experienced so much and he knows how to you know work or orchestrate a game from behind that position and be that leader so I don’t know he’s our Jake Taylor I guess down here coach uh you know I know it’s probably easier during maybe a regular season game but with with what was at stake uh when you guys are leaving a lot of Runners and scoring position how do you all try to talk together as a team about not getting frustrated feel like you know those chances you had were slipping away and you know it was going to be eatting at the back of their head or something yeah it’s a delicate balance because we had Bases Loaded twice I believe and and didn’t have anything to show for it and if you look at those at bats um you know two of our best guys didn’t necessarily look themselves and I think it was probably because there’s a little extra tension or a little extra try hard but it’s kind of hard to not have that and then also Cortez is really good and I think in particular I don’t know what he said but in particular I think he had a good day uh for himself as well so um there there were a couple times where it’s like hey we need to relax or change the Mojo a little bit um but it was kind of the flow of the game there there’s usually a flow to a game uh even in the postseason where it’s chaos and you know it it was challenging for us and I think the the biggest thing is you know just to relax and play ball that’s served us well and I I think that the tension stuff that maybe appeared a time or two since we’ve been here um it clearly doesn’t work this might be kind of building off of that question but up until the seventh then you guys were 0 14 with Runners on base is there one particular thing you can point to or other than just kind of being out of sorts like you were saying probably the head coach being out of control I don’t know I mean good competition you know uh and and also at times the park can play a little bit different uh I I think it’s pretty cool um you know jaay hit one for them and and we got the ball deep there at the end both teams had several balls deep but we had a couple homers um is unique in this park normally things kind of happen 90 feet at a time or doubles and and then you have stuff like that happen um so maybe guys just trying to trying to do a little too much and getting big and getting outside of themselves um I think sometimes you throw out shorten your swing in The Dugout but all it really means is just stay true to your swing that you you know you train in the cage and I don’t I’m sure the other team would argue or other people that would listen to this for whatever reason but I I feel like we’re in the cage more than anybody so um you might as well invest in that time or or let your investment I should say in the cage pay off and just use your swing Ryan first of all solid Jake Taylor reference I heard that thank you I did see a couple like that not on either but all right so walk us through the next 25 hours for you like are you going to stay up all night going through scenarios or what what is your routine no I’m I’m uh left one of my damn airpods I pulled a Xander and left one of them so I had one in and I could still hear the party out on the street um so last night was tough to sleep but I I’ll put both those things in and you just go sound machine Brown noise instead of white noise for me personally you can you can make your own selection uh but yeah you got to eat you got to rest you got to say hi to your family um got some friends in town um so probably can’t take in Omaha the way they will but at least say hi to them and I think you just got to be a dude because you know they’re probably chopping it the bit to get back out there in the old Backyard Baseball redo or rematch and I think our guys just hearing their conversations was kind of like you know one to one has kind of been the theme for us this year you know a lot of game threes so um you can’t do that though you got to just be a dude and do those things and then start to kind of filter down um you know to game time and we’ll approach pregame as we see fit and then 609 just play ball all the way in the back Tony I kind of asked Aaron this Frank’s a smalltown Nebraska boy is there any benefit to that and just talk about what he’s done he’s been around the block a few times but uh specifically with this year staff to get you ready for the final game of the year yeah he acts like a small town guy well I guess I gez I shouldn’t said that no offense to anybody but no we like giving him crap because he dishes it out to so many people including umpires and things like that I think we got that under control for now um and he’s been around the block um starting with his roots I mean I I I love the fact that he basically forced his way into coaching I mean he’s start he’s doing laundry at a junior college when when when things were different and uh he’s a self-made man and uh he’s been in about every situation you can imagine including the situation we’re in tomorrow um but he’s just given me Comfort from day one you know one to have somebody that had head coaching experience somebody that could uh relieve the stress of kind of what’s the most important thing coaching up the pitchers and uh on top of that it’s kind of like a campfire anytime we’re up in the office or at a table and he wants to tell a story um he he’s he’s known he’s he knows baseball about as well as anybody and I was talking with one of the umpires we ran into each other at a coffee shop and um what a weird conundra he’s so competitive and honory when he’s in uniform uh and he tries to hide it but he’s he’s one of the best individuals I know if someone’s sick he’s the first one um to do heck just get soup for somebody which these kids all door Das crap now I don’t know if he knows that or not but um he’s one of the more caring and kind-hearted guys there is which is insane if you haven’t been next to him because when he was at other schools and we were competing against him I would have thought the opposite let’s let’s put it that way so a benefit just to having him on our staff and certainly a benefit that he’s got the experience that he does okay last question Tony what went on with Christian Moore there on that that slider that play at second base and is there an update on him for tomorrow yeah I mean he was doing media and stuff afterwards so I didn’t have a personal conversation with him but we had a couple sliding into second just um you know back of his leg um was something that came up during Evansville and um you know he he made an outstanding play out there so it’s not like he can’t move around but we just felt like with the potential situations coming up um you know it made more sense for Ariel and and and I say we I mean eventually you put Ariel out there but you know yesterday did what I thought was the best thing um but at this point it’s kind of up to Hunter you know being out there Simo being out there who’s going to play center who’s going to play right um they’ve they’ve made me look smart and they’ve gotten us as far as they have and the other thing they’ve done is has made me a Happy Fella I already you know got emotional try not to wuss out here on you but uh if if we want a belt at all or any kind of trophy um you know today it was the same as A&M we got to be around each other more than any team in the country and uh we had a dry rase board meeting and the guys wanted to lead the country and vo and and you know RB and all kinds of crazy stuff and and it was kind of a trick question um what the coaching staff wanted to leave lead the country in is you know unselfish type thing having fun um and getting to be around each other as much as possible um so I know hot sauce was here he can respect the belt analogy so we at least brought one belt home today coach congrats best of luck tomorrow and thank you for your time thank you appreciate it [Music]