The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Texas-TCU quotes
06.08.2009 | Baseball
June 8, 2009
Post-Game Quotes: Game 3 of NCAA Baseball Austin Super Regional
Texas 5, TCU 2
Monday, June 8 o UFCU Disch-Falk Field
Texas
Head Coach Augie Garrido
Opening statement: The game from our side of it was dominated by the pitching. Taylor Jungmann's two-hit pitching kept us through the first six innings. Austin Wood came in and gave us some quality innings and Chance Ruffin closed it out on the mound. The defensive play changed momentums during different innings. The catch by Connor Rowe in centerfield, it was a shallow diving catch that got us an out, but could have led to some problems. The fifth, the sixth and the eighth those three double plays were huge momentum shifts. The baseball gods were kind to us tonight. On the offensive side, we did it with power hitting. Anytime you think you don't have something, that's exactly the thing that wins the game. It's how championships are always decided by the unexpected. [Brandon] Belt hits it off the centerfield fence and [Kevin] Keyes hits the back wall and tried to get some free insurance from State Farm. He thought if he hit the sign, he would get some free insurance. Then it was a two-out rally with two base hits after it looked like we were going to fail to score the runner from third. Those are the kinds of things that get done in championship games. When they do, they make you the champion. It doesn't matter what the name is on the uniform, it doesn't matter the school it is, it's just the way the game flows or doesn't flow. I thought TCU was very coached up, very detailed out both offensively and defensively, their pitching plan was good. They were able to get to Austin Wood because they made adjustments to the outside half of the plate that most teams haven't been able to make. Another credit to them for good hitting instructions and the players being able to make adjustments. They were a real opponent that did not yield to the crowd, did not yield to the pressures of the game and all three games were played at a high level.
On trying to meet the expectations: The team really didn't think that way. The expectations belong to the people around us. We can't play to that. The whole idea of what we're trying to do is control the things we can control and that's the performances and that's hard enough to do.
On the offensive performances: This is the kind of game that this team is about. It was a spirited and courageous offensive performance. We certainly didn't tear down the other pitching staff because they could pitch. It is befitting that when you think you know something's going to happen, the opposite happens. Like us hitting the long balls tonight and them not hitting the long balls tonight. That's what makes this game beautiful. It gives everybody an opportunity. It's always about the unexpected.
Freshman RHP Taylor Jungmann
On the offensive support he received: It feels good to have the run support. We trust those guys as the bullpen. We think those guys are going to go out and score runs every game. It felt good.
On his pitching: I worked on that all week with Skip [Johnson]. I definitely had it working tonight. It helped me get ahead, starting guys off with curve balls or fast balls and was able to throw for a strike.
Senior LHP Austin Wood
On winning tonight's game: It's a great feeling right now. I'm excited. I get to put on this uniform for a few more days. I couldn't be happier for this team. I love this team. We pick each other up.
Sophomore RF Kevin Keyes
On his home run: I go out there and try to make hard contact every time. I knew if I hit it hard, like Coach Garrido said, it's going to go. Over swinging it is something I put back in the past.
TCU
Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle
On the pitching performance of Texas: They lead the nation in pitching and Taylor Jungmann was stuff-wise probably the best guy. You got to admire [Chance] Ruffin for being able to come back and get those two outs but I do think their offense is a little undervalued. I think they're better than people think they are. Certainly their pitching and defense, especially in this park and on this turf, it's really hard to beat. We felt like Jungmann was able to put his fastball up and it's a really hard pitch to lay off of. If you can get to it, you can hit the ball a long way, but he kept elevating that pitch and we didn't lay off it enough. He threw his breaking ball with a little more command than I think he has in the past and that was the difference.
On the seniors: They are our program. It's going to be really hard for me to wake up tomorrow morning and try and run a program without [Matt] Carpenter, [Matt] Vern, [Ben] Carruthers, [Chris] Ellington, [Corey] Steglich and all our other seniors. They have meant so much to us. Every club says that about their seniors this time of year when the season ends, but if you were in my shoes and you had the chance to coach these guys every day and be around them, they make me a better person just seeing them.
On Taylor Jungmann: I thought he was effectively wild. We were deep in the counts and in the first inning he threw that one up [Taylor] Featherston's chin and then he located away after that. He had just enough command of the strike zone when he needed to have it and then the double plays helped him a lot.
On Brandon Belt's triple in the first inning: Somebody thought [Aaron Schultz] jumped too soon. That's a tough play, the ball was driven hard, the wind was blowing out, I don't think [Belt] got it great but he got it enough. That's a tough play.
On Texas: They can flat out pitch. You can talk about crowd, the experience and all this other stuff about momentum. But momentum begins and ends at the bump in the middle of the field and whoever goes out there. [Paul] Gerrish did that for us yesterday. They have enough guys and they definitely pitched well enough to win.
On the future of his program: We have to live up to the standards that these guys set. I think we have a really good program, we don't just have a good team, we have a good program, and these guys set a great example. We have a lot of young players in our program that didn't get to play this year that we think a lot of. We have some guys coming, they're outstanding players, and I think we've joined the dance, at least in the state. We haven't got to the Promised Land just yet but I think we're in the party.
Junior RHP Tyler Lockwood
On surrendering a first-inning home run to Kevin Keyes: The ball just got through the middle, I thought. I didn't get the ball in enough to not get them to hit it out.
Senior 3B Matt Carpenter On the mental attitude of the team: The thing about the team this season is that we've never had a quitting attitude. Even when we're down three, we're always expecting we're going to come back and win the game. Everybody that has run out there this entire weekend has been really good and Texas has done a good job pitching and that's why they won the series. But until that last out was made, we always assumed that we were going to win it. That's just the way we play and that's the way you got to play. They did a great job pitching.
On the pitching performance of Taylor Jungmann: For a freshman to be able to do the things that he did, that was pretty impressive. I thought he threw all his pitches for strikes and kept the ball down most of the time and then he'd elevate with two strikes and that is tough to catch up to. To be able to handle that situation with a chance to go to Omaha in an elimination game and to get that kind of performance out of a freshman is pretty unbelievable.