Post-Game Quotes
June 03, 2014 | Baseball
June 3, 2014
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No. 23 Texas Tech Press Conference
Coach Tim Tadlock
First of all, I'd like to congratulate everybody that was here. I thought it was a great job by everybody associated with the University of Miami. Coach Morris and his staff, congratulations on a great year. Also, Columbia and Bethune-Cookman, I thought it was a great regional. I thought the grounds crew worked their tail off last night and the guys running the tournament did a really good job.
Yesterday's game and the first five outs today just didn't go our way. It's a game of inches. I really commend [Miami] for coming out and fighting and scoring those runs.
Cameron Smith was phenomenal. We were going to start Johnathon Tripp. We had it set yesterday that we were going to start him today. Cameron was tweaked up.
[Cameron] really pitched his tail off. After the first couple of pitches, I wondered is he going to find his command? And he did. He started locating the ball. It's just really special when a kid tells you trust him. You say here's the ball. It's pretty neat.
What was your plan of attack for your pitching staff?
I commend Coach Gardner, Coach Hayward, [and] Coach Thomas. All of those guys did a really good job rallying the troops and figuring out a game plan. It's simple. It's baseball. Pitching ahead... I think we were fortunate today. I really thought last night when we pushed it to a day game it might play more offensive today, than it did last night. I think it was probably the opposite with the northeast wind there quite a bit in right field. I wish I had recognized that going into the five out deal. The next game we were playing pretty close. It was just one of those deals. Guys just really pitched good. We were kind of joking down there. We might have to think about putting Smith in the rotation.
What did you do to take away Miami's momentum going into the second game?
I think our group has been really good at basically not looking back and just play baseball. When you get in these situations, in any sport, the better you can, kind of corny, stay in the moment, one pitch at a time. The more you can do that, the better off you're going to be. Our guys have been really good at that as far as that goes.
LHP Cameron Smith
Cameron Smith on his start
To be honest, at first, coming into the game today I didn't even think I was going to pitch. I was having trouble with my arm the past couple days, a little soreness, a little stiffness, just not feeling it really. Then today we had to push it to game seven. I told Coach [Tim Tadlock] I wanted the ball. I tried to go and improve myself from what my last outing was. I had to put the team first and the guys behind me played good. They swung the bat good. I just tried to do my job to keep us in the game.
On advancing to a Super Regional
It'd be nice to go back to Lubbock and play. I want to go home.
What was working for you?
For me, I was working on putting the ball in play. I know my speed. I want to use my legs as my advantage. So really, just getting deep in the count and putting the ball in play and letting everything happen. Tim, ahead of me, got on base a lot, which enabled me to use my legs and bunt, make the [Miami] defense move in and make them make plays.
Talk about going to a Super Regional
For me, being my senior year, this is amazing. I don't think I could want to end this any other way. For this to be able to be my senior year, super regional, and to just play with my team: Texas Tech University. They're family. They're amazing. This will be a memory forever, for me.
What was your mindset going into the third game?
The same thing that we always do: just play it one pitch at a time. It just didn't work out there so it got forced to the last game and we ended up on top.
Talk about going to a super regional...
This is just one stop on our total goal, so we're excited. We're looking to the future, and not looking to the past now. We're going to go to super regionals, keep swinging the bats hot and hopefully do the same thing on the mound.
