Louisville Postgame Quotes - NCAA Regional
May 29, 2015 | Baseball
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Louisville Head Coach Dan McDonnell
(Opening statement) "Really proud of our guys tonight. The guy sitting to my right (Kyle Funkhouser) we needed him to set the tone and attack the strike zone and get us off to a good start and he did that. The guy sitting next to him (Devin Hairston) was part of the defense that I think played error free baseball and if you pitch and defend you've got a chance to be in every game. So, that was kind of the message going in and the guys did well."
(On the difference in Kyle Funkhouser during the postseason) "In Kyle's defense, the last month was tough. He pitched on one day's short rest for three weeks in a row - Clemson on a Saturday, Florida State on a Friday, N.C. State on a Thursday. And then that's why we went to the conference tournament and a lot of people threw their number one on Wednesday and we just felt like no matter what happens in that ACC tournament, we need to get him another day's rest and basically our entire weekend rotation. Even though we weren't great down there, at least we knew they were pitching on a full week's rest, if not an extra day. And then, like Kyle said, knowing he was going to get another extra day this week so we kind of forecasted this out a few weeks ago. And as he said, just the mindset. Coach Williams did a great job with the pitching staff and their mindset this week, getting these guys aggressive and ready to attack the strike zone and trust their stuff. That's a really good lineup. We usually play them during the year and this year we didn't. it's a physical lineup. They got balance in the strike zone. They move the ball with two strikes. I mean it's - I see why their numbers are what they are. It's a really quality offense and I'm not going to underestimate what Kyle and Lincoln (Henzman) did against that lineup."
(On Lincoln Henzman pitching 24 innings of relief without an earned run after today) "It's been a strength of ours all year, the bullpen. Lincoln's had a great year. You know, once you extend the lead he has the ability to close games out because he works so fast. Sometimes you just want to let him keep going because he gets in a rhythym. It was nice to sit Zack Burdi down even though he was up and getting ready in the bullpen when we extended the lead, hoping that he could throw here the next two or three days."
(On his reaction to Kyle Funkhouser's barehanded defensive play) "Sometimes you want him to let it go so we could turn the double play up the middle. But I don't blame pitchers for their instincts. He's what we call an A-group pitcher. We tease some guys that are not in the A-groups, and I won't call any of them out tonight. But, the A-group guys are the guys that really field their position. Kyle's been an A-group guy for the past few years. Then after he makes the play, doesn't give up a run, now you're just hoping that the hand is okay because you felt like he had the momentum to finish that inning and we wanted to give him a chance to finish it."
(On how Corey Ray is feeling after getting hurt at second base) "Yeah, I'm sure he's going to be a little sore but, you know, this time of year it's a long a season and guys are all a little banged up. So, he showed his toughness and will be ready to go tomorrow."
(On the decision to start Logan Taylor) "Logan is very good against righties. He's a phenomenal center fielder. He's one of those players that if you could start 10 or 11 players every game he would start every game. But you can only start nine. But if you notice, and I don't have our stats in front of us, Logan has played in almost every game. He's close because he might not start the game but we're hoping to get him in the game as a pinch runner and then as a defensive replacement. So, sometimes he starts and plays the whole game but if not we're going to bring him off the bench. You know the last month we've given Logan these spot starts and he's been very good against the righties."
(On the double play in the first inning and how important it was for Kyle Funkhouser) "Well it was huge, no doubt. We needed to put up a zero there and give our offense a chance to settle in. Funk's a groundball pitcher and so some of the tough outings down the stretch, if you remember, it was a little sloppy out there at times. He's not the type of guy you want to be sloppy behind because he's getting so many groundballs. As you said, he doesn't give up a lot of extra base hits but the ball's getting put in play. Guys might get beat and when a guy hits into what should be an out, you've got to get that out. Especially in the postseason the errors are magnified and as proud as I am of Funk and Lincoln, very proud of the defense. I thought maybe Sutton (Whiting) had the play of the night and that was after second and third, Sutton didn't get one of those runs in. The game will test you and Sutton showed his toughness. I mean that was a big time play with the bases loaded. He could have felt sorry for himself for not getting the run in and I challenge our players all the time, the ball is coming to you, this game's going to see how tough you are. And he showed it tonight. I was very proud of him for that."
(On Devin Hairston's hitting) "I saw it all week. I spoke with Coach Snider- as soon as we were eliminated from the ACC tournament we had a coaches meeting, we talked about players individually. He knew what Devin needed to do. He (Snider) is an excellent hitting coach--give Devin credit for wanting to make the adjustment. I noticed it right away in BP this week. We(coaches) meet after just about every practice and discuss who looked good and who didn't. Right away Devin was like the MVP of that first practice, you could just tell how the ball was coming off the bat. Everybody knows he had 25 RBIs the first half of the year--he was leading the team with RBIs. He just hit a freshmen wall, then the concussion at Cincinnati set him back. Then we move him to short and now he is playing shortstop. It was a tough month for him but we have talked about unpacking the bags--the post season is a new season so you really don't carry any stats into it. Nobody cares what your stats are, so he's off to a good start."
(On Hairston's glove at shortstop) "He is a special shortstop. If Sutton (Whiting) would have signed last year that was the reason Devin was coming in. Sutton had a tough junior year with the injuries--but we have been to Omaha twice with Sutton as our short stop, so we gave Sutton every opportunity but he didn't look as comfortable over there as he had in the past. The more we talked to pro people -- he's a second baseman. Sutton was great when I said, hey I think we want to make this move--and I think this move can really help us in the stretch and in the post season. And then Sutton hurt his shoulder at Clemson, the move was inevitable anyway because of the ball he dove for. His shoulder was sore, he was out that week. So it all seemed to fall into place."
(On the tournament outing and what it does for Kyle Funkhouser's confidence) "Well, I guess it's the last outing before the draft, so selfishly I am happy for him because I think it cements his place going into the draft. At this point we all hope he'll prepare to throw again but you know you have to advance, so we'll cross that bridge when we get there."
(On getting off to a good start and the first win) "Yeah, I don't know of many teams that win the regional after losing the first game. I am sure it has been done. I like crunching numbers and statistics, but fortunately we haven't lost that game in a while so I don't have to figure those percentages. I love the 1-0, 1-0 game--it is something we talk about throughout the year. Early in the season we always play in a tournament and I am always hoping that the team we play on Saturday wins and we win, because I tell our kids, this is the 1-0, 1-0 game and this is the game of the tournament and this is something that we are prepared to play well on."
(On thoughts about Michigan) "You know -- a hot club. They went to Oklahoma State the last weekend of the year. They won one, but took their ace out early in one of those games to have him ready for the tournament. He threw twice in the tournament and that is a good league. So to go through that conference tournament and come away with a championship and obviously they played well today and have their ace ready to go tomorrow. It is going to be a good test--it's going to be fun."
Louisville Junior RHP Kyle Funkhouser
(How did you feel mentally going into tonight?) "Just kind of reset my mind a little bit, like coach said, it's a new season. All the previous stats are out the window and it's basically win or go home now. You've got to reset the mind and give your team a chance to win. As far as velocity, it was down for a couple weeks, but I reset in the weight room and I did a couple different things, throwing-wise, taking care of my body and it felt really good."
(What's going through your mind in the seventh inning, with the bases loaded and no outs?) "I didn't make too many good pitches in that inning. The base hits were kind of out during the play, I looked in the dugout and saw Coach McDonnell and Coach Snider talking and just shook my head `no.' I didn't want to come out obviously. I kind of felt like I was getting back into the groove. Same thing just kind of reset, just start making pitches and then a couple ground balls."
(You made a nice play on that) "I just kind of stuck my hand up. I saw that it was a chopper and I knew he must've hit that hard and it was just kind of a reaction: just stick your hand up and reach for the ball. I knew I was going home with it. I knew it was going up the middle so it was a double play. I thought real quick that if it's going to save a run then just try to grab it. Obviously knocked it down then made an okay throw. Will (Smith) made a good play on that throw."
(On starting fresh in tournament) "Like I said, we just kind of reset. We long-tossed a couple days this week. We weren't really doing that because we had a couple short starts. So we had an extra day this week, so we did that and kind of backed off in the weight room. Trying to feel 100 percent, so my body was reset and my mind was reset and I was ready to go."
(On the importance of winning the first game) "The biggest thing - like Coach McDonnell said - is getting the team off to a good start. In the past couple of weeks it was kind of ugly, a little bit. The most frustrating thing was I just wasn't really giving my team a chance to win - down 5-0 in the second, stuff like that. But it was good to get off the field in the first on a double play up the middle to kind of get the momentum going offensively... We scored in the second and a little bit of pressure was relieved. It was a lot easier to go out there and just kind of focus in with a lead."
(On dealing with Morehead offense) "I was a little calmer than I thought I was going to be. It was actually a really good pitch - it was a little elevated, but it was in. I was kind of surprised it went out actually - I jammed him a little bit on it and it didn't really sound great off the bat. He's a good hitter and he's a big, strong kid and he got to it and maybe the wind helped out a little bit, but it was a good swing."
(On whether he was still feeling strong in the seventh inning) "Yeah, I kind of knew that... it was going to be my last inning. Obviously I would have liked to have gone back out there, but my pitch count was up a little bit. It's easy to use what's left in the tank when you've got a great bullpen. Finishing up the seventh - that's kind of Coach Williams' thing. Get us to or try to get us through the seventh. Like I said with a great bullpen it's easy to go out there and get a stop.
(Did the ball sting him on the comebacker he fielded in the seventh?) "No, I didn't really catch it because hit had a lot of spin on it. It just kind of rolled off my hand. It wasn't hit all that hard, so I had no problems with that."
(On the defensive plays behind him) "Coach McDonnell was saying pitching and defense - especially in postseason time... they hit a couple of balls hard, but they were right at us. It seemed like whenever we needed a play to be made, it was made tonight which was good."
(On why he doesn't give up a lot of extra base hits) "I'm not too sure. I think I'm just going out there trying to make quality pitches. I'm trying to not live in the middle, I'm trying to live more on the corners... If you really get a pitch in or out on the corner it's tough to put a ball in the gap when you're making quality pitches."
