Louisville Postgame Quotes - NCAA Regional
May 30, 2015 | Baseball
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Louisville Head Coach Dan McDonnell
(Opening Statement) "It was a great game, it stinks that somebody has to lose that game, what a fun game for both teams and both fan bases. Their guy was phenomenal on the mound as Brendan (McKay) was and it was a back and forth postseason game. It was fun. I had a lot of fun and I'm really proud of our guys that we fought. Obviously Brendan was great on the mound and Danny (Rosenbaum) had an awesome day at the plate and the home run was big but I am most proud of the base hit he got in the ninth. He wanted to beat himself up when he did not make that play and he is really a good first baseman but it just shows his maturity and toughness, there is nothing you can do about it now and just move on and help us win and he did that so it was a great team effort."
(On pinch running Colin Lyman in the ninth inning) "I didn't think we needed a pinch runner to bunt and Danny is a good base runner, he is an older guy with experience, he knows how to run the bases being in our program for three years. After the first bunt attempt it didn't look too good and Colby (Fitch) is a good hitter and he had to face the tough lefty all day and here he finally gets to face a righty. I just felt like we had to change it up so the combination of we had to take off the bunt there and put Lyman out there. We put Lyman out there last night to run and I don't think he ran and we talked about that. I give guys the green light or not and we have confirmation green light, red light signs. So I just made it very clear that he had the green light there to run and the stolen base was huge but fortunately he ran on the chopper, because if he doesn't run on the chopper, I don't know if he gets forced out at second or not but it just shows his faith and trust in himself. I keep telling our guys, we push our chips in the middle of the table, trust yourself. My devotion this morning was 1 Kings 18, I'm not going to tell you the story but it is a really cool story about Elijah and his faith in Yahweh. I kept thinking all day as Christians the kind of faith you have in God, as a coach you have to have that faith in your players. You have got to believe in them and trust them and I kept thinking about that all day. Even when the game was tough and it was close, I just you know, these are my guys and I love these guys and they are fun to coach. So I keep telling them if it is good enough, it's great. If it's not good enough then we go down fighting so it was a fun game and it was fun to see them fight."
(On getting a win in a 1-0,1-0 game) "It's great for our fans to have the 4 o'clock game tomorrow afternoon. They can go to church or do what they do on Sunday mornings and make plans to be here tomorrow afternoon. I always tell our kids you can't get too high. You still have to go out there and play baseball and you're playing a team tomorrow coming off a win with momentum. It's one game and we have to come out like we've come out and try to get off to a good start."
(On Danny Rosenbaum's career at Louisville) "He seems like he's always battling to play. He had to compete with (Zak) Wassermann, who was a 6'6" senior, big first baseman who had a great senior year. Last year, we had an extra infielder or two and Grant Kay slid over there. Then you have the superstar freshman Brendan McKay come in and give you the at-bats. You have to give Danny a lot of credit. He might not start everyday but he's right there in the mix. He's the face of our team. We talk about depth. I think we started three different guys in the lineup today. I don't know many regional teams going from one game to the next turning over that many. If anything you watch the regionals and it's the same lineup. Most teams are running out the same lineup and we had three different guys start today. Credit the kids. It's just the talent and they believe in one another. Our depth has been our strength all year. I said that at the first press conference. Our depth is going to be one of our strengths and I think it showed today."
(On Colin Lyman being aggressive) "That's what he does. We work on base stealing an awful lot and that's part of his game. He's had a tough year and hasn't played as much as he would like. We get him in as much as we can. It's fun. We want the kids to play free, play loose, and trust their ability.
(On Devin Hairston) "Devin is back as we talked last night when I made reference to how many RBIs he had and I think Sean said it on the postgame show how many sacrifice flies (he had) like seven or eight. You feel like he's going move the ball. That's the Devin that we had for two-thirds of the season. Again, just trust your players. Their kid made an unbelievable catch. I mean what a great catch. If he's camped under it then maybe he can make the decision to let it bounce. I don't know if he knows where the ball is, but he's gotta go for that catch. Unbelievable catch. Unfortunately for them, it hurt them. But there's no guarantee the ball hits the ground, you don't know, Devin could get the hit on the next pitch, so you just don't know. It was a great game and we were fortunate to come out with one run win."
(On Zack Burdi) "He showed it because it's first and third. They do have a great lineup so that next kid up could clearly put the game away with one swing right there and it's first and third and I think he might have gone to a 3-2 count and now the guy is in motion on first and it showed his toughness. He's a Burdi and the world of Burdis, you live and die at the end of the game and you got to have thick skin. You're not going to shut the door every time and you're going to give up runs and it's inevitable and you have to be fearless. I think he showed that getting that kid out and then how he pitched the ninth was impressive.
(On Josh Rogers) "The game Sunday was almost too good -- like sickening good. We didn't get to throw him in the ACC tournament. But as I said last night that was important for our pitching staff. With the three week stretch that we had at the end of the ACC slate we had to push them back. I think somebody said going into that conference tournament we weren't playing for our lives. We wanted to win it but we knew this was the more important series and weekend. I think the decision we made is paying off and it's showing in our pitching staff. I think Josh is fresh and he's throwing great. He pitched on Sunday last year so he's comfortable in this role."
(On going head to head with Michigan coach Erik Bakich) "He's an extremely hard worker. You know he and his staff grinds it out and get after it. You see how hard his kids play. I've known Erik for 15+ years and we were on the road recruiting against each other for many years. I have a lot of respect for him. You know how hard he works and how hard those kids fight and play. It doesn't shock us at all with the success that they are having. We knew it was going to be a battle today."
Louisville Junior 1B Danny Rosenbaum
(On his emotions after the Error in the Bottom of the 8th) "I was pretty upset because they had tied the game up afterwards. I always count on pitchers to pick me up if I don't make a play. I was pretty upset that we could've run off the field right there with the lead still. But coach told had said something to me right before my at bat; just to relax and be a good hitter at the plate. I was trying to clear that out and be a good hitter."
(On the home run in the seventh) "It was a fastball. It was left out over the middle of the plate. (I) put a good swing on it."
(On if he thought he hit the ball out of the park on the home run) "No. No, I was sprinting."
(On if the pitch from Adcock was a mistake) "Yeah, I mean, I felt like he left it over the plate. If he makes a better pitch, who knows what happens. He was a good pitcher all day, but if that's his one mistake, then I'll take it."
(On his mindset as the at bat goes on) "When you see more pitches, you start to feel more comfortable, just with the timing off the pitcher. I got to see a couple breaking balls in the at-bat that I fouled off. You just have to feel more comfortable throughout an at-bat as the at-bat goes on. That certainly helped me."
(On having to return to the plate after the weather delay in a 2-2 count) "It was definitely on my mind. I just tried to stay relaxed. (I just wanted to) get back up to the plate. I tried to visualize something good happening. Unfortunately, it wasn't a good result. But that happens in baseball, you're not going to succeed every time. So, you just have to take it like it was a regular at-bat."
(On the weather delay) "It's part of the game; it is what it is. You can't really control that. There's nothing you can do."
(On Colin Lyman's threat on the base paths) "I think everybody saw it, he had a great jump to be on the bag and tagging up on that ball from right field. That's just his game to be as fast as he is and that's a huge asset to our team."
(On his reaction to his homerun, and if Michigan was starting to get to him and his teammates) "I just think we were all excited, and I was excited. We were putting some good swings on balls throughout the game, had some guys on here and there. We couldn't get the big hit, so I was just excited to kind of break through a little bit and feel like, we could take control of the game."
(On what makes Brendan a tough pitcher) "Fastball gets on you, it's sneaky. We call it a sneaky fastball. It's just not a comfortable at-bat to face him. On top of that, he has a good breaking ball, which makes the fastball look even harder than it is."
(On his performance at the plate tonight) "It was just an unbelievable feeling. I've had an up and down career for sure. It felt good to finally put my own little stamp on my career here and it's just exciting to help out team get a win. We have a lot of goals set for the rest of the season. I was just happy I could help us out."
Louisville Freshman LHP/1B Brendan McKay
(Brendan, on his day on the mound, how he felt - outside of the one homerun pitch) "Yeah. I threw well all day...hit my spots, made some pitches that I need to make. I left the ball too much over the plate, he made a good swing on it, the ball ended up in the grass."
(Coach Dan McDonnell talked about the importance of 1-0/1-0 games, did they discuss it?) "He talked about it a little bit yesterday after the game, saying that this is why you come to college for to play a 1-0/1-0 game in a regional or a Super Regional. It's a great atmosphere, so many fans were here today, cheering us on. It got pretty loud at some points in the game. It's just a great feeling to be out there, knowing that if you win the game you're pretty much set up to win the regional."
(Brendan, on how much fun it is to be in a pitching duel) "Yeah, it's always fun to have a pitchers' duel. To see who can keep going at their best and make their pitches and still not give up mistakes. It's just a fun thing to have."
(On Michigan's lineup - were you excited to face this team?) "If you can't get excited to pitch in a 1-0 game in a regional, I don't know why you're here. You should be thrilled to go against one of the top teams in the country. Great lineup... they have hitters all through the lineup. You just have to make your pitches and try not to make mistakes."
(What's going through your mind when you see Michigan's pitcher matching you out-for-out?) "I think it motivates you to go out there and stuff on defense, make your pitches, just get your team back in the dugout as quickly as you can and try to get to their pitcher before they get to us."
(After such a strong outing, what is your mindset when you see your lead disappear and you're sitting in the dugout?) "You can't worry about it. Drew, he was hurt for the majority of the season. He just needs to find his rhythm back and start throwing strikes like he has been. He was a dog on the mound coming out of the bullpen, he just didn't let people get hits and score runs."
