Louisville Postgame Quotes - NCAA Super Regional
June 07, 2015 | Baseball
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 
Louisville Head Coach Dan McDonnell
"Excited. We played well. Obviously, Brendan (McKay) gave us a great start. Offensively, we had a lot of quality at bats and, you know, blessed and excited that we get a chance to show up again tomorrow and play again. This is a fun time of the year and I think our kids showed that. They took advantage of the opportunity today and played with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. It was great. Great to play in front of our home crowd and bounce back after a tough loss yesterday."
(On the performance of his team today) "I want to say it seems like yesterday, but in our first press conference when we sat here I stressed our depth and I think it's really showed in the last month and guys that might not hit in the front half of the lineup, or might not be in the lineup everyday - just talent. You can see how much they believe in each other. How much they pull for one another. I think it's a group that really cares about each other. I've used the word love before. These guys really do love each other and I think it shows between the lines and in the dugout and the locker room. It's a fun group."
(On coaching differently in an elimination game)"I don't want to say differently, I think Logan used the word `faith'. Rosenbaum used the word `faith'. This morning I referred to Hebrews 11 which talks all about faith. I always take those analogies to the players. Just telling them to believe in each other and they want to enjoy this. It's been a fun season and you don't want to end today. You need to go in like you're going to win, and just enjoy it. There's no guarantee that you're going to win, so for me it's just get up early and get to the park early. I'm sure I beat some of the ESPN people here this morning. I think I beat everyone here. I was here bright and early. The sun was coming up and I was soaking it all in."
(On game time for Monday's game) "It doesn't matter. I'm sure I'll be here early tomorrow, we'll see what time they tell us to play."
(On importance of production from the bottom of the lineup in postseason) "It's what makes great lineups -- six through nine. In the last few weeks, our six through nine players have been playing very well. You know what Devin (Hairston) has done also Logan Taylor, and (Danny) Rosenbaum. You just have to have that balance up and down the lineup where everybody in the country is good one through five. That I have always said that the difference maker is six through nine. Fortunately our guys have played well, especially in the last few weeks."
(On what the team showed today?) "You said it too, toughness, you've heard me say it a lot. I think they showed their toughness. We've just played with toughness all year. Give credit coming out of the ACC and the challenging schedule we play and the expectations, they are used to playing with high expectations. Hopefully, their toughness will show up tomorrow."
(Can you focus on the draft and talk about Kyle a little bit?) "I'm excited about it, I texted Kyle (Funkhouser) last night. I mean I'm really, really happy for him, his resume is awesome. His body of work -- when you're the Friday night starter for Louisville for back to back years and lead USA Baseball in innings pitched. I'm really happy for him, I sent him a text last night. I'm always biased because they're my kids, but to me that's a durable, talented 200 inning arm. He's a great baseball player and I'm sure he's going to get drafted pretty high. But there are a lot of guys that are inspiring to play pro ball, but we take great pride in getting them ready for that. It's a fun time for the whole program and we're looking forward to it."
(On the total team effort in the win) "I don't want to say it seems like yesterday, but in our first press conference we sat here and I stressed our depth and I think it's really showed up in the past month. Guys that might not hit in the front half of the lineup or might not be in the lineup every day. Just talent. You can see how much they believe in each other, how much they pull for one another. I think it's a group that really cares about each other. I've used the word love before. These guys really do love each other. I think it shows in between the lines, in the dugout, and in the locker room. It's a fun group."
Louisville Junior INF Danny Rosenbaum
(On last two weeks) "Yeah, I'm just trying to have good at-bats to help the team out. Fortunately, I'm getting some good pitches to hit and putting good swings on it. I'm trying to keep everything simple and it'll work out for the best."
(On his mindset and approach facing an elimination game) "You just want to have the same energy we had today. We know our backs are against the wall but we have so much faith in everybody on the team. Josh (Rogers) is going to throw tomorrow. We're going to go out with the same confidence we had today and try and get a win."
(On playing when Brendan McKay pitches) "I'm just excited to run out there and go play whenever I get the chance to do so. I'm enjoying it and love playing on this team. So I'll do whatever it takes to help out the team and get us a win."
(On the team's toughness today) "I just feel like we weren't ready to be done. Every year we've got a new team. For me, I've been here three years and this is one of my favorite teams I've been on and all I can think about is I don't want to end it here. And I know we talked about it, Zach Lucas sent out a text last night to a bunch of the guys saying we're not ending it here. I'm just going to follow his lead."
Louisville Freshman LHP Brendan McKay
(On how he was feeling on the mound) "I just went up there with a relaxed mentality. You can't get tense or try to amp yourself up just because it's an elimination game. To try to help your team win, you just need to go out there, pound the strike zone, and get your team in the dugout so they can hit."
(On getting used to the heat) "Yeah, I'm getting used to it a little bit. Coming here in the summer kind of got us ready. We were just out on the field just having fun as a freshman. BP or taking infield if you needed it, just kind of got used to it then. And in the fall when were out here for individuals it was pretty hot on the turf, you get used to it."
(On whether he felt that he kept Cal State Fullerton guessing on his pitches) "On a certain level, yeah. I heard a little bit through the game, they were trying to pick up grips and they got it a couple times. Still, even then, you can't really let that bother you. You just have to go out there and throw your game."
(On his mindset and approach facing an elimination game) "Basically, Josh (Rogers) has been great all year. He had a few rough starts early in the year, but he's bounced back well. He's done great the past three weeks. We're just going to piggyback off of him and get some runs and hand it over to the bullpen."
(On Danny's performance when Brendan pitches) "He's been doing great. He started off the season playing almost every day and then I guess I got hot and started playing a lot more. So he's been not playing as much, but he's still locked in every game and every practice, he's doing his work, just getting better, trying to stay locked in for when he does get to play. Even if he has to come in late in the game when I get pinch ran for.
(On what it says about the program to bounce back and whip Fullerton in a must win situation) "I guess you can say it was. We pitched well, we defended well, and hit well. So I guess you can say that is kind of what it was. But they still played well. They still had seven, eight hits. So they didn't fall over and die. They still tried to battle."
Louisville Sophomore OF Logan Taylor
(About his home run) "The first pitch was high and I just got out of the way. I don't want to get hit in the head. I just stayed locked in and ready and tried to put a good swing on the ball and make good contact with it."
(On knowing if his homer was out off the bat) "Not off of the bat. I thought I hit it well, though. I just didn't know it was going out."
(On rounding for home after homer) "It's pretty incredible. It's my first career jack here, so it was a good one to remember for me."
(On the bottom of the order and what it did today) "We think one through nine -- well, actually, more guys on the bench. We're really deep. We have faith in all of the guys. We just try to hit the ball hard and guys are having success right now."
(On being ready when number is called) "It's just a mindset that you have to stay ready all the time. I pretty sure everyone is, like Blake (Tiberi) got in and got an AB today. Everyone is just ready to go whenever we need to call upon them."
(On his mindset and approach facing an elimination game) "I guess just bring a lot of energy and stay focused on the process and go with it as it comes I guess."
