Postgame Quotes – UCLA vs. Loyola Marymount
POSTGAME QUOTES
NCAA Los Angeles Regional – Game Four
Loyola Marymount 3, UCLA 2 (June 1, 2019)
LMU Head Coach Jason Gill
Opening remarks
“Pretty special performance by Josh [Agnew] and the defense behind him. I don’t know if he knows this, but the first two innings typically hold our breath a little bit because he’s amped up and his ball doesn’t sink as much, and then if we can get through the first two innings, we feel pretty comfortable with him. He’s a warrior and we believe he’s one of the tougher guys out there. He’s proven that to us time and time again, and he did it again tonight. Obviously, we hand the ball off to CJ Fernandezees. He did his job. Then, we went to the closer Nick Frasso, who’s been phenomenal for us, as you guys have seen for the last two nights. And then, it comes it back to our timely offense. Guys scrapping to get on base. In the first inning, I think we made [Jack Ralston] through 28 pitches. I got interviewed during the game and they talked about, ‘Were disappointed you didn’t score more runs?’. Well, that guy’s pretty good. He’s 11-0. I was pretty stoked we scored one. It just goes to show the resilience of our team. Every time they scored, the positive energy in our dugout was remarkable. Even when we got thrown out taking a ball in the dirt, Trevin Esquerra over here was yelling in the dugout, ‘Don’t worry about it boys. That’s the way we play.’ That’s just kind of their mindset right now. The timely hitting – we had a freshman [Ethan Patrick] step up there in, I think, what was his fourth at-bat. He hadn’t looked very good yet. He leads off the inning with a single. We [sacrifice] him over with Dylan Hirsch who gets his job done. Then Cooper [Uhl], who’s a phenomenal catcher and doesn’t get a lot of airtime for his offense, two weekends in a row comes up big for us with a giant hit to score that run. It just seems like a different hero every night.”
On resilience of the team after losing final four series before the postseason …
“It says a lot about the players for sure. 100 percent. Because they’re the ones in the clubhouse, they’re the ones that are trying to stay positive. We slumped and that happens. I mean, turn on Major League Baseball. The first-place team will go into a slump. It didn’t happen at the most opportunistic time. I felt like when we got into the conference tournament, it was kind of like something was lifted off of our shoulders and we were able to get back to what we do, which is play solid baseball. If you look at the six weeks prior to the four weeks we didn’t play well, it was pretty phenomenal. You’ve seen it for two nights. We saw it for six weeks. That’s why we earned first place at the time. We were starting to get a little bit of recognition and then we slumped a little bit. It happens. I just kept telling the guys, ‘Weather the storm. Just have to weather it.’ They were playing hard; it wasn’t for a lack of effort. Sometimes, that’s the way the game treats you. It’s now rewarding them for their resilience.”
On Nick Frasso’s development as a closer …
“Nick is a basketball player playing baseball. He’s unbelievably athletic and he’s just at the tip of the iceberg of what he’s going to be. We tried to start him last year and he just wasn’t ready to do it at this level. We put him in the [bullpen] and when we put him in the bullpen, it was 27 strikeouts in 13 and two-thirds innings at the end of last year, when he was a freshman. We knew he was special, but when you have that kind of talent and that kind of arm, you want to develop him as a starter. So, we did it again this year, and as it turns, it proves that he fell back into that closer role or stopper role for us. He seems to rise to that occasion. It’s like he doesn’t have a heartbeat. The fans are screaming and stuff, but in Nick’s head, I don’t know what he’s singing. It isn’t what everyone else is singing. Very low pulse. I think it comes from his basketball – you know, fast-paced game where you have to forget about negatives really quickly and get back on defense. I think he gets a lot of those characteristics from that. He’s kind of an adrenaline junkie; he surfs a lot. I think the closer role fits him well.”
On potential starting pitcher tomorrow …
“Yeah, I have to get back and talk to my pitching coach, the one that should be up here talking about our pitching. He’s the one that did all the work. We’re going to go back and get together. There’s a couple different guys, but I’m not certain who it is yet.”
LMU Jr. INF/OF Trevin Esquerra
On message to the team knowing just one win is needed to advance …
“We’re not done yet, so we’re just taking it one game at a time. We’re still loose. We’re still going to have fun. Other than that, it’s just a game. We’re going to keep playing it our way. We’re going to have fun tomorrow.”
On team’s fan support …
“Unbelievable. Everyone coming out and supporting us. I mean, we’re 15 minutes away from home. Everyone from everywhere [came], alumni out in full force. We couldn’t be happier with them. They drove us and pumped us up a little bit.”
LMU Jr. RHP Josh Agnew
On his mindset playing the number one team in the country in their park …
“Obviously, we’re not expected to do much. Myself, I’m not really known. I got a lot of buddies on that team and it was just fun. I was like, ‘Hey, I’m going against the number one team’. I never even imagined that. To go against them to kind of see where I stood – luckily, the start went pretty well. We ended up winning the game, which was the most important part, so I felt pretty good about it.”
On team’s fan support …
“Especially yesterday, at the start of the game you looked up and it was just like, ‘Wow, there are a lot of fans for us’. It’s pretty crazy that a little school like us can get that many fans. I knew coming into tonight, it was a big game – number one team. We were going to have even more fans cheering us on. It was just a great feeling to look up, come off the field and they’re cheering for you. It’s just a great feeling.”
UCLA head coach John Savage
Opening remarks
“First off, it was a hell of a game. Both teams played extremely well. Both pitchers threw the ball extremely well. I’m very proud of Jack (Ralston). Jack stepped up like he’s done all season. We just didn’t do enough offensively at the end of the day. But great atmosphere, very difficult loss. I looked at the schedule a week ago and thought it was a brutal schedule by the NCAA. You can’t play a 7:00 game and play at 12:00. It was going to be them or us. It happens to be us, but I’d be saying the same thing if we had won. It’s unfair to the student-athlete. We’re probably going to get home at 12, BP is at nine-something, we have to eat. But besides that part of it, I thought it was a hell of a game. You’ve got to give credit to Loyola. They did what they needed to do to win. Their closer came in and made a statement. We were in position to do something, and at the end of the day we weren’t able to do it. But that’s why they call it a tournament. This is a blow for sure, but there’s a lot of baseball left, and we realize it. So we’ll come out tomorrow and get after it.”
On being the visiting team in your home park …
“I’ve always had a hard time with the number-one seed being the visitors right away in day two. But that’s been a long-lasting thing. The game times; normally it’s 4 and 8 or 3 and 7 or 2 and 6. This has been very inconsistent timing, and it’s really not been much of an issue. I think it was a little difficult for Omaha this morning. I think they played at 2, which wasn’t too bad. But playing at noon tomorrow, that’s the part I don’t quite understand. But it is what it is. We’re big boys, and we’ll get back at it.”
On the pressure of being the No. 1 team …
“We’ve been a really good team all season long, so we haven’t used the word pressure. We talk about opportunity; we talk about being present. It’s baseball. You lose a one-run game; thankfully it’s double elimination. It’s not the end of the season. We’ve got a lot of work to do tomorrow to get back in it, but this tournament is long from over, and we know that, Baylor knows that, and Loyola knows that. Like I said, we have to respond, but we’ve been No. 1 for 11 weeks, so I don’t think pressure has really been part of our game. Certainly, the sense of urgency now is at a pretty high level, but that’s the way it goes, and we have to respond.”
UCLA Junior Infielder Ryan Kreidler
On the atmosphere …
“We were really excited about the atmosphere. Getting to host a regional is a really special thing. We earned the right to do that, and being able to play a crosstown team like LMU is an awesome opportunity. We were glad that they brought their fans. Like Coach said, it was a great atmosphere for baseball, and this is what you work for – to play in these type of home games. We’re looking forward to getting back out there and playing some more baseball.”
On the short turnaround …
“It’s one of the reasons we do what we do in the off-season - to prepare for times like this. The early morning weights and going to class prepares you mentally for a time like this. We’re excited to get back out there and play tomorrow for sure.”