Quotes: Oklahoma at Louisville

Quotes: Oklahoma at Louisville
Location: Louisville, Ky. - Jim Patterson Stadium
Result: Louisville 11, Oklahoma 1
Attendance: 4,060
Date: June 3, 2017

Head Coach Pete Hughes

Opening Statement:

It was a great baseball game for seven innings. You get two of the best in college baseball, high level pitching. To me that's what it's all about, but then we had a chance to build a lead there. You don't have many chances against a kid like that. Does a two-run inning change the complexion of the eighth inning? Probably not, but really good teams that have a history of winning and winning in their park like that pick their opportunity and take advantage of it.

“Tremendous outing by Jake Irvin. That should not go by the wayside. As good as it gets on the big stage by both those guys. I'm proud of my team and you can't feel sorry for yourselves for too long because we're up early tomorrow and trying to figure out how to win this thing. You can't let Saturday night beat you twice and we'll be ready to go tomorrow.”

On the bullpen and if JB Olson is available Sunday:

Tomorrow is tough and if you try to win three you're probably going to go home. It's the old adage. Win one game at a time, one inning at a time. You don't worry about your bullpen for the next game or the one after. You figure it out if you get to that game. We just have to play good for a day and then all bets are off Monday night. That's what I told our guys. 'Let's get hot tomorrow and have a heck of a time. You pitchers that haven't pitched well lately, it's time to pitch good tomorrow. Hitters, let's get hot so we can take it to tomorrow night and we can take it to Monday'. Like I said all bets are off Monday night, but we're a long way from there. Do we have enough in our bullpen? We certainly have talented kids who are good enough to pitch at this level and are available. We're going to use them and I believe in them all but it's time for those guys to be good. Will we to use JB Olson? Absolutely. We got him out of there tonight. When the lead got to four or five I got him out of there, knowing what we would have to do tomorrow.”

On Louisville starter Brendan McKay:

He is awesome. That kid is a winner. There is a quiet confidence about him and a kid who is that high profile there is usually an arrogance and there is none of that with that kid. He pitches with class and confidence. That probably speaks to their program, but for him to be as productive and high profile as he's been—to take on being the face of one of the best programs of the last decade and to do it with class and respect for the game and the University—that's what stuck out to me. I knew we were going to see good stuff. Fastball on both sides of the plate and keeps you off balance with the off-speed stuff, but the fastball command is pretty special.

On if McKay is a better hitter or pitcher:

I'm just a college coach and not an evaluator, but I'd like to have him as both for a couple years and give you that evaluation.”

On the eighth inning:

There are always a couple plays or decisions that you can second-guess. We bring Connor Berry in to get a punchout, but he gets a groundout and Zaragoza makes a great play. Do we get him out now and pitch against the freshman with Olson in a double-play situation? We stuck with Berry to walk the bases loaded. Win or lose Olson is our guy. I'll sleep well tonight because I went with JB. I know who he is as a person and a competitor. He executed a really good pitch. It was a 1-2 pitch and it was off the plate. If you see the replay I know it's going to be close to being in the other batters' box. Logan Taylor just hooked it. He's a senior and how many big at bats has that kid had? He got the cap on it, got it in play and got a big hit for them. That was the deciding part of the game. I can live with it because the pitch was really well executed and a really good player won the battle. To me that was the game.

On if he expected the big inning:

This team's offense feeds off big innings. We knew that going in. We knew if we were going to win it would be a one-run game. They pick their spot and pounce on you and let it roll. We didn't do a good job of damage control. At some point you have to make a decision about how you are going to win the regional and that's what we did in those last innings. Winning the regional would probably not be leaving JB Olson in the game. I have to make that decision to pull the cord and figure out how to win two games tomorrow.

Quotes: Oklahoma at Louisville