Coral Gables Super Regional Press Conference
CORAL GABLES SUPER REGIONAL – THURSDAY PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES
VCU HEAD COACH SHAWN STIFFLER
Opening statement…
“Very excited to be here. Thank you to the University of Miami for hosting this. We got a chance to get out in the field today. The field played awesome. The facilities are unbelievable. Got a chance to catch a few of the games online last weekend that were here and the atmosphere looks like it’s going to be great. Super excited for this. Also, very excited for the opportunity for our program and the chance to be here, obviously, in our first Super Regional. So excited for the guys. Very proud of them. Ready to get going tomorrow. It looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
On the team’s recent run—winning 14 of the last 15 games and winning the Dallas Regional as a four-seed…
“How the run got started—I’m not sure how to put my finger on that. Once you start playing confident in this game it’s easy to get steamrolling. We started to play what we felt like was a little bit more to our potential. We didn’t play bad all year. We just never got on a streak like this. Obviously the old saying is you’d rather play well at the end of the year and we’re obviously an example of that. We have some great senior leadership, some guys who have been pretty battle-tested for us before.
”We have some really good senior, upperclassmen pitchers who have kind of carried a lot of that workload for us. Then, the pitchers got hot, which has allowed for the offense to relax a little bit and not put so much pressure on themselves. The hits became very timely. That was the biggest difference. We started getting the big hits and driving in several runs. If I could put my finger on it what the change was, I would have probably made the change two months ago. We wouldn’t have had to scramble so much to get into our conference tournament. It’s been fun. If you were there last week, I wouldn’t say we were the best team there maybe, but we played the best last weekend. I’m certainly proud of them for that.”
On how it is hotter and more humid in Miami than Virginia and how that could be a factor…
“I don’t know how much of a factor that’s going to be. It was hot, humid and muggy in Dallas last weekend and we played several day games on turf. We’ve played plenty of hot games. At the conference tournament, it was plenty hot. We understand that we’re playing midday here and it’s got a chance to have some humidity and be very, very warm, looking at the forecast, but you play baseball in the summertime. That’s part of it.”
VCU JUNIOR C WALKER HAYMAKER
On the Miami weather…
“Dallas was very, very warm and I played in Florida for 18 years so this isn’t anything new to me, personally.”
On being from Orlando and having the chance to now come play at Miami…
“It’s exciting. I had a lot of friends who committed to Miami early in high school. They didn’t all wind up going there, but the name has always been around growing up, so it’s definitely exciting to finally kind of be here, you know, a place you saw on TV growing up your whole life. They’re always in the College World Series, so it’s definitely exciting to be here.”
On what makes the VCU pitching staff so special…
“I would say pitch calling-wise, our guys are so confident on the mound. They know how they want to approach each hitter and me and JoJo [Howie] and Heath [Dwyer] and Blanch [Matt Blanchard], we really get on a good rhythm and they really know after each pitch they make what they want to do next to hitters. So, I think knowing how to attack then knowing how to execute that is really what makes them good pitchers.”
On Miami’s lineup…
“I think it’s very similar to the Dallas [Baptist] team we just played. A lot of guys with double to home run power all up and down the lineup. Dallas took big swings, but they have swings too, very comparable teams between Dallas and Miami. If you look at the numbers, they’re very similar too.”
On whether VCU is a program not to be overlooked…
“Like coach said, we just got to try and play our own game. We’re not worried about what other people think. As long as we play to a level we expect ourselves to play, that’s how we approach it. We don’t care about what other people think.”
On if the team is thinking about Omaha…
“We’re worried about beating Miami and only Miami. That’s the only thing that’s in my mind. I dream about it and I wake up thinking about it, that’s all that’s in my head right now.”
On whether taking it one pitch at a time is difficult…
“When you get up there and someone is throwing 92, you’re thinking about that one pitch, so I think it’s pretty easy—or 97 like we saw over the weekend.”
VCU JUNIOR OF JIMMY KERRIGAN
On the Miami weather…
“I would say [we are] pretty used to it. In Richmond it’s pretty humid, so we practice just as hard and get used to it.”
On the opportunity to play during the team’s recent streak of success…
“I was just fortunate enough to get in the lineup and do anything I can to help us win, whether it be get on base, steal a base, knock in a run, score a run, make a play in the outfield. I just try to do whatever I can to pretty much get on base for the guys behind me because everybody is hitting really well right now. So I have a ton of confidence in our guys. If I get on base, they’re knocking me in every time.”
On leaving Temple, which canceled its program, to now playing in Super Regionals…
“It’s pretty crazy. It’s a huge turn of events. Obviously it was unfortunate that Temple cut the program, but extremely lucky that I got the chance to come to VCU and be a part of something special and make some history at VCU.”
On whether VCU is a program not to be overlooked…
“We just try to go out and have fun and that’s what we’re doing right now. We’re clicking on all cylinders, so we’re just trying to go out there and compete.”
On if the team is thinking about Omaha…
“I think everyone’s approach is pretty much just one pitch at a time, one inning at a time, and one game at a time and just go from there.”
On whether taking it one pitch at a time is difficult…
“It doesn’t look like it looking at our guys. It looks like we’re all flying around and having a ton of fun and playing really well.”
MIAMI HEAD COACH JIM MORRIS
Opening statement…
“I’d like to congratulate VCU on their year. I’m familiar with their program. I don’t know the current coach like I did their last coach, but I am very familiar with their program. When I looked at their regional that we matched up against, I went Dallas Baptist, Oregon State—that could be a one-seed—and Texas, I thought that could be the toughest regional across the board. To see VCU go into that regional and win it tells me a lot of the type of club they have, the coaching the have and the leadership they have on that team. I am very impressed with that.
“I watched them some on tape and they have had a great year. For our club, we are excited about hosting a Regional and now a Super Regional. We are excited about the opportunity to play and I am very proud of the way we have played. We have a lot of players that have contributed and won games for us offensively, defensively and with pitching. I think we are a pretty well-rounded team that doesn’t have to rely on any one thing in particular. I think it’s a good team effort and we are excited about the opportunity to play in this and compete against VCU.”
On what VCU beating top teams to win its Regional says about the team and if it can be a dangerous team…
“It gives me instant respect for them because I know how hard it is to beat those guys. We’ve played against them and know those programs very well. To go in there and do what they did gets you respect immediately. Coach Stiffler has done a tremendous job. [Prior to this season, he had] been there two years as the head coach and he’s a young guy that I got a chance to talk to a little bit earlier. I’m very impressed with him and what he’s done so far. I got to know about his knowledge of the game and how the players carry themselves and play the game. I know they’ve got to be good to go in there and handle what they handled.”
On the VCU pitchers matching up with the Miami hitters and how exciting that will be to watch…
“Obviously their pitching is better than the other teams’ because they haven’t given up many runs in this streak that they’re going through. They’ve played very, very well. They say good pitching beats good hitting. They’re pitching with confidence, but our guys are, too. We can talk about the runs, but let’s look at our ERA and our stats and what our pitchers have done, too. Our pitchers have been equally as good so hopefully we can score a few runs early and do the things we’ve been doing lately.”
On this weekend’s rotation…
“We’re pitching [Andy] Suarez tomorrow. It will be [Thomas] Woodrey Saturday. Our rotation has been really good with those two guys at the top, especially since Suarez came back after he got hurt early.”
MIAMI JUNIOR 3B DAVID THOMPSON
On what he will do against VCU’s good pitching to try to continue the team’s stretch of strong offensive games…
“We’re just trying to not do too much and play within our game. We’ve been swinging at good pitches; taking walks a lot, and hitting with guys on base. We just have to stay with what we’re doing and not try to do too much.”
On past experience of facing tough pitching in the ACC and using that going into this weekend…
“We faced a lot of good arms this season, like you said. We just have to, like I said, stay patient at the plate, swing at the pitches we want to hit, and do a good job of putting the ball in play and making their defense make plays.,”
On being loose and staying relaxed…
“I think that’s one of the reasons we have been so successful this year. We work hard, but at the same time we are having fun with what we’re doing and playing relaxed. You know when you’re uptight you can’t play as well. So we’re just trying to have fun, stay relaxed, and be confident in what we can do.”
