Quotables
Head Coach Willie Bloomquist
Opening Statement
"Can't say enough about Kole Klecker. Again, just when we need him the most, he steps up big time and gives us a good, solid start. So he did an outstanding job navigating a very tough lineup today and giving us a chance to win offensively. Dominic Smaldino obviously had a huge day for us with three homers. That was the majority of our offense today, so that was huge for him to come up big for us. Some big plays defensively. Landon Hairston, I don't want that play to go unnoticed there in the seventh inning- we had a pop up dropped down the line, and next pitch is a bullet, which maybe gets out of the ballpark, or maybe not. But Landon makes a great play that was huge for him. And Finn Edwards, the way he came in, and that's the best he's thrown all year, up there in the eighth inning with just velocity and high octane fuel, and got us out of that jam. And then, can never have enough runs. The ninth inning was ugly, a little bit, but (Derek Schaefer) came in and bounced back from Friday, and got it done for us. So that was big for him, and at the end of the day, resilient win by our guys after a tough couple days. And with a hot Oklahoma State team that's been playing really well, they came in and played us tough. But on the flip side, we were that close from taking a series again against one of the hotter teams in the country, and it's what could have, should have happened on Friday, but that game was there to be won, and it slipped through our fingers. But we're that close to winning that series. And again, we keep saying, if there's things we can clean up a little bit, I like our chances against anybody we play.”
On Dominic Smaldino’s growth this season
"He continues to get better and better, and he's still not a finished product. I think there's a lot of things he can continue to improve upon, which is scary, because his potential is through the roof when you have that type of leverage in your swing. And the biggest thing today, or the last few days that I saw, was that he was not chasing below the zone a lot. He got up in his wheelhouse where he was looking. And it's amazing you do damage when you get those pitches up in the zone. So I was really happy that he had the weekend he did.”
On Kole Klecker’s resiliency throughout the year
"I think it's a testament to his character and how he's been raised, and the experiences that he's had in his life. He just continues to rise to the occasion when it's called upon. And he's one of those guys that has learned from the hard times, learned from some failures, learned from some injuries. And instead of tuck tailing and running the other way, he's learned from them and grown from it and gotten better. And when you have negative things happen, they're only negative if you don't learn from them. And I think he's learned a lot from the experiences in his life, and he continues to grow from it. And again, he showed up today, in my mind, gave us the best start of the year that we needed.”
On the message to the team going into the final conference series
"To stay within the moment and not let things get too big or too out of control at this stage of the game. Every game is a big game, and that's what you're hoping for. You just play to win that particular game and let the chips fall where they may. And to me, it's got to be the mindset this time of the year anyway. You go out and play one at a time, and you put all your energy and effort level into that one particular game that day, and it's playoff baseball starting today. We understand the situation we're in, and we want to continue playing, if we can play playoff baseball right now, before we get there, or if we do get there, then it's not going to be any different when we do get there. So we just got to continue to play the way we're capable of playing.”
Pitcher Kole Klecker
On what was working for him
"I was just being selective with pitch selection, and there are a few mechanical things that I was working on throughout the week. Those combined with just seeing it well and sticking to a very specific approach.”
On what the message is going into the last series of the season before tournament play
"What Bloomy kind of told us yesterday, was that the playoffs started today for us, so every game is important. Do whatever it takes to get a win and this is the time where you put your head down, you play the best baseball you can, and you see where you're at and when it ends. So just continue to go game by game.”
Infielder Dominic Smaldino
On how it felt to hit a home run on Mother’s Day
"Every Mother's Day she texts me, word for word, I would like a home run for Mother's Day. That's all. And, so yeah, it was nice to do that when she was here and my whole family. I had my dad and my brother here as well, so it was nice to do it with all of them here.”
On how he feels with his three homeruns tying the single game program record
"I don't really think too much about that stuff. I mean, sure, it's cool, but what made my day was the win. So, ending the weekend on a good note at home on Mother's Day, it couldn't have ended better, so that's what I was excited about.”
Infielder Nu'u Contrades
On what this program over the last four years has meant to him
"It's been an unreal ride. The past four years have been the best four years of my life. This program, this culture is unmatched throughout the whole nation. It's been awesome. The coaches are awesome. This team is awesome. So I’m excited to keep going with this team.”
On how important it was to win a game in the series
"I mean, it's huge. Avoiding the sweep is huge, salvaging a win, especially because we're tied with them in the conference. It's huge going into this weekend. We're just going to try and go into this weekend and get as many wins as possible.”
