Arizona State Head Coach Willie Bloomquist
On Jesse Wainscott…
“If we could just get past the first pitch with him. He drilled a guy on the first pitch both nights. The ball was coming out hot, it was coming out great, sharp, late slider. They weren’t seeing it very good. The leadoff triple in the ninth, they put a good hit on it, but he buckled down pretty nicely and did outstanding. Can’t say enough about him. Two and third [innings pitched] and six punchies, that’s pretty impressive.”
On differences with newcomers…
“It starts with mentality. We preached it from day one, don’t beat yourself. As you look at the line today, we didn’t exactly beat the brakes off them offensively today but at the end of the day, we didn’t beat ourselves on the mound or defensively. We didn’t make an error in the last two days and had one walk today. You don’t give up free bases, you give yourself an opportunity to win games. That’s what the main focus has been. We had the guys buy into it. I get it, nobody is trying to walk hitters but at the same time, they understand the importance of not giving up free bases. That’s been a big focus and we’ll try to continue the trend.
On Johnny Weaver…
“Not surprising. Johnny has been outstanding. We brought him here for his leadership, he’s been to the postseason twice. He understands the situation that he’s in and he’s gotta stay ready to play. He’s gotta play all the positions, be sharp at all the positions and ready to go. He gets it. He’s ready to go. That’s the guy I wanted up there in that situation because you know Johnny Weaver is going to figure out a way to get it done. He did, I was happy for him.
On moving Wyatt Crenshaw up in the order…
“He’s a dynamic offensive player. He can run, he has a great swing. He is capable of bunting. The plan was to get a couple of our top guys on base so their guy had to go to his offspeed stuff. Then we were going to run. The problem is, we didn’t get many on base. That part of it didn’t work out as planned. Wyatt is responding well. If we get him and Keaschall on base to set the table for the 4-5-6 guys, it adds a nice dynamic to us because they have speed and are base stealers. On paper, that’s what we’re trying to do.”
On Isaiah Jackson first inning catch in centerfield…
“It’s a game changing play. Probably the only other guy that makes that play is Joe Lampe. It’s a back-breaker, triple written all over it. He stole it. The kid has some kind of stride length out there in center field. He just reels balls in, to me, that’s why he’s out there.”
On Timmy Manning…
“He was at his pitch count, or a few pitches over. The reason we didn’t pull him out the hitter before was because of the left-on-left matchup. We really liked it. He was at his pitch count to where we didn’t want to go much longer than him. That was a turning point of the game, we felt. If he could go deep and give us one more hitter, and he did. He was outstanding. When he is able to throw his breaking ball for a strike, the kid is pretty tough. He did phenomenal today, we were excited to see that out of him. It stretches out the rotation that much more. Moving forward, that’s a big piece of this puzzle.
Arizona State Reliever Jesse Wainscott…
On the ninth inning after leadoff triple…
“I mean, guy gets on with a triple, in that moment you’re just like ‘man, this is a tough situation.’ Then you’re like, now the bullpen is going to get up. As a closer, I kind of revel in that role and I really enjoy it. In that moment, its just one pitch at a time. I keep repeating to myself one pitch at a time and you just do your best every pitch.”
On escaping trouble in two innings…
“When it’s a one-run ballgame, the game seems much larger. It’s just like, ‘okay, this is a big moment.’ I’ve watched a lot of college baseball. College baseball is momentum. You play to momentum. Just keep it going.”
Arizona State Catcher Ryan Campos…
On the pitching staff..
“It was good, it was good to see those guys come out the way that they did. A lot of expectations obviously, they’re all transfers, but it was nice. All of them were locating their offspeeds really well today. They make my job easy, just catching. Locating offspeeds for strikes is huge.”
On Jesse Wainscott…
“I have confidence in all those guys. Wainscott is a really good guy to have there. It’s good if it's 95 because you know it can get past guys, but the slider will play too.”
Arizona State Starting Pitcher Timmy Manning
On taking the series…
“Oh it's special, it's always good to get out there and get a sweep. We just came in and did our jobs. We executed. Thirteen punchies was a result of that.”
On being removed in the sixth with two outs…
“I’m obviously a competitor and wanted to finish that sixth inning but it was a strict pitch count. At the same time, I’m perfectly fine handing it off to Bod (Bodlovich), we’ve got the best right hander in the country. He’s going to come in and save my ERA and save those runs.”
On Jesse Wainscott…
“If we could just get past the first pitch with him. He drilled a guy on the first pitch both nights. The ball was coming out hot, it was coming out great, sharp, late slider. They weren’t seeing it very good. The leadoff triple in the ninth, they put a good hit on it, but he buckled down pretty nicely and did outstanding. Can’t say enough about him. Two and third [innings pitched] and six punchies, that’s pretty impressive.”
On differences with newcomers…
“It starts with mentality. We preached it from day one, don’t beat yourself. As you look at the line today, we didn’t exactly beat the brakes off them offensively today but at the end of the day, we didn’t beat ourselves on the mound or defensively. We didn’t make an error in the last two days and had one walk today. You don’t give up free bases, you give yourself an opportunity to win games. That’s what the main focus has been. We had the guys buy into it. I get it, nobody is trying to walk hitters but at the same time, they understand the importance of not giving up free bases. That’s been a big focus and we’ll try to continue the trend.
On Johnny Weaver…
“Not surprising. Johnny has been outstanding. We brought him here for his leadership, he’s been to the postseason twice. He understands the situation that he’s in and he’s gotta stay ready to play. He’s gotta play all the positions, be sharp at all the positions and ready to go. He gets it. He’s ready to go. That’s the guy I wanted up there in that situation because you know Johnny Weaver is going to figure out a way to get it done. He did, I was happy for him.
On moving Wyatt Crenshaw up in the order…
“He’s a dynamic offensive player. He can run, he has a great swing. He is capable of bunting. The plan was to get a couple of our top guys on base so their guy had to go to his offspeed stuff. Then we were going to run. The problem is, we didn’t get many on base. That part of it didn’t work out as planned. Wyatt is responding well. If we get him and Keaschall on base to set the table for the 4-5-6 guys, it adds a nice dynamic to us because they have speed and are base stealers. On paper, that’s what we’re trying to do.”
On Isaiah Jackson first inning catch in centerfield…
“It’s a game changing play. Probably the only other guy that makes that play is Joe Lampe. It’s a back-breaker, triple written all over it. He stole it. The kid has some kind of stride length out there in center field. He just reels balls in, to me, that’s why he’s out there.”
On Timmy Manning…
“He was at his pitch count, or a few pitches over. The reason we didn’t pull him out the hitter before was because of the left-on-left matchup. We really liked it. He was at his pitch count to where we didn’t want to go much longer than him. That was a turning point of the game, we felt. If he could go deep and give us one more hitter, and he did. He was outstanding. When he is able to throw his breaking ball for a strike, the kid is pretty tough. He did phenomenal today, we were excited to see that out of him. It stretches out the rotation that much more. Moving forward, that’s a big piece of this puzzle.
Arizona State Reliever Jesse Wainscott…
On the ninth inning after leadoff triple…
“I mean, guy gets on with a triple, in that moment you’re just like ‘man, this is a tough situation.’ Then you’re like, now the bullpen is going to get up. As a closer, I kind of revel in that role and I really enjoy it. In that moment, its just one pitch at a time. I keep repeating to myself one pitch at a time and you just do your best every pitch.”
On escaping trouble in two innings…
“When it’s a one-run ballgame, the game seems much larger. It’s just like, ‘okay, this is a big moment.’ I’ve watched a lot of college baseball. College baseball is momentum. You play to momentum. Just keep it going.”
Arizona State Catcher Ryan Campos…
On the pitching staff..
“It was good, it was good to see those guys come out the way that they did. A lot of expectations obviously, they’re all transfers, but it was nice. All of them were locating their offspeeds really well today. They make my job easy, just catching. Locating offspeeds for strikes is huge.”
On Jesse Wainscott…
“I have confidence in all those guys. Wainscott is a really good guy to have there. It’s good if it's 95 because you know it can get past guys, but the slider will play too.”
Arizona State Starting Pitcher Timmy Manning
On taking the series…
“Oh it's special, it's always good to get out there and get a sweep. We just came in and did our jobs. We executed. Thirteen punchies was a result of that.”
On being removed in the sixth with two outs…
“I’m obviously a competitor and wanted to finish that sixth inning but it was a strict pitch count. At the same time, I’m perfectly fine handing it off to Bod (Bodlovich), we’ve got the best right hander in the country. He’s going to come in and save my ERA and save those runs.”