SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE BASEBALL TOURNAMENT

May 27, 2023

Dave Van Horn

Brady Tygart

Caleb Cali

Hoover Metropolitan Stadium

Arkansas Razorbacks

Postgame Press Conference

Texas A&M 5, Arkansas 4

DAVE VAN HORN: First off, congratulations to A&M. They pitched great today. Both teams played very good defense for the most part, and yeah, was just one of those games, really frustrating for us, especially on the offensive side. It's like their pitchers did a great job against our top five hitters, and that ended up being the difference in the game.

You move down past that, and 6 through 9, they fought pretty well, and they got that rally going there in the top of the ninth, but great tournament. Just we played three tight games, all 5-4. Feel very fortunate to win two of them.

You hate to lose and leave, but now it's time for us to switch gears mentally and regroup a little bit and build up a little strength and get ready for next weekend.

Q. Cali, tough loss but pretty decent performance from the plate today, three hits, two runs. How were you feeling out there? What were you seeing?

CALEB CALI: Yeah, feeling good, feeling confident. You know, that's all I can really say about that. Obviously we didn't come out with the win today, but I'm feeling good going into next weekend.

Q. For Caleb, I know you lost the game, but you guys were getting shut out there for six innings and you showed some ice, especially in the ninth. How good does that feel that you put up a fight and obviously almost had the tying runs, winning runs, got them on base?

CALEB CALI: Yeah, it's good to see that. I think it shows that our team has a lot of toughness. We didn't get that tying run across the plate in the ninth there, but we were really close. But seeing that out of our team, especially late like that, it's a good sign to see.

Q. Brady, you pitched a solid game but didn't seem to have the control you've had in other starts. How would you assess today, your performance today?

BRADY TYGART: Definitely wasn't the best day for me. I had to compete a little bit more than I normally do. I just couldn't quite find it. But that happens, and glad we got off with as little damage as we did.

Q. I think you've been on the road for 11 days. You're going to get to go home, regroup. You're hosting a regional. What's the feeling about the tournament and then you can get home and reset like Dave was talking about?

CALEB CALI: Yeah, we've been gone for a while, but we definitely wanted to stick around for one more day. But stuff happens, and we'll go home and we'll regroup and we'll be ready.

BRADY TYGART: Yeah, as the year says, we're really hard to beat at home. We really feel good when we're back at Mom's, so we're all really confident. We're ready.

Q. This is the fifth time you guys have played A&M. It's hard to beat a good team five times. Did you think maybe it was A&M's -- that the odds, they were going to win? How do you feel about A&M? I'm sure they were frustrated with those other losses.

CALEB CALI: Kudos to them for playing well today. I think we could have won this game, but we didn't today. Hats off to them for playing well.

BRADY TYGART: Yeah, I thought we were going to win the game all the way up until it was over.

Q. Tough ninth inning. You got two on, two out. Can you just walk us through the ninth?

DAVE VAN HORN: Well, there was a lot that went on in the ninth. We almost batted around. I'll tell you about the last two outs. We swung at some bad pitches. Had two of our best hitters up there, and that was probably the most disappointing part to me about that inning. I loved that inning. I loved the way we rallied. John Bolton's at-bat, fouling off pitches and smoking one opposite field down the line, just did a great job there fighting to get to the next pitch.

Obviously we needed another hit to tie it up, and had the 3 and 4 hole hitter up and a guy throwing pretty much exclusively sliders, and they didn't find the barrel at all.

Congratulations to Wansing. He did a great job finishing us up.

Q. You mentioned Bolton. What did you think about his performance coming back from that injury, not only at the plate but also in the field?

DAVE VAN HORN: Yeah, he had a couple plays in the field. He made them. The ball came to the plate, made a perfect throw. At the plate I thought he looked really good, really sharp, strong. When he got hurt, he was really starting to swing the bat a lot better obviously, a lot more confidence, hitting balls hard against Vandy over there he swung the bat well and then he hurt his ankle, obviously.

It would be nice if he can take that into the next weekend and give us a little offense towards the end of our lineup.

Q. That sixth inning, you bring in Gage, I think he had three walks and then Coil had a walk. How frustrating was that? Gage has had a couple not-so-good outings. What's your thought process on that?

DAVE VAN HORN: He's had three in a row like that so it makes it tough. It makes it tough for us as coaches to -- what do we do? He's a guy that was throwing 95 miles an hour, had a little attitude, and he's throwing the ball 91, 92, think he might have topped out at 93, but throwing nothing but strikes. It's frustrating, and we've got to figure out this week if we're going to be able to use him on the weekend.

Q. Foutch, he came in and got out of a jam. How good was that to see him because the last three outings he hadn't retired anybody?

DAVE VAN HORN: Yeah, and he's been close. His pitches have been real close. It's hurt him, hurt his confidence a little bit.

But today he was all around the zone, threw a nice slider to get that last out, zipping the ball in there about 95, 96, 97, and looks like he's taking a step back forward. He wants to help us out.

Q. I know you want to win, obviously, but we know you guys have a top 8 seed. You've been on the road for close to two weeks. Are you guys -- are you going to get a flight home or a bus home --

DAVE VAN HORN: We're riding with you.

Q. We've got an SUV.

DAVE VAN HORN: We are going to hopefully take two buses to the airport and get on an airplane and go home tonight if it all works out.

Q. You came here, you played pretty well, you got beat, but how do you feel about the tournament performance overall? Obviously you've got a much bigger deal next weekend.

DAVE VAN HORN: Well, I feel good about some things. I feel good about if we don't make very many mistakes -- I don't think we made an error in three games here. I think we made one at Vanderbilt, and it might have been on a pitcher.

So I feel like if we can continue to do that, feel like our starting pitchers for the most part are in good shape. They've got some rest. We didn't over-pitch them, and a couple of bullpen guys had pretty good outings. I thought McEntyre was outstanding both outings. It says here he gave up three runs, but a couple freshmen walked in two of those for us.

I don't know, I feel good except we've got to get our offense going. It's the older guys. They've got to do it. If we don't get the offense going, it'll be a quick weekend for us.

Q. What did you think of Brady's --

DAVE VAN HORN: Yeah, Brady didn't have the stuff that he's had the last couple outings. Fastball, 91, 92. He can throw it 95 if he needs to, if you want him to close the game. He can do that.

But he didn't have the command that he had had the first three outings. I just feel like hopefully got this out of the way and we can see him take a step forward next weekend, and I'm sure in a big game.