2023 MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 18, 2023

Ryan Folmar

Jake McMurray

Matt Hogan

Oral Roberts Golden Eagles

Postgame Press Conference

Florida - 5, Oral Roberts - 4

COACH FOLMAR: Good baseball game. I think people here in Omaha are getting their money's worth. Again, when you're playing good clubs, and we knew coming into the game this is obviously a really good team. A lot of power in the lineup. I thought for the most part we did a good job. But every mistake we made they were able to capitalize.

And the biggest thing is I don't know that it was the home runs -- they're going to get theirs. That's the way it's been for them all year long. But it's the mistakes in front of those home runs that really cost us today.

We had a hit batter, we had a walk right in front of the home runs that ended up being large.

But proud of the way our guys hung in there. I thought we had opportunities early in the game. And we couldn't take advantage of them. I think we left -- I don't have a box score -- but I think it was 13 on base is what we left on base. So we've got to make some of those count.

And then late, this is our club, this is -- we're going to fight and claw and try to find a way late. And we gave ourselves an opportunity late. I thought Justin Quinn's at-bat in the eighth was really good, squared a ball up and it was right at him. Our guys kept coming; we gave ourselves a chance.

Proud of the way we competed and now we turn our attention to Tuesday and how we can find a way to win.

Q. Matt, looking at Hurston Waldrep, you got going late in the game once he was out. What did you see from him that made him so difficult to kind of square up and get really good at-bats off of him?

MATT HOGAN: I look back to those at-bats and I look to my approach and I just didn't stick to it. That's really what it was. I came in the game thought I was going to spit on slider. And I think I did the exact opposite the entire time. And that's on me. I've got to execute better.

I did not do the plan we were going with and that's on me. The plan was to elevate the fastball and try to get it up and put a swing on it. I think my first three at-bats all I did was swing at splitter and take a fastball, which is just not good. Not going to cut it, and it's not good enough.

Q. How difficult is it to pick up the rotation on that splitter?

MATT HOGAN: You can see it. You can see it. He's a phenomenal pitcher. He really is. But you can see it. And I should have played better.

Q. Matt, Jake, you both have had such an incredible journey getting to this point. But you all had spots late in the game, a testament to the whole ballclub. What's the conversation like leading into the next few days?

JAKE MCMURRAY: It's a tough, resilient group. Obviously we didn't play well enough to win tonight. We'll flush this one, get right back on the saddle for Tuesday.

We're not going to change who we are or who we've been the whole year. Who we are, it was good enough to get us here and good enough to win us games here. So it's not going to change our plan or our approach or who we are.

Q. Kind of going back to Hurston Waldrep a little bit, what was your plan of attack against him offensively, and what did you see from him; how did you evaluate him from afar?

COACH FOLMAR: First and foremost, it's good. It's really good. For obvious reasons. It's a four-pitch mix. He can command the zone. He's athletic, has a quick arm. He's got deception.

And as Hogey says every once in a while you know what's coming, you're still not hitting it. You're not squaring it up. And he's good.

We knew coming in a couple of things. Number one, you're going to have trouble putting a bunch of base hits together against that guy and scoring a bunch of runs. We were going to try to make him a little bit uncomfortable whether that be with the bunt game or the run game, try to take certain pitches away from him at times.

And the score got a little lopsided early. So it takes some of that out of play a little bit. And we weren't able to do that.

We had some opportunities early. First couple of innings I thought our guys had good at-bats through those first couple of innings. But in the middle of the game he settled in and he was really good.

When you start landing the breaking ball and the changeup for a called strike it's a game-changer. When he was able to do that and settle in, that's as good as it gets.

Q. Florida likes the long ball. On every pitch it seems like they have a tendency to do that. How do you scout against a team like that?

COACH FOLMAR: It makes it tough, man. You know if you make one little mistake -- our plan was coming in -- I mean, again, I think guys that have power and teams that have power, it's like in basketball when you're playing a really good scorer, they're going to get some. That's the bottom line.

That's what they're going to do. That's what their offense is kind of based around.

But what we knew we needed to do was no free passes. We couldn't afford to do that. And we had to play clean defensively. We played clean defensively for the most part, but those mistakes in front of the home runs are really what hurt.

That's a great lineup. Up and down, it's big, it's strong, it's physical with power from top to bottom. So if you make mistakes, they're going to hurt you. We just can't hurt ourselves with some of those mistakes in front of home runs.

Q. Were you surprised by the ruling in the eighth inning regarding fortified caught off guard about it, or what were your thoughts about the change in pitchers in that situation?

COACH FOLMAR: I was looking at numbers, I didn't see exactly what happened. I'll have to go back and look. It is what it is. Part of it.

Q. You get the inside-the-park home run, you load the bases in the eighth and ninth. Talk about the resilience of this team, what it says about the character, the way they battled down here?

COACH FOLMAR: I'm glad everybody's getting to see it. I'm glad we're on this stage. Those last couple of innings we gave ourselves a chance every inning.

Matt's swing was big. And I think just as big as the swing was the way he's running around the bases, the way he hustles, the way he plays. And I think that's contagious throughout our team. I think all of them have that.

And then as you said, man, we loaded them up in the eighth and the ninth. We needed that one move, that one swing, that one moment. And just couldn't get it, just couldn't get it.

A lot of credit to them. They did a great job. They attacked the zone all night long. Obviously this is a really talented club. So at some point we've got to make a swing, gotta make a move and make them pay. And leaving 13 on against that kind of team in that moment just won't get it done.

Q. You're going to have TCU -- you've already seen them. How is the scouting report? Is it going to stay the same, or what's going to change about it?

COACH FOLMAR: What we do is not going to change. You get to this point because of what you do to get here. Regardless of what they do, as you said, everybody here is good. Everybody here is playing well at the right time of year. So I think more than any scouting report or matchups or anything you want to cover, we've got to play well. And if we play well, we're going to have a chance. If we don't, we're probably going to come up a little short.

We have to find a way tomorrow in our workout to get sharp and get ready mentally to go and come out and play well on Tuesday.