2025 MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 17, 2025

John Savage

Cashel Dugger

Cal Randall

UCLA Bruins

Postgame Press Conference

LSU - 9 , UCLA - 5

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by UCLA head coach John Savage and student-athletes Cashel Dugger and Cal Randall.

JOHN SAVAGE: Just seemed like we were swimming upstream a little bit most of the game. Continuation game. We put up three and then they put up four. Then they come out and do a good job with two outs in the fourth, and they got two there. And it seemed like we were just trailing a little bit from the mound, mostly.

Offensively, Evans did a really, really good job. Thought he pounded the zone with multiple pitches.

But hard fought, right? We stayed in the ball game. We got to Williams. Did a good job, gave us a chance at the end of the game. But we just really couldn't contain them enough, really, at the end of the day.

It was kind of a long couple of days, really. But at the same time you've got to expect anything at the World Series, and you've got to deal with anything at the World Series.

It affected both teams the same way. It didn't affect us any more, or anything like that. It's baseball. At the end of the day, we need to recover and rebound and have an opportunity tonight to get back at it.

Q. Cash, you caught the game today. I believe nine or so pitchers you caught. Not the best days from Landon or Easton or Wylan. What do you see from them behind the plate compared to the success we've seen from them all season?

CASHEL DUGGER: Not much. They went out there. They were competing. Just some days you have it better than others. But I thought they competed out there.

We're in the World Series. They're giving it their all. Just some days you don't have it as good as others.

Q. Just looking at the middle of LSU's lineup, with Milam, Brown and Jared Jones, what is it about them that just makes them really tough outs in terms of just the approach from a pitching-coach standpoint?

JOHN SAVAGE: Milam is an advanced, strike-zone disciplined guy. Jones we made several mistakes to. He's got power to the whole field. And we made a really bad mistake last night. Ball was supposed to be in. It was elevated away.

So they're going to hit those sorts of mistakes and do some damage to them. You've got to give them a lot of credit. We just left too many balls out over the plate, and they're not going to miss those.

Any good, solid middle lineup College World Series team is going to hit those. But Jones with the three-run homer. On the ball today in the ninth, the ball over the plate, he got to that one.

A really strong guy. And when you make mistakes, they can do some damage with it.

Q. The last press conference, you talked about or you were asked about the team's youth. And you talked about how they have a lot more experience than maybe the roster portrays. Could you talk about the preparation when you facing a veteran team like LSU and now preparing for a team like Arkansas?

JOHN SAVAGE: Well, it's a good question. You're playing really good teams. There are some teams that have a little more youth. There are some teams that have a little more experience. There's teams that have more age.

You have to deal with it all, really. It's not bad or good or indifferent really if you're either/or. But at the same time, I think they showed their experience today and last night.

We had some opportunities, but at the end of the day I just thought they were the better team today. So we've got to regroup and focus on Arkansas now.

Q. Two-out hitting, seemed like they did a little bit better than you guys today. Is that something you address with the team and maybe take a approach it differently today?

JOHN SAVAGE: They did a good job with two strikes and two outs. Moss goes two outs and then can't get out of the inning. I think that happened with another guy, May, possibly.

At this level, it's hard to get three outs in any inning. But they're just a little bit higher level, I guess you would say.

But it's baseball and we just didn't make enough pitches, really, at the end of the day. I don't want to call them the Yankees, right? They're good, but it's more about us -- it's always about us.

We didn't make enough pitches and they're a really good team. And that's a bad combo sometimes, right? At the end of the day, they had a really good approach.

Q. With eight pitchers, nine pitchers used today, what's the plan for tonight?

JOHN SAVAGE: We play tonight? [Sarcastic]

No. Another good question. When you're in the winners' bracket, you've got to do everything you can to stay in the winners' bracket. Anybody who tells you otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about or has never coached.

But I think we have some guys, clearly. We have about five or six guys that didn't throw either yesterday or today. We'll pick one, we'll pick some guys out of that lot.

You always feel, can a guy come back? Morning and night? The World Series is not designed for that. This isn't designed for that. They didn't ask for this. We have to deal with it. We're the team that has to deal with it.

That's okay. A lot of them threw 10, 12, 14 pitches. Most of those guys should be able to come back. But we do have still, a pretty big group of guys that haven't thrown.

Q. I was talking to a staffer of yours, I was kind of surprised when he said that this would be your first doubleheader you've played all season. I went looking through the schedule and I think it was right. Playing in the Big Ten, looked like you dodged quite a bit of weather, which is surprising. I'm curious of how you plan to handle a little bit of a delay here between games.

JOHN SAVAGE: Yeah, we haven't played a double-header. That is surprising in some ways. We don't deal with weather in LA much obviously in the west certainly in that league. We dodged it. You probably answered the question. May not have to answer it.

But it's the World Series. You've got to deal with anything that comes your way. If you have to play a doubleheader you have to play a doubleheader. If you feel sorry for yourself, you're not going to be playing very long.

It's the nature of the game. We'll be ready to go tonight. It's not a doubleheader back-to-back, right? You've got to sit for a game.

It's not the schedule. No one planned it like this. We have to deal with it. We'll be fine. We're big boys.