Postgame Quotes: Tulane (2/26)

2021 Mississippi State Baseball
Postgame Quotes
Mississippi State vs. Tulane
February 26, 2020

Q: What did you see from Christian MacLeod today?
CL: A lot of misses. He would get ahead [in the count] and then miss. He had the one inning that really got away from us. Both times we gave up a crooked number, we don't make plays, we don't make pitches, we just let their hitters stay in. I think that's a little bit of what happened to Christian tonight – not being able to make pitches when he needed to.

Q: What did you see after the hit by pitch that seemed to cause things to fall apart?
CL: [Collin Burns], the next hitter, had a great at bat. I think that may have been his first career home run, sneaking that ball down the line. He had a great [at bat] and put a good swing on it. Then, we don't make a couple of plays. [Dropping a thrown when] Throwing a guy out trying to steal, defensive plays that just let the inning get away from us. At that point, the pitch count really grew and that's why he had to come out early too.

Q: Do you think tonight was an outlier for your team defensively?
CL: I hope so. We were good defensively in Dallas, for the most part. Take out one inning in Dallas, we play great defense. We weren't great on Wednesday night either. I really challenged them defensively because in the ninth inning, that's probably how this game should have been. It should have been 2-2 going into the ninth and us battling it out with bullpens, but instead, we don't take care of the baseball. Give them credit, they got some big hits in those innings and they put up crooked numbers on us. On Friday night, all across college baseball, these games are tight. You have to be able to defend, get out of innings, and get off the field.

Q: What did Braden Olthoff do that created problems for your guys at the plate?
CL: He did what he's done his whole career. He mixes in pitches and there's such angle to the ball. You never really get a good swing at him, it feels like. He makes you hit a lot of ground balls. He keeps the ball down and it had our guys really off balance. He's done that ever since he's been in college baseball. We knew it'd be a tough test. I thought we did a great job getting to him in the first inning. He only had one earned run [allowed] all of last year. Getting that one and getting to play with a lead, I was excited, but he settled in and was really good throughout the game.

Q: How do you see Christian MacLeod responding after his outing tonight?
CL: He'll work hard. He's a competitive kid. He's going to come out, have a good week of work, and get ready for his next start. That's all you can do in this world. Sometimes the game doesn't go our way. He has to make more pitches. He's going to have to compete more, make more pitches, and give us a better chance to win.

Q: How do you teach this group through moments like this?
CL: A big part is the energy and focus that we bring and being able to play the game every day. That was our message on Wednesday night. I wasn't really happy with the energy we brought to come and play the game [on Wednesday]. We kind of came with the same thing today. Our kids think 'It's Mississippi State. We can just roll out the ball'. There are just too many great teams. That's a really good team in the other dugout. You have to show up and you have to be ready to go every night in this game. We have to learn to do that. Practice that way, play that way. And we do. We have some really good pieces here. We have some inexperienced pieces. We have to get going in that way. You have to be able to show up every night and be able to put out a good effort.

Q: What did you see from some of the younger guys in the bullpen tonight?
CL: We had Riley [Self], who's older, then we had KC [Hunt] and [Xavier Lovett]. They had pitched this week and I thought they were okay. We don't make a play in there. They have to learn to pitch when we don't make the plays. Sometimes we don't make as many good pitches at that point. I really liked Dylan Carmouche there at the end of the game. I thought Drew Talley made a couple nice pitches too. I thought Carmouche really showed that he has a chance to have a bright future here.

Q: How did you determine who to rotate out of the bullpen and did you factor in saving someone for tomorrow?
CL: Definitely. When we were down a couple [of runs], we knew we were just trying to keep the game close there. That was one of the big decisions we had to make before the game: when do you use Landon Sims and everything else? You hate to use him and not have a chance [to win], especially with [Braden] Olthoff on the mound. There was a little bit of that. We felt like most of the guys we ran out there tonight, except for Dylan Carmouche, with such a right-handed heavy lineup were good matchups.

Mississippi State University Athletics

Postgame Quotes: Tulane (2/26)

Players Mentioned

Dylan Carmouche

Xavier Lovett

Christian MacLeod

Landon Sims

Drew Talley

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