NCAA Starkville Regional: Campbell Quotes (June 6, 2021)

NCAA Starkville Regional
Postgame Press Conference - Game 5
Campbell
June 6, 2021

Justin Haire | Head Coach

Opening Statement
JH: "I'm just really proud of our guys. VCU and Coach Stiffler's team had a heck of a season. They had a 22-game winning streak, and those don't come along often. They have a special group, and they play hard. He's doing a tremendous job with that program, so my hat is off to them."

"On our side, I'm really proud of our pitching staff. I know we gave up 10 runs. Jonathan Beymer started, he's a guy that hasn't thrown since April. He broke his hand and came back in an elimination game in a regional and gave us everything he had. Kevin Westlake is a fifth-year senior. He came in and gave us everything that he had. Ty Cummings came in and finished it up. It was a big-time team win, and it gives us a little bit of momentum. Our guys are excited. I'm proud of them and their fight. It was a lot of fun to be around, and I'm really excited to put the uniform on again tomorrow."

Q: What kind of momentum do you have after beating a VCU team that you lost to at the beginning of the weekend?
JH: "Our biggest thing is that we master ourselves. If we master ourselves, then our opponent no longer matters. If we just do what we are capable of doing, then we will give ourselves a chance to win. We talked to our pitchers briefly today and told them it was OK to have nerves. That means that your body is getting ready to do something great. They went out and trusted that their stuff was good enough. They gave us a chance, and our offense did what it did all year. It continued to respond and did things we were capable of doing. If we do that, it doesn't matter who we are playing. If we can focus on what we are good at, then we are going to give ourselves the best chance to win. It doesn't guarantee success, but it does guarantee that we will give ourselves the best opportunity to win."

Q: How much are you relying on your fifth-year seniors?
JH: "Those guys are at the end of their collegiate career, and they just don't care but in a good way. They have gotten to the point where it doesn't matter. It didn't matter that we gave up four runs in the first inning or that VCU took the lead in the middle innings. We continued to just bring it. There's a lot of freedom in that mentality when you don't really care what someone else is going to bring to you because you are just going to keep fighting. That's what our guys have. We are trying to push this further day-by-day. I like being in their corner. It's a heck of a lot of fun."

Q: Having to play at 11:00 a.m., what will your schedule be like over the course of the next 12 hours?
JH: "I think we have COVID testing at 7 a.m. for the guys that have to get COVID tested … We'll get back, and there will be food at the hotel. We'll get showered up, and I'm sure our guys will crash out. I have really good guys on my staff. Jordan Stampler, our director of player development, has basically put the itinerary together 68 different times and has nailed it every time. Whenever we get off this call and I get back on the bus, I'll look at my phone – he'll have the itinerary up … If the game is at 11:00 a.m., we'll probably hit it at 8:45 a.m. or something like that. Breakfast with the camels, bring your pom poms and let's get ready to rumble."

Q: What are your pitching plans for tomorrow?
JH: "Do you have any ideas? I will take them if you have any thoughts. It will be all hands on-deck. I'm sure it'll be the whole staff. I know our guys are going to be fired up, ready to go and be competitive. We have some guys that will bounce back, some guys that didn't throw a bunch of pitches earlier this weekend that will be able to come back and be able to compete. We have some guys with some good stuff in the bullpen that haven't thrown much or haven't thrown at all."

"We're just going to try to break it down inning-by-inning. Hopefully, three innings at a time. If we can win the early innings, middle innings and late innings, we're going to break big things into small things and attack the moment that's right in front of us with whoever is ready to rock-and-roll."

Q: How rewarding is it as a coach to see your offense manufacture so many runs down the stretch?
JH: "It's everything that, as an offensive guy, to try and coach an offense – not just coach hitters. To put pressure on a defense and have multiple ways to score runs, we call that going a 'hard to kill' offense where you can pressure in a lot of different ways. You can run the bases, you can get hit by a pitch, drive the ball out of the yard, go for extra bases and do a lot of different things where you aren't one-dimensional. To see that and see our guys continue to embrace that, to continue to grow within that system while having freedom within that system. It doesn't get a whole lot better than that. It's a really exciting offense to coach. I hope it's a really exciting offense to watch if people like extra base hits, scoring a bunch of runs, stealing bases and putting pressure on the defense. I would think they would like to watch us play offense."

Q: What are your thoughts about Mississippi State as a ball club?
JH: "I think that they're probably really, really good. Obviously, they're the 7-overall seed. I have not watched any video on them. We have a scouting report on them. So, I'll go to the hotel, eat, shower and start watching their arms. We'll try to put our guys in the best position to be successful. I'm sure that they are going to be well-prepared and ready to go in the morning, especially after having the off-day today. Again, we're going to respect our opponent. We're going to respect the game, but most importantly, we're going to worry about ourselves and make sure that we're putting ourselves in the best position to do what we're capable of doing. Hopefully, we can do that."

Collin Wolf | 2B

Q: How did it feel to beat VCU after losing to them on Friday?
CW: "It feels good to be able to punch back. Regardless of who it was, we were ready to punch back after yesterday. We did what we had to do to get that win. We are looking forward to tomorrow. We're going to get some rest and get back to it in the morning."

Q: How did you develop your grit that you have as a team?
CW: "It is a lot of junior college [grit], just do what we have to do. At Campbell, we have some of the best facilities. We get a taste of everything. It's cool to come to Mississippi State and see what they have. It's a mix of junior college guys with that grit, and young guys with raw talent. Knowing that we could be at the end of our careers [motivates us]. [We don't] really care about what the other team does."

"We just have to take care of our business. You watch guys like Zach Neto, Bryce Arnold and Connor Denning [show] some of the mentorship we have given them as well as their talent and ability to play the game. They're really fun to watch. Then, you have Spencer Packard and Matt Christian who are the best guys to be around."

Q: How does it feel to show the ability Campbell can play at?
CW: "It's awesome. To us, there is nothing different. It's on a bigger stage per say. We've been to a regional championship before. We're just excited to get another opportunity. It will be cool to have a lot more fans than most of us haven't seen before. We'll be ready to go. We're super jacked up to have the opportunity. That's all we have wanted the past two or three years when we have gotten to regionals. Just to get an opportunity. It has been three years back-to-back-to-back. By now, people hopefully know who we are and the type of baseball we play. We're ready to get the ball rolling."

Q: Would you pitch tomorrow if called upon?
CW: "I'm probably one of our last resorts. We have a lot of guys. I have 87 [miles per hour] in the tank maybe. Like coach said, it is going to be all hands-on deck. We have some two-way guys if we need to go to them. Everybody will put their best foot forward. Shout out to Kevin Westlake. He gave us everything he had. We had Aaron Rund do the same thing last weekend in the conference tournament. Those guys have the biggest heart and grind for us. You guys saw how much they put forth. I know we play hard daily as position players but, to be a closer and throw 90-plus pitches and give everything you have. My respect for him."

Q: How rewarding is it to compete for another regional title?
CW: "It's everything. That's the reason why we play in the first place, just to have a chance to win and a chance to play on arguably the biggest stage. That's the main reason we came. That's the main reason we came back when we had the opportunity. We're jacked up to have a chance to continue playing baseball."

Q: What is this experience like?
CW: "This experience has been incredible. The fans have been awesome. We've been able to experience plenty of things. Our hotel being 30 seconds from the field and the facilities. Their field is obviously gorgeous, it has been an honor. It's the same thing when we got to go to East Carolina two years ago. We're really blessed to have these opportunities."

Q: What do you think about Mississippi State?
CW: "Everybody has seen them on TV once or twice regardless of where you're from. They have a good ball club. At the end of the day, it's baseball. We were smoked 19-4 two nights ago [by VCU], and we had a chance to punch back today. Baseball can go so many different ways. If you respect the game and give it everything you have, there's not much you can say win or lose. That's what we are going to try to do tomorrow."

Mississippi State University Athletics

NCAA Starkville Regional: Campbell Quotes (June 6, 2021)

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