NCAA Starkville Regional: Campbell Quotes (June 7, 2021)

NCAA Starkville Regional
Postgame Press Conference - Game 7
Campbell
June 7, 2021

Justin Haire | Head Coach

Opening Statement
JH: "Tough ballgame today, hats off to Mississippi State. Congratulations on the regional win. For our fans, for our family and for our team, it was a first-class operation. This is the third straight regional we have had a chance to be in, and our fourth in the last seven years. This is as first-rate of an experience as we have had."

"We had some opportunities in the game. It was a hard-fought game. I'm super proud of our guys. I'm proud of the fight, determination and perseverance. We had a pitching staff on fumes, and the guys just didn't care. We went freshman-sophomore-freshman in a regional final game. Some guys got a chance and did pretty good. Our 11 seniors had the opportunity and chose to come back after 2020 got canceled. Our goal every day is to try and leave the uniform a little bit better than how we found it. Time is finite. We don't know when time is going to run out for each of us. For some of these guys, it will be the last time they put on a college uniform. For others, it will be the last time they put on a baseball uniform with a competitive mindset. All the loss and challenges of the past 18-to-20 months, our guys didn't give up or shy away from the fight. They stamped their legacy as a team, and as a group of young men that left this place better than how they found it."

Q: How did you think Thomas Harrington performed today?
JH: "Thomas didn't have a great outing Friday against VCU. He was [Big South] freshman of the year in the conference. He's special, they're [Mississippi State] a good offensive club. He still held his own and threw four or five innings. He gave us an opportunity late to strike back and stay within striking distance. He's is going to be a special one. Cade Boxrucker is going to be a special one [too]. He was a freshman starter. He had a little bad luck in the first inning because we didn't play cleanly. Both guys have serious stuff. We're looking forward to these guys to continue to develop and get an opportunity to win one of these games in the near future."

Q: What will you take away from this team?
JH: "We fought through a bunch of adversity in the fall. We had five full team practices in the fall. We got shut down, at one point, for 25 straight days. Our team could not be at the facility this fall. We basically had no fall as a team. For us and our culture, it's really important for us to be together. So, we had a lot of catchup to do in the spring."

"Then, we got shut down for about seven days with a couple of positive COVID tests at the end of March. We were 10-8 at the time. The seniors said 'What do you want this to look like down the stretch. Coach, there isn't anything you can say or do to bother us. We're going to take charge and run this thing out'. That is exactly what they did. A tremendous April and a tremendous May. I think we went 12-1 going into the conference tournament to give us an opportunity to get to the postseason. We got to our second straight regional final. There is nothing that is going to break [this year's team]. They're probably the most mentally tough group of guys that I have been around in 18 years."

Q: What did Houston Harding do to be successful, and how did you all read him?
JH: "The changeup was really good today. It's a little bit more of a straight change, but the speed differential was from 14-to-17 mph with comparable arm speed. He had a little bit of a rise on the fastball from thigh-to-belly button height. That can give you some trouble with a little bit of ride. With some of the swings our guys have, we like the ball to be down. He caught us a little bit between speeds. We were sitting fastball, and he hit us with a changeup. He did a great job, and his tempo was really good. He pitched with some emotion. He got out of some jams against some really good hitters in the middle of our lineup. He certainly earned it."

"To our guys' testament, we got to him at the end. [Collin] Wolf with the bunt, and Matt Christian with a single through the left side. Marcus Skundrich came up with a big hit off of [Preston Johnson]. He was really good today. I have to tip my cap to Coach Lemonis to take the starter out a third of an inning in and go straight to [Houston Harding]. He was able to settle in and extend the game for them. I'm proud of our guys for not running and hiding. They continued to fight through that."

Q: What does it feel like to build on your program from the past couple of years to now?
JH: "It just means we're inching closer to busting through one of these things. Ultimately, where we were 14 years ago when we showed up on campus coming off an 11-45 record in 2007 – We now have three straight regionals, two straight three seeds and an at-large bid for the first time in school history. Two straight regional finals."

"We pushed Mississippi State to the brink here, not that's a moral victory. We're better today than we've ever been. What is the next step? We want to get to Omaha. We want to punch through and get to the super regional. We want to do what Coastal Carolina, Dallas Baptist and Southern Miss have done, which is to host regionals. We need to continue to build our facility. We need to continue to push the limits within our program to have a facility. We're not going to draw 15,000 people, but we need a mini Dudy Noble Park. That's what we need for us to continue to grow and to continue to get to where I believe we can get to. That's the ultimate goal. We want to be in position to host regionals, and we want the home field advantage. We don't want to be hearing Maroon and White, we want to be hearing Orange and Black. We have the groundwork for that and a plan to get us there. We're going to have to push and grind and keep building our program brick-by-brick to get to the top."

Collin Wolf | 2B

Q: Do you feel like you have left this program better than when you arrived?
CW: "Yeah, I'd like to believe so. I like to think that it's not necessarily quantifiable with wins and losses. I think it's more of the culture we built, and the grit that we brought every day. Like I said last night, you guys really got to see our brand of baseball. We come out and competed with some of the top teams in the country. We showed that today. To me, it's more about the culture and leaving the program better than how we found it, compared to just the wins and losses."

Q: What are you going to take away from this year's squad?
CW: "We had several COVID seniors that chose to come back for this season, that's part of the foundation. We also got to watch a lot of the younger guys flourish. Bryce Arnold was the designated hitter and hit better than .330 for us the entire year. Zach Neto won [Big South] player of the year, and Connor Denning played his first full year. That's our top three right there, just being able to watch those guys has meant the most to me."

Q: What kind of emotions did you have after the game?
CW: "What an atmosphere to play in. We knew we were going to give everything we had this weekend, but what an atmosphere to play in. If it was going to end, what a place to do it. I'm so glad we got this experience together with everything we had been through with being on the bus, heading to Charleston Southern and getting a text from Coach [Haire] saying the season was over last year. Just knowing that we were going to get the chance to play again meant the world. When we broke the huddle at the end in our last couple of moments on the field, I told everyone thank you for letting us have the opportunity to come back. That's something I will never forget. The wins and losses come and go, but the relationships are going to stay."

Spencer Packard | LF

Q: You seemed locked in and didn't have any trouble seeing the baseball. What had you ready?
SP: "I was just ready to go today after last night's performance. I did what I needed to do for the team. I tried to get a win today."

Q: What are you going to take away from this year's squad?
SP: "I'd say just watching everyone grow from the freshmen to the seniors that came back. It was just so special to watch. Everyone continued to grind through. We came back and were ready to go. We grinded through everything."

Q: What was your experience like this week with the fans?
SP: "This was probably the best experience I've ever had. This place is awesome. They loved me, and I loved them. They fed me all the time. This was a great experience. I have no other words. I loved it."

Mississippi State University Athletics

NCAA Starkville Regional: Campbell Quotes (June 7, 2021)

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