NC State head coach Elliott Avent met with Inside Pack Sports to discuss the series loss at Stanford.
NOTE: Click the video above to watch the full post-game interview!
You were winning there around the fifth inning. What are your thoughts?
We started the game with bases loaded and no outs with a 3–1 count and two of our best hitters up. Ty Head and Sherman Johnson were coming up. We were late on the fastball, which is unlike Ty, and then Sherman chased a 2–0 pitch. They were just trying to do too much. We have to take what the game gives us, and we have gotten so much better at that.
The first inning should have resulted in runs to relax Heath Andrews and give us something to build on. We went through a ton of pitchers for Stanford and handled them all very well. We took the lead, but then we had a tough play that we did not make. We did not get the 2–1 pitch to their number one hitter; it became 3–1, and he hit the cutter out. We battled right to the end but got unlucky. Chris McHugh smoked a ball.
He had three hits, but the hardest ball he hit all day was the one that somehow ended up right in the fielder's glove. That is what happens in this game. When you do not take care of things when you should, sometimes you get unlucky. It is tough. We played hard all three games, and I thought we could have had all three, but this is a tough place to play, and they played well. They are a good team, and they are well coached.
Stanford has a great tradition here, so you have to give them credit. They are starting to pick it up after a great series against FSU. When you are going through an unlucky break like the player getting hit between the base paths on a batted ball, how do you fight through that?
You just keep fighting. That is what we did. We kept fighting through all the bad breaks we got today. That is what we can focus on. We will go back, get some rest on Monday, work on the little things, and get ready for a big series against Carolina.
Is that the message you conveyed to your players? You have a big series against the Tar Heels. Obviously, the rivalry hypes it up, but how do you detach from that and stay focused?
They know that every game, we just have to do what we have to do. It does not matter who you play in this league; everybody is tough. Obviously, Carolina adds a little bit of spice for the fans and probably some of these guys, but we just have to do what we do.
I appreciate your time, Elliott. Safe travels.
Thank you for being out here. Same to you.
