May 31, 2014

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A.J. Reed, Junior LHP/1B

(On the mentality in the dugout during the final two outs in the ninth inning) “You could definitely sense that we were down a little bit. [Kent State’s pitcher Nick Jensen-Clagg] was messing us up with the changeup and his curveball. He’d sneak a fastball in here and there. We were definitely getting down a little bit. I think just to be able to do what we did, you have to stay positive and get the right hit. We had that today and the outcome came in our favor.”

(Did you feel the magnitude of the moment there at the end… the potential for it to be the last time at bat in a Kentucky uniform?) “Yeah, it was a surreal feeling when I walked up and Max was on first base with one out and everybody got a little bit louder. I’m sure it was running through everybody’s mind as a home run, but I was just trying to get on base and extend the inning for us and trying to get Max over to third. So I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit and drive the ball in the gap.”

(On being down in the ninth inning but now having a win to carry over to the rest of the Regional) “That definitely gives us a lot of momentum. Right now, we just have to be able to ride the high we’re on and take that momentum into the next game [with] whoever we’re playing. Whoever we’re pitching is going to throw well. I think they’ll feed off of how I pitched today. We’re going to be pretty confident at the plate after that inning, so I think it’s going to give us a lot of momentum.”

Thomas Bernal, Redshirt Junior IF/C

(On Kent State pitcher Nick Jensen-Clagg’s effectiveness) “He did such a good job getting ahead and [throwing] all of his pitches for strike. His best pitch was his changeup. We were having trouble staying off of it and trying to go the opposite way with it.”

(Thomas, that ball seemed to be in the air a long time) “You’re talking about my ‘laser to left’, right? [Laughs] When I hit it, I looked at the left fielder and saw he was playing by the tracks. I got lucky a little bit and was glad it fell.”

Matt Reida, Senior IF

(As a senior, what are you thinking in the ninth inning when that rout is developing, that it might be your last?) “I’m thinking, ‘Just give me one more.’ That’s pretty much all I’m thinking when I saw the ball come up the back. I put my head down as first, then I started to look up and I remember the wind was started blowing in. I saw the guys playing pretty deep and it seems like the closer you got to it, it just started falling. It was just an incredible feeling.”

(On beating Kent State) “Hats off to them and that program. They’ve given us an incredible three games in the last two years that we’ve played them. Obviously their pitcher today really battled us well, but, yeah, it does feel well to finally get them one.”