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HOOVER, Ala. — The Florida Gators dominated Alabama in the SEC Baseball Tournament quarterfinal, pulling off a 13-3 run-rule victory in eight innings. Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan, along with pitcher Liam Peterson and third baseman Ethan Surowiec spent time with the media to talk about what went right for the Gators. <\/p>\n
Transcripts Provided by ASAP Transcripts<\/p>\n
Opening Statement<\/p>\n
KEVIN O’SULLIVAN: Just a great game by us today. Obviously, we’re swinging the bats as well as we have all year long.<\/p>\n
We knew going into the game that Tyler was going to be difficult to deal with. Obviously he no-hit us a few months ago. But we tried to be a little bit more aggressive early in the count, because I felt like the last time we played him, he was 0-1 the entire night. And we just never could get anything going, obviously. But dugout kind of got excited, I think, in the second when we got our first hit.<\/p>\n
But Liam pitched outstanding. I think this is his third or fourth start in a row that he’s been outstanding. And our relief pitching was solid. And what can you say when you have 16 hits and I think nine extra base hits? Obviously it was a great day for us offensively.<\/p>\n
Through all that, I think one thing that gets kind of lost in the shuffle is we made no errors today again. So I think our defense is certainly heading in the right direction.<\/p>\n
Q.\u00a0 Ethan, four hits for you today. Obviously a great day for you. What did you see at the plate, specifically with the home run, what were you seeing with the home run?<\/p>\n
ETHAN SUROWIEC: Big part of my game plan, just to be on time as much as possible and put good swings on balls. But the home run, it was a 3-0 count. Actually I was a little surprised when I got the green light.<\/p>\n
But just saw the ball in the middle of the plate, something I could handle. Just kind of shrinking my zone just even more. And it’s certainly a pitch I could handle. So I put a good swing on it.<\/p>\n
Q.\u00a0 Liam, you guys had 14 strikeouts today as a pitching staff. What’s it like to see Bowen just help you guys command in building structure alignments that you guys have built in the fall coming into today and what lies ahead Saturday?<\/p>\n
LIAM PETERSON: He’s been great back there. And there’s a bunch of balls I spiked probably 40 feet and he was blocking it. So I kind of beat him up today. But, like you said, he’s a wall back there. And it’s always great throwing with him.<\/p>\n
Q.\u00a0 Sully referenced it, what was the feeling when you got that first hit against Fay after what he did to you last time?<\/p>\n
ETHAN SUROWIEC: Definitely. I kind of had a long AB with him, couple of foul balls and had some pretty good takes in there. But I think it certainly kind of got the team going, showing that it is possible, we can get a hit off this guy. But, yeah, I think me having a big long at-bat just kind of got our team going in the right direction.<\/p>\n
Q.\u00a0 Liam, what was working for you to limit the Alabama offense?<\/p>\n
LIAM PETERSON: I think my fastball command was pretty good today. I thought if I missed my spot, it was in a good place. So it wasn’t too much middle. Then I thought my curveball was really well as well. A little bit harder today. So maybe it played a little better, but I think those two pitches really helped a lot.<\/p>\n
Q.\u00a0 I think that’s 30 hits by your batters over two days and 26 strikeouts from your pitchers. Have you played that well all year in back-to-back games, both sides of the ball?<\/p>\n
KEVIN O’SULLIVAN: It’s hard to say. I mean, this season, for everybody, and every coach I talk to, it’s so up and down, you can’t predict this many hits against somebody’s number one. It was just one of those days for us. And obviously we have been playing better. I think we’ve won nine of our last 10. I think somebody said that today.<\/p>\n
I’m just pleased, obviously, with the continued improvement offensively throughout the year, the continued improvement on the pitching side of things. And like I said, we’ve had our struggles defensively, but I really believe that we’ve cleaned up a lot of that.<\/p>\n
Q.\u00a0 Caden McDonald having those two quality at-bats today. What’s it like for him to just build around some structures of the lineup and how he’s been performing into this part of the year?<\/p>\n
KEVIN O’SULLIVAN: I mean, he’s hitting in the middle of the order for a reason. We’ve got some other guys. Noah Stripling is starting to really swing the bat really well. He’s had some big at-bats for us. Cade Kurland’s starting to come around.<\/p>\n
Hayden Yost, who is hitting 9-hole, obviously that’s been well-documented. Brendan Lawson, I mean fouls the ball off his knee. I know it hurt. Next pitch, he hits a double into the gap. I just start shaking my head.<\/p>\n
And Ethan, I truly believe that his at-bat set the tone. I don’t know how many pitches it was, it was probably an eight- or nine-pitch at-bat. But I think that kind of got our confidence going a little bit and obviously he it resulted in a hit, but he certainly had a great day.<\/p>\n
Q.\u00a0 What are your thoughts about meeting Georgia again? You had success against them in the regular season?<\/p>\n
KEVIN O’SULLIVAN: Quite honestly, I think the success we had will have no bearing on Saturday. They’re playing with a ton of confidence. To win the league, especially this year, I mean, is an unbelievable accomplishment. I say it every year, seems like the league gets more difficult every year. The players get better. And what they’ve been able to accomplish and the way they’re playing with energy and they’re pitching as good as they have all year long, it’s certainly going to be a difficult task for us. But what happened during the regular season is going to have no bearing on Saturday.<\/p>\n
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