I'm sure every Tulane fan who watched this game was nervous as heck when FAU loaded the bases and had the winning run at the plate versus Tayler Montiel after Michael Lombardi's masterpiece, but Montiel, who had been shaky and threw a nothing slider right over the middle of the plate that could have been a game-tying grand slam to the previous hitter, who fouled it off instead, saved his best thre pitches for last with an easy strikeout on good sliders to preserve the victory.
Tulane got what it needed and more from Lombardi and will play Thursday in a winner's bracket game, extending its streak in Clearwater to seven games and improving to 9-1 under Jay Uhlman there since the start of the 2023 tourney.
FAU coach John McCormack, Uhlman and Lombardi spoke on Zoom after the game.
MCCORMACK
On Lombardi's performance:
"He was really tough. Metrically that fastball is special. The release point is special. It's really hard for the hitters to pick it up. I don't know what happened internally where they changed him from closer to starter, but good move on their part. He was phenomenal. He was really good. And from a coaching standpoint, they knew we were having trouble getting to the fastball, especially up at the letters, and they just kept throwing it and kept throwing it and changed away from breaking balls and changeups."
On Trey Beard's performance:
"I've seen him better. I appreciate him trying to fight through it. He wasn't as sharp as I've seen him in the past, but he fought, and I do credit Tulane. They had a really good approach against him, especially on the changeup and the breaking ball. I'd give hm the ball again tomorrow, but it just wasn't his day. As he gets older, he'll figure out a way to get out of that inning, the three-spot. He had two outs and a seeing eye single and then another one, and I don't know if he lost composure or it was just too long out there on a hot day, but he walks two guys back to back and sets up the error. We wanted to take him out, but he was like, no, and he did a nice job of redeeming himself in the sixth, getting a zero, and then we had to take him out. The pitch count was just too high. If we're able to work our way back in this thing, we're going to need him in some aspect whether it be a close or a short start."
On nearly coming back in ninth:
"We had success on Montiel in New Orleans, and I think our guys felt good about it. They battled. They did a nice job. They've done it all year. Just came up a little bit short. If Ayden (Garcia, who struck out to end the game) got on, then there were some real decisions to be made and things would have gotten a little bit tighter. He's had a real good year, but it wasn't his day and wasn't his at-bat."
UHLMAN
"What a pitching performance by Michael Lombardi. Total command, really gave us a shot in the arm and really set the tone for us. When he's out there, the guys have a high level of belief. His stuff's electric. There's a reason why pro teams out there are going to want to get their hands on him here pretty shortly, so I was really proud of him and his mentality and his effort. To watch him blossom over the course of two-and-a-half going on three years now has been really cool, and then the back end of our bullpen--Benbrook and Montiel--tremendous job. Montiel's a really good story about where he came from to where he is now, and to be in that moment to close out that game, it's pretty special as well. Production by the offense. We have a guy in my opinion, Blake Gillespie (of Charlotte) is worthy of being the pitcher of the year, but Trey Beard is every bit as worthy of being the pitcher of the year, and we made him labor through 117 pitches in six innings. Really battled him and were able to get the lead. Their third baseman made a tremendous play and just didn't complete the play (on a throwing error that allowed two runs to score with two outs). If he doesn't get his glove on it, it was probably two runs anyway. That was a big inning and Jason Wachs' homer in the ninth was pretty cool. All in all a really good effort against a really good team."
On Lombardi going a career-high innings:
"He's our best arm. FAU hadn't seen him last time. We were protecting him from a left oblique (injury). At the time I said to people we were not interested in jeopardizing the young man's career. We weren't interested in jeopardizing the rest of our season for short-term gain, and then lo and behold, he gets feeling good and healthy again and here we are."
On why he started Lombardi:
"He's our best arm, and we felt that that was the best matchup against that team to win game 1, and when you're in this tournament, winning the first game is the most important. It saves your bullpen, gets you a day off, it makes other people have to battle through. We went with our best guy, and he proved why he's our best guy. Just a gutty, gritty performance, and really handcuffed what I feel like is one of the best offenses in the league. They are really dangerous. It was pretty special."
On Lombardi's competitiveness that goes with his stuff:
"Yeah, it's the separator. That's what separates the guys that have consistency versus the guys that struggle through consistency, is your elite mindset, your competitive nature, your ability to take maybe a close pitch when you're right on the edge of maybe the inning turns a different way, and you're able to move on to the next pitch. He does that as well as anybody I've ever coached. I can't say enough about the effort he gave us. A career high in all things today on one of the bigger stages out there."
On if it was easy decision to go with Lombardi:
"It really was. We're scoreboard watching last week as things unfolded, trying to predict where we were going to land, and as it started to become obvious where that sat, there was a reason he was on a limited pitch count last weekend. It was knowing we were probably going to face this club, the matchup was screaming at us. It was a no-brainer."
On offense:
"What was crazy it was role reversal from the first scoring. We get on on a pop fly they misplay, and I let Pinkney swing away to drive to bring him in, and then I switch to bunt and he fouls it back and then he punches out and then the next two get out and it's like, uhhh. And then they get a guy on, they bunt him over and get a two-out hit to take the lead, so it swings the momentum and then Gavin Schulz, I kidded him before the game, I said, well, Teo (Banks) and Jackson (Linn) got MVPs. You've been here this long, too. It's about time. And he smashed that ball to center to give us a run to tie it and kind of loosen it up a little bit. We had a nice safety (squeeze), a 3-1 safety (by Pinkney to go ahead in the next inning). I was not interested in grounding into a double play. We needed to get that run. I was actually kicking myself when we just didn't bunt Hugh to start with, but hindsight's 20-20. The way we extended the lead was huge, and the ninth-inning homer (by Jason Wachs for the first of his career) was a huge run."
On saving the bullpen:
"That is the thing I've been saying since we've been coming here. Get that first one, get a good performance out of the first guy out there and save the pen and get rested because they have a low pitch count. Sometimes that's worked here and sometimes that hasn't. In 2023 we started Castro and he didn't even make it out of the second and Chandler Welch came in and went five. We've done it some different ways there, but it's really critical. That day off on a low pitch count out of the pen when you feel like you're an eight-to nine-arm team, you need those days off. It's really helpful for those guys, and they've pitched in that environment and can get back out there on Thursday and rock and roll."
