A massive win for Tulane, which trailed 2-0 and 5-2 but responded quickly both times to tie the score and got a go-ahead, monster home run from Colin Tuft with two outs in the eighth to take the lead for the first time.
One quick word about Jay Uhlman and his staff, who have done a terrific job this year despite the criticism they have gotten for coaching decisions. I'll tell you this- Uhlman has a much better feel for the game than Rick Jones did in the last seven years of his coaching career, which I covered. Jones probably would have gone to recently shaky closer Jacob Moore in the ninth tonight because, and I'm quoting from past experience, "that's my guy." Uhlman stuck with Carter Benbrook, who had been brilliant in the eighth, and the result was a six-pitch ninth as Tulane preserved its win. The players on this team really like each other and the coaches, and they have made tremendous individual strides as a result of the coaching. If this Tulane team win the tournament, which is a huge if because Wichita State is playing extremely well right now and the pitching depth remains suspect, it can do damage in a regional. The lineup from top to bottom is clearly the best since I returned to New Orleans in 2008, and there are more winners on this team than any I've covered. They care. They are invested. And they are tough.
UHLMAN
"Some things aren't equal always. Sometimes things are ugly. Sometimes you stub your toe and you get bloodied, and then you have to be able to have the courage to continue on and fight even when it feels yucky. I said this and I truly believed it, we were going to be in a dogfight. That's a team I have respect for. I have no past history with them, but those guys fight, too. My hat's off to them. Someone had to win nd someone had to lose. There were a lot of big moments. It was just a really good ugly win."
On not having a lot of outs in lineup helping team in tourney:
"It certainly does. The quality of the at-bats are showing up that make you feel good as a coach. We got a guy on and nobody out and I had the confidence to roll in there a hit-and-run (with Marcus Cline) and it backfires (he missed the pitch and Colin Tuft stopped before being caught in a run-down) and they score three the next half-inning, but we turn around and score three. The resolve of our players, I've seen it all year. We've seen it all year. That's a trademark of a championship team, a tough team, an engaged group of guys that believe in each other and love each other as teammates. If you asked me that question in a loss, I'd honestly be telling you the same thing because that's just a matter of fact. But yeah, it gives you great confidence that you can win in a variety of ways. You can win with the long ball, with the inside game and the running game, so that part gives you a lot of confidence."
On if it's weird that it's feeling like last year all over again (not my question because this team went 12-6 in its last 18 conference games and last year's team had one winning streak all regular season in a horrific display):
"No. I love it. I understand your question, but it's how they feel. Our guys believe, and that's the really cool thing. I've said this to people who ask me. I don't necessarily believe in speeches. I think they're important. The communication piece to the team is important. It regulates emotions and allows them to understand how you feel and what the message is, but we get to this part of the year and we've had 55 games under our belt and I feel like we operate in a way that we're going to tell them the truth when it's good and it's bad. I always say that's real. When you get to a point like this and everything's on the table, they are competitive dudes. They want to win. They want to show out. They want to rise to the occasion, and when I'm able to give them the coach speak, they really take that and they raise their game to a different level. Their focus has been unbelievable, similar to last year at this time. Their intent is phenomenal, and it's just a gritty, gutty group. My intention is as long as I'm the coach here, that those kinds of efforts and that kind of mentality will be pervasive. I don't know any other way. I appreciate that our guys take that baton and really run with it good because they are a resilient group."
On Benbrook's six outs:
"He's one of the most competitive dudes we have. When he first got here, I don't think our players really understood him, but I had a suspicion that as the season went along and it became all of us in the dugout and he went out there and did his job that they would understand like, oh, OK, this is why this guy rubbed me a little bit wrong in the fall because this is what it looks like in the spring when we're all on the same team. Him coming into the game at the time that he did and the way the lineup was turning over to left, right, left, it put us in a really good position to maximize Carter's outing and keep J Bob (Jacob Moore) in the holster. Carter just went out there and did what he does--living at the bottom of the zone with all his pitches. Total faith in his competitive spirit. He's a special kid that way."
On Connor Rasmussen taking eight-pitch walk to start three-run sixth after Charlotte scored three in the top of the inning:
"He had two big walks, but that one was huge. The thing that Ras does really well and has proven time and time again and our guys know when he's in there, we're going to get the best quality at-bat from him, and teams in the other dugout, now having seen him do what he does, I think sometimes they feel like they have to pitch extra special and extra fine and perfect and he ends up working counts to a walk. He's just a tremendous competitor with a great eye, a great sense for the strike zone. He jump-started us again that way. He's a special kid."
On Teo Banks in Clearwater:
"He answers the challenge always. I said this when we came here last year and people asked me what's going to be different and how are things going to be, and they asked about Teo because he made the All-Tournament team (in 2022) and I just said look, when you go to a place that you've had success in multiple occasions. We've played 14 or 15 games here, and he's had tremendous success here in games, there's just something about that, whether it manifests itself in a lot of hits and all that kind of stuff, just the feeling you have going to the park. It's like you see a pitcher you know you can hit and you know you can own this guy, there's a mental edge there that's maybe not overt but it's definitely there. When you have that kind of success, people know it and our team knows it and he knows it. The thing I appreciate about him this year was it was a different kind of way. His sophomore year, the rough start wasn't super productive, and then he got unconscious and played at a level we all know he can play at, and then this year in his slow start, there were a lot of things. You are the preseason MVP. We hadn't played a game. He was selected as a team captain. It's his junior year, it's the draft year. There's all these things that are going on with young people, and he's not immune to that either. He's a human being, so you naturally have these thoughts, and of course when you start slow, some of that's the pressure he puts on himself to be great and help his teammates and win, but you also go back to here we go again. But the thing I thought was totally different this year was the batting average was the batting average, but his production was really good. The whole year, if you add his runs and RBIs together, he's been either first or second for us all year long even with a bad batting average. Over the course of 162 games, you've got a chance to make up for that. In college it's 55, 56 regular-season games, so every game's super important, but the thing I appreciate about him was he was being productive with his outs for the most part and then the other thing that really changed was he was a right fielder for us last year, and he has turned himself with the work with coach (Thomas) Brittle, into an All-Conference, All-American type center fielder. He just dominates out there, so that part I'm really proud of. It's no surprise to me that he does what he does. I wish it wasn't as tough on him, but sometimes we don't have control over those things and that's the journey that it take to get where you need to go, and we have full faith and confidence that every time he steps in the box, something special's going to happen, even if it doesn't."
On who he might throw on Saturday:
"You probably are thinking the likely candidate would be a Billy Price, and he's certainly going to be in the equation for that, but we're going to have a pretty full arsenal of guys to be able to push us through that game. We haven't made definitive decisions, but Billy's definitely a candidate to go out there and do that."
One quick word about Jay Uhlman and his staff, who have done a terrific job this year despite the criticism they have gotten for coaching decisions. I'll tell you this- Uhlman has a much better feel for the game than Rick Jones did in the last seven years of his coaching career, which I covered. Jones probably would have gone to recently shaky closer Jacob Moore in the ninth tonight because, and I'm quoting from past experience, "that's my guy." Uhlman stuck with Carter Benbrook, who had been brilliant in the eighth, and the result was a six-pitch ninth as Tulane preserved its win. The players on this team really like each other and the coaches, and they have made tremendous individual strides as a result of the coaching. If this Tulane team win the tournament, which is a huge if because Wichita State is playing extremely well right now and the pitching depth remains suspect, it can do damage in a regional. The lineup from top to bottom is clearly the best since I returned to New Orleans in 2008, and there are more winners on this team than any I've covered. They care. They are invested. And they are tough.
UHLMAN
"Some things aren't equal always. Sometimes things are ugly. Sometimes you stub your toe and you get bloodied, and then you have to be able to have the courage to continue on and fight even when it feels yucky. I said this and I truly believed it, we were going to be in a dogfight. That's a team I have respect for. I have no past history with them, but those guys fight, too. My hat's off to them. Someone had to win nd someone had to lose. There were a lot of big moments. It was just a really good ugly win."
On not having a lot of outs in lineup helping team in tourney:
"It certainly does. The quality of the at-bats are showing up that make you feel good as a coach. We got a guy on and nobody out and I had the confidence to roll in there a hit-and-run (with Marcus Cline) and it backfires (he missed the pitch and Colin Tuft stopped before being caught in a run-down) and they score three the next half-inning, but we turn around and score three. The resolve of our players, I've seen it all year. We've seen it all year. That's a trademark of a championship team, a tough team, an engaged group of guys that believe in each other and love each other as teammates. If you asked me that question in a loss, I'd honestly be telling you the same thing because that's just a matter of fact. But yeah, it gives you great confidence that you can win in a variety of ways. You can win with the long ball, with the inside game and the running game, so that part gives you a lot of confidence."
On if it's weird that it's feeling like last year all over again (not my question because this team went 12-6 in its last 18 conference games and last year's team had one winning streak all regular season in a horrific display):
"No. I love it. I understand your question, but it's how they feel. Our guys believe, and that's the really cool thing. I've said this to people who ask me. I don't necessarily believe in speeches. I think they're important. The communication piece to the team is important. It regulates emotions and allows them to understand how you feel and what the message is, but we get to this part of the year and we've had 55 games under our belt and I feel like we operate in a way that we're going to tell them the truth when it's good and it's bad. I always say that's real. When you get to a point like this and everything's on the table, they are competitive dudes. They want to win. They want to show out. They want to rise to the occasion, and when I'm able to give them the coach speak, they really take that and they raise their game to a different level. Their focus has been unbelievable, similar to last year at this time. Their intent is phenomenal, and it's just a gritty, gutty group. My intention is as long as I'm the coach here, that those kinds of efforts and that kind of mentality will be pervasive. I don't know any other way. I appreciate that our guys take that baton and really run with it good because they are a resilient group."
On Benbrook's six outs:
"He's one of the most competitive dudes we have. When he first got here, I don't think our players really understood him, but I had a suspicion that as the season went along and it became all of us in the dugout and he went out there and did his job that they would understand like, oh, OK, this is why this guy rubbed me a little bit wrong in the fall because this is what it looks like in the spring when we're all on the same team. Him coming into the game at the time that he did and the way the lineup was turning over to left, right, left, it put us in a really good position to maximize Carter's outing and keep J Bob (Jacob Moore) in the holster. Carter just went out there and did what he does--living at the bottom of the zone with all his pitches. Total faith in his competitive spirit. He's a special kid that way."
On Connor Rasmussen taking eight-pitch walk to start three-run sixth after Charlotte scored three in the top of the inning:
"He had two big walks, but that one was huge. The thing that Ras does really well and has proven time and time again and our guys know when he's in there, we're going to get the best quality at-bat from him, and teams in the other dugout, now having seen him do what he does, I think sometimes they feel like they have to pitch extra special and extra fine and perfect and he ends up working counts to a walk. He's just a tremendous competitor with a great eye, a great sense for the strike zone. He jump-started us again that way. He's a special kid."
On Teo Banks in Clearwater:
"He answers the challenge always. I said this when we came here last year and people asked me what's going to be different and how are things going to be, and they asked about Teo because he made the All-Tournament team (in 2022) and I just said look, when you go to a place that you've had success in multiple occasions. We've played 14 or 15 games here, and he's had tremendous success here in games, there's just something about that, whether it manifests itself in a lot of hits and all that kind of stuff, just the feeling you have going to the park. It's like you see a pitcher you know you can hit and you know you can own this guy, there's a mental edge there that's maybe not overt but it's definitely there. When you have that kind of success, people know it and our team knows it and he knows it. The thing I appreciate about him this year was it was a different kind of way. His sophomore year, the rough start wasn't super productive, and then he got unconscious and played at a level we all know he can play at, and then this year in his slow start, there were a lot of things. You are the preseason MVP. We hadn't played a game. He was selected as a team captain. It's his junior year, it's the draft year. There's all these things that are going on with young people, and he's not immune to that either. He's a human being, so you naturally have these thoughts, and of course when you start slow, some of that's the pressure he puts on himself to be great and help his teammates and win, but you also go back to here we go again. But the thing I thought was totally different this year was the batting average was the batting average, but his production was really good. The whole year, if you add his runs and RBIs together, he's been either first or second for us all year long even with a bad batting average. Over the course of 162 games, you've got a chance to make up for that. In college it's 55, 56 regular-season games, so every game's super important, but the thing I appreciate about him was he was being productive with his outs for the most part and then the other thing that really changed was he was a right fielder for us last year, and he has turned himself with the work with coach (Thomas) Brittle, into an All-Conference, All-American type center fielder. He just dominates out there, so that part I'm really proud of. It's no surprise to me that he does what he does. I wish it wasn't as tough on him, but sometimes we don't have control over those things and that's the journey that it take to get where you need to go, and we have full faith and confidence that every time he steps in the box, something special's going to happen, even if it doesn't."
On who he might throw on Saturday:
"You probably are thinking the likely candidate would be a Billy Price, and he's certainly going to be in the equation for that, but we're going to have a pretty full arsenal of guys to be able to push us through that game. We haven't made definitive decisions, but Billy's definitely a candidate to go out there and do that."
