Everything Southern Miss Coach Christen Ostrander Said After Eliminating Alabama

Hattiesburg, Miss.-- Southern Miss baseball coach Christian Ostrander met with media members, alongside second baseman Nick Monistere and catcher Tucker Stockman, to discuss the Golden Eagles' 6-5 win over Alabama in the Hattiesburg Regional on Saturday.

Christian Ostrander's Opening Statement

“First, I just want to congratulate Coach Vaughn and Alabama on a great year. He’s a first-
class human being and a first-class coach and program. With that being said, it was a dogfight today. I mean it was kind of a heavyweight fight, it felt like. You’ve just got to stay in the middle of the
ring round after round you know. If a ball gets out of the park, you have to answer and just
keep it close enough to have a chance. I’m just really proud of the effort of these guys and
for just staying in there and competing and fighting after a tough loss last night. We got to
bed pretty late, but you have to get up and go and these guys did that. It has been
characteristic of them all year, and I’m just proud of their resilience and resolve. I thought
they competed their tails off.”

Tucker, I want to know what you thought when they walked Carson Paetow?

Tucker Stockman: “Going into it, I was expecting that because of the situation. There was an open base, and it’s a guy who I would assume is typically better against righties, so I was prepared for it. It’s happened to me a couple of times this year as well, and I was just asking God to let me glorify him.”

What did you think when they walked Carson Paetow?

Christian Ostrander: "Yeah it was the right call. It was no doubt, the splits with that arm against righties and lefties is significant. It was the right call. I would've done the same thing and so forth, but he handled that moment and handled that pressure, I don't know what the count was 1-2, something like that, really stayed within it, used the middle of the field, which is what you've got to do with an arm like that."

The last two games your team tried to make a rally it didn't quite work. Did you say anything differently as the game was getting late?

Christian Ostrander: "Just compete. You're right there. It's a close game. One swing of the bat. There was no magic words, nothing like that. These guys, at this point in the season, they know the message. They know what they need to do. Baseball's a game of execution, sometimes you get it done and sometimes you don't. But you knew they were going to go up there with focus and determination to try to help this team win any way they can and ultimately got it done."

Nick Monistere on your second home run you hit the 'Tradition of Excellence' sign. Did you notice that and how much did that help carry the rest of the inning?

Nick Monistere: "No I didn't notice it. I just put my head down and was running. I hope it propelled us. It wasn't about hitting a home run. It was about trying to get it to the next guy and Coach Oz told me before that at-bat to just go touch a bag. Just get on base and that's all I was trying to do. Luckily enough I hit a homer and all my guys rallied behind me."

You tried to sacrifice bunt to keep the inning moving along in the 8th, what was your thought process for that?

Christian Ostrander: "Yeah, it was, you had some guys on. The game called for trying to bunt them over. That was the right move. Defensively they kind of twarted that and got the force out at third. Kind of set up them walking Carson or whatever. I can't really remember everything that happened there. But I think we got them over when Braden Luke hit that ground ball to the right side and then the intentional walk set up an opportunity for a two-out hit to go ahead ultimately. Yeah, it was a game of second guesses and all that stuff, but you've got to respect the game and try to play it the right way and it really screamed right there to try to do that, and sometimes it works out in your favor and sometimes it doesn't, but ultimately we got the hit that we needed."

Can you talk about the resiliency of the team today?

Christian Ostrander: "The message was keep writing chapters. Chapter 60 was today and the story that this group has put together was about staying together. They've been very resilient. You don't win 45 games at this level unless you have that component. They keep fighting. They truly love each other. They truly are a tight-knit group. That's why we're where we're at. You've got to be tough to come though a loser's bracket in a tournament like this against great opponents. Toughness is key and resiliency is key and you can't let last night's loss linger over. You can't let a scoreboard dictate anything. You've got to keep playing the game and that's the beauty of baseball. It's a hard game to be successful at. Nick and Tucker define that. They're two great examples of guys staying in the moment and doing anything they have to do to help our team win a ball game."

Did it click with you after the intentional walk that you would get an at-bat in the ninth inning?

Nick Montistere: "To be honest, no. Not in the moment. I think everybody was just in the moment on the rail cheering on Tucker. I feel like later on yeah, I probably would've thought about it, but to be honest, no. We were just rooting on Tucker, all getting behind him, hoping he got a big knock and he did, and what a better spot to do it."

What did you say to closer Colby Allen in the ninth?

Christian Ostrander: "Just calm him, reset and kind of said hey you're our dude. You've been here before, don't make it more than it is. It doesn't have to be the perfect pitch. Trust your stuff and I told him he's earned this. He's earned this opportunity and we wanted it for him but he wanted it more for his team. They were doing a pretty good job of looking for that slider I felt like, based on some of their previous at-bats. I think that last ground-out to third we stuck three fastballs in there. You've got to play the game. You've got to see what an approach is. Colby has two-plus pitches to where he can do that. If they're going to take one away he can do another. Just thankful that he got that fastball in and got that soft ground ball to third."

Tucker Stockman what did you feel after you made that hit in the 8th?

Stockman: "It's a bunch of emotions that I haven't really experienced much this year. I've gotten some hits. I've gotten some hits in big moments this year, but my stats, you can see the RBIs. I don't have a ton of RBIs. So obviously that hasn't happened a ton. It's just this whirlwind of emotions. Just thinking back, going back at it now. You think back and you just want to thank everybody that's helped me get to the place that I am today."

Can you elaborate on your relationship with Alabama head coach Rob Vaughn?

Christian Ostrander: "He's a first class human being. We got to, these last nine months, be on a coach's cohort together, twice a month where you just get to get with a lot of your peers and talk about things. Iron sharpens iron type deal. He's genuine and I appreciate that greatly because I think sometimes that gets lost at the highest levels of things. That guy's as real as it guys and he's doing a fabulous job. I think he's a rock star and mutual respect and everything. It was kind of bitter sweet competing againt one another and anytime you do that against somebody you have a relationship with and you care about, yeah you want to try to sufficate them and beat them but at the end of the day you're going to give them a hug and tell them great job and all those good things. Yeah, first class human being."

Tucker Stockman what was your mindset with two-strikes against Caron Ozmer?

Stockman: "Honestly, one of the biggest things I've done this year compared to last year is really, really bought into our two-strike approach as a team. It's not just the approach, it's the mentality as well. He's one of those guys where he throws a lot of strikes. So buying into that two-strike approach mentality really is just staying in there, fouling a pitch off if you've got to. Barelling it up if you get the opportunity on the mistake, just keep going, keep competing every pitch just one pitch at a time."

What were your thoughts on JB Middleton's efforts?

Christian Ostrander: "Well, I thought he competed his tail off. I thought it's what he's done all year against a good offense where if you got a good barrel on it and got it up in the air it seemed like it was going to get out of here today. Just got to kind of minimize and weather the storm. Agian, we don't win that game without that performance. We all would love to have a 1-0 game or a shutout, but it's probably not going to happen on a day like today against that offense. We just had to stay close. He certainly did that. I thought he kind of tapped himself out there, 89 pitches through seven. I'm not going to abuse him. I knew we had a good guy with Colby that's been in that spot before. I thought JB did everything he had to do for us to win that game."

Nick, with the ball flying in the air today, did that change your approach at all with your at-bats?

Monistere: “No, I mean no matter what park we are playing in or whatnot, I’m just trying to hit a line drive to the second baseman every single time. He hung a slider, and I got the barrel out in front of it and got it up in the air thankfully. But no, I just try to hit a line drive every time. I’m never trying to hit homers for sure.”

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