What Head Coach James Ramsey Said After Yellow Jackets Thrilling 4-3 Win Over No.5 Florida State

Georgia Tech head baseball coach James Ramsey talked to the media after a thrilling Game 1 victory over Florida State. Here is everything he had to say.

On Game 1....

“Yeah, I think unbelievable atmosphere, you know, crowd was a factor. So much appreciation for all that goes in, you know, for administration, putting on a fireworks show on a Thursday night, packing this place out. You're looking at two championship-level teams. I think you look at no errors, game one of a series, both starters go deep in the game. I think through like 114 RCU 94, and then you know Abraham, I mean, those guys are studs, and you know if you're going to do the things we want to do and play in a super regional type, you know, environment and face good arms like that, it's great for your team to get battle tested. I think you you look at winning in different ways and and Florida State stacks up an inning there we answer back with a run that was massive later in the game you know we come through with a three spot play of the game you know for me is Kerce runs like a three-nine something down the line beats out a ball and then goes first to third on a dirt ball. Um, you know, after the ball, but guys go from first, second, second, and third, and then Kerce goes first to third dirt ball, and then Burress smashes one to knock him in. The game knows, man. I mean, that kid's hit so many balls on the screws this year.

I mean, you go look at all the expected statistics and stuff, and he didn't have a great night, and that just tells you about all that he does for this team and before the game, we're talking about putting your fingerprint on this series. Everybody has a chance to do it, whether you play or you don't play. I think it was really well-played game by two teams and, you know, came down to a play that was a crazy play, but I think we stayed within ourselves and just played catch and played baseball and we're rewarded forthat in the end. But no, really excited about it. You know, nothing's done yet. I mean, you know, there's going to be two more, you know, really hotly contested games between two really good teams and that's all you can ask for at the end.”

On Tate Mckee….

“Yeah, you go show bunt, foul it twice, two strike hit, and then show bunt in a

safety type situation, foul it off, guy gets a hit. Those are things that can be really dejecting to you as a pitcher because you're sitting there going, "Man, well, if this would have happened or if that would have happened, there was, you know, he was really poised tonight, and he always is." But I think once again, you're talking about two different guys that were just battling out on the mound, that you know, it's not fun when you're on the receiving end of, you know, getting punched out and that stuff, but our guys stacked up innings. I mean, I don't know how many of the, you know, innings we had a guy in scoring position, but it was a lot of them. And so our guys, you know, Baker had a, I believe it was an eight-pitch at-bat homer. (Parker) Brosius had a 10-pitch walk. Um, it was, you know, a lot of 3-2 good decisions, and you know, you got to tip your hat when other guys make pitches, but you know, overall, I think that was kind of the difference is they made their little run, and then we were able to settle in and wait around. Once again, we made aggressive plays, but I think we stayed within ourselves. Kerce, man, that's just what he does. I mean, he does stuff like that in scrimmages where he'll, you know, pump fake a ball or he'll go this way or do something on the base pass, or if he plays in a shift and you put your head down, he's taking the next base.So for a kid like that, man, I mean, that's just him playing his game. There's no coaching to that. That's just him playing the game the way he knows how.”

On the baserunning and how strong its been…

“(Josh) Schulman is, you know, I think he's the best base running guy in the country. I mean, you're talking about a guy that's grinded in his coaching career, made a bunch of stops, and been a servant leader everywhere he's been. I was lucky enough to cross paths with him. Um, actually, at an ABCA convention is kind of when it started. You stay in touch with guys like that. Um, what he means, I mean, we have an incredible staff. I mean, you go Scott Stricklin, man, he's always in the trenches with us. You go, MT (Matt Taylor and Jason Richmond), Rich on the pitching side. Uh, Ty (Trey Yunger), you know, the young buck coaching with us now, you know, officially. But I think that's the cool part, you go, we're really well coached up and down, and it's easy for me, you know, at the top, so to speak. I don't feel that way. It's more so we all just water our grass, and we do a lot of stuff with each other. But no, the base running for us, we're hitting really well. We slug. We can do damage. We can grind at bats. But, you know, it's helped us out on Friday nights. Uh, the base running side has more than people realize. Every 90 ft matters, and it's just a mentality thing our guys get preached to.”

On finding different ways to win…

“I remember you know reading a book played a lot of tennis talking about winning ugly right you got to find a way sometimes and that was the message at practice yesterday is when you're facing a great arm you got to cut down you may have to get on the plate you may have to choke up and you look at some guys box adjusting or some guys sitting on certain pitches and you know that's the cool part is when you're able to stay within and just put pressure on the defense. They did everything right. We found a couple of holes, they found a couple of holes, same thing in their big inning. So I think it's the value of can you do everything? And so I think for us it was uh you know it was on display tonight.”

On what it means to clear a team ranked as high as Florida State…

“We got so many good teams in our league. I mean, obviously, we hold them in such high esteem. I think it's just proven to us, you know, we can play with anybody when we play our game. I think you're talking about an Auburn team, you know, that is outstanding. You're, you know, you're talking about all these teams in the ACC, man. Went to Clemson. I mean, that's a hostile atmosphere, and I took care of business. All these programs it starts once again with players and coaches, and we got outstanding ones. So, I think that's the thing that, once again, it's stressful in the heat of the moment playing against great competition, but that's why you do this. Like you want to play the best and you want to get their best. It's as crazy as it sounds. You want to win, but like it's satisfying when they play a good game, and you play a good game, and it settles at the end, and you're on the winning side of it. It's just momentum for our team for sure.”

On if he prepared the guys for a super level series they may face down the line…

“I think my style is going to be the same as you know, preseason work or whatever. I think in those big moments, I think you learned from a lot of good coaches that you got to bring the guys down. I think there's, you got to say, hey, you know, we're, you know, base is 90 feet away, you get 27 outs. We talk about using the whole field going backside. I think when you start to orchestrate stuff and try to, you know, raise the elements, these guys are 18 to 22-year-olds that get, you know, fired up enough with the crowds. I mean, that yellow jacket chant, you know, I think it was the seventh, like, actually matters. Like that actually impacts the game. You can't hear anything, and you're trying to make pitches. I think you have to train the guys a certain way, and we train our guys really hard. So that you know, and I got it from 11. Like when I played for him, it was this one takes us back. This one takes us back. And so, you know, so when you hear that, you know, that's the cool part when you start to instill it in your own team.”

On the bottom of the sixth inning…

“I think those guys goof around all the time, like honestly, and I think honestly, I think that's what they were doing. I think at one point I had to get him back, you know, but that's like you let your guys do their thing. No, a lot of the strategy, like I put Brosius in a tough spot. You're bunning, you're not bunning, you're two strike bunning. I'm definitely not scared to do all that stuff. I think once again he comes back as the next to bat. He stays in the game. He's a great defender. He walks for us. He's able to impact, you know, stealing bases and running the bases. I think I like to do those just to once again to just look guys in the eye and just see where they're at and for me to say you've got a bunt here, you got a slash, you got to we teach our guys all the time and and honestly like there wasn't anything put on after the first strike until there was two strikes. So, I think that's the cool part, you let guys play, and when there's 30,000 people, you're not going to be able to hear anything. Your heart rate's going to be pumping. I think a lot of times you just got to go and settle and go play the game.”

On Mason Patel…

“He just loves pressure. I mean, like those are the guys that you can't you try to instill toughness in guys, and you try to do that. But we all know there are certain guys that just raise their level when they're needed the most. He's that guy that if you told me I'm going to sit, you know, in that dugout and lose with a guy like Mason Patel, I'm never going to have any regrets doing that. Our whole team feels that way as well. So, we saved up some bullpen arms, and we've done a really good job just kind of sharing it. Like I said earlier, everyone has a chance to impact this series.”