Dylan Crews, Paul Skenes Detail What Went Right Against Tulane, What's Next
Q. To go nine innings today, 120 pitches, you were throwing over 100 miles an hour in the ninth inning, just talk about the outing as a whole and just kind of when you felt like this would be something you could accomplish?
PAUL SKENES: Yeah, I think to be able to go that deep into a game really speaks to just executing pitches and did a lot better job this week than last week of executing my pitches. They came out swinging, which allowed me to have some short innings as well.
It was really cool to be able to go that deep into a game. And just looking to build off of that tomorrow.
Q. It felt like you have some energy when you skipped onto the mound in the ninth inning. What was that conversation like when you knew that you were going to finish this game?
PAUL SKENES: There wasn't a whole lot of haggling back and forth. It was pretty sweet. He asked me if I wanted it. I said yeah, and I had it.
Q. When did you find out you were going to start? What were your thoughts, what were the conversations with Coach about you getting the start and why?
PAUL SKENES: Yes, obviously the ability to start the Regional off well, put our pitching staff and our bullpen in a good position to have a lot of rest and go into the second and third days of the Regional strong, that was the primary goal of today. Obviously win, but more happy that we're in a good position the next few days to have all our arms.
Q. When did you learn?
PAUL SKENES: I don't remember. A few days ago.
Q. Pressure playing at home being a national seed. And you're playing a team who they had no idea that be in the NCAA Tournament a little over a week ago. How do you feel you guys handled that today, knowing that they're coming in with nothing to lose and you guys, everyone expects you to win?
DYLAN CREWS: I think we handled it perfectly well today. Obviously we played them earlier in the season. That meant nothing to us going into today.
Obviously we have a great pitcher on the mound. We knew he was going to go out there and do his thing. And we were right behind him every pitch. So hats off to the guys. It was a great all-around performance.
Q. Dylan, your thoughts, 3-for-5 on the day. You really stepped in some big-time hitting. What are your thoughts on your performance and also the performance of your team with a lot of big-time hitting to help your team win today?
DYLAN CREWS: All around, like I said, it was a great performance. I was just going out there swinging strikes, taking balls at the end of the day. Trust in my ability. I worked hard all week.
So, like I said, it was sticking to my approach and plan and swinging at strikes, taking balls and worked out for everybody today.
Q. Dylan, I was sort of curious, was the emphasis today at all, at least offensively or at least heading into the week, small ball, getting the ball on the ground, getting the ball in place, especially with runners in scoring position?
DYLAN CREWS: Yes, I think it's very important especially with runners on first and second with less than two outs to get the guy over. And we've been working hard all week with our bunting and our short game.
So I think Jordan and Gavin laid one down. So we're able to get the guys over and we scored them. We definitely worked on that for sure.
Q. Dylan, pretty crazy defensive plays in the game. But Paul going through the legs to double up the dude, give me your thoughts on watching that and your thoughts on doing that, if you don't mind?
DYLAN CREWS: That was one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life. I have, like, a straight lineup shot with it, so I was one of the ones that saw it before the replay where he caught it in between his legs. My initial reaction was hands over the head, I was, like, that was sick.
PAUL SKENES: Yeah, just got tired of them hitting the ball up the middle and I wanted to catch one. So did it.
Q. Paul, this is your tenth time pitching over 100 pitches. What do you do -- is it like conditioning or eating healthy -- what do you do to pitch over 100 pitches?
PAUL SKENES: It's a combination of all of that. Looking back to last year, and the year before I had a lot of volume on my body in the past and I've been able to manage it pretty well. So I don't know exactly why that is.
But then coming here and having, I think, gaining more access to knowledge about nutrition and really good strength and conditioning program and a lot of really good arm care, everything combines to allow me to do that, I would say.
Q. Paul, you talked about the game plan and why. How rewarding is it to execute that and kind of know that you set your team up?
PAUL SKENES: Super rewarding. Obviously it's really cool to go out there and compete for as long as I can. But I think we're going to benefit more from it the next couple of days than the win today.