Everything J.D. Arteaga, Derek Williams, and Will Smith Said After Regional Final Win

The Miami Hurricanes are headed to their first super regional since the 2016 season, and now they prepare for Louisville. However, the team had time to reflect after a long and heart-dropping game as coach J.D. Arteaga, winning pitcher Will Smith, and Derek Williams spoke after the game.

J.D. Arteaga: Opening Statement

“I’ve said all along that this is a special group. You know I told the team this game rewards teams that do things the right way, and play hard, with confidence and courage, and that’s this team to the core. You can’t help but think there was some almost divine intervention today, some of the plays. You know ground ball through Renzo’s glove that got to Dorian, and Will is at first base covering the bag. Plays that aren’t the normal, you know the way you draw it up in baseball. It seemed like everything went our way. That play that Ogden made, you know not a big deal until the next guy hits a two-run homer, and that would have tied the game. Just guys stepping up man, Lumpkin, Will Smith who hadn’t pitched in a while, you know I told him I was resting him for today, so I didn’t want to hear that he was tired. He did a great job, man. You know this guy (referencing Derek Williams) for five weeks, he’s been out. I told you guys that’s a big piece of our lineup, an important guy, not just offensively, but on the bases. I felt that he got us going with a solo home run early, man. I love this team, and I’m so happy we get to play more baseball with these guys.”

On managing the bullpen...

"Just guys did their job, you know, and they've been up and down during the season at some point. And we went on our stretch run there. Everybody was clicking all cylinders. And today those guys came through and again started with Lumpkin and Will. And you know Robert came in, and you know those first two guys in the eighth inning. But we tried, we had four lefties coming up. We tried to squeeze it. You know, a couple more outs out of him before we went to Walter. That's a huge six-six out save there for him."

Continued...

"You know, it's it's it's a must-win or elimination game in game seven. Game, whatever you want to call it. It's tough because you never want to get left with, you know, your best available guy in your back pocket, you know, so there's really no script to it. Getting out to lead there was huge for us. You know, stretching it out in the sixth inning, getting up, you know, 5 to 1, allowed us to play it kind of conventional. And saving him for the eighth and ninth inning. I'd have been to the one game. Might have been a different situation. We would have come in early and and and maybe Will's in the back end. You know it all. There was no real script. Today, just as the game goes, you got to make decisions. But something that we talked about this morning for a while, me and Las and, we had every possible scenario, I think, covered, you know? So it's it's tough. It's, you don't take the guys up too early to get left without no pitching, but you don't want to save your best guys, a 4-1 lead makes it a lot easier. "

On Rob Evans trying to steal an out or two...

He's trying to steal an out or two. You know it's it's just a you get one out. It's a big difference between 5 and 6 outs, you know, and they made it as tough as possible. That's the way we like it around here, man. There's nothing easy. But you try to steal outs whenever, wherever you can. There's a, there was situations early in the game where we had guys ready, and we're just trying to, you know, steal one more out. And again, it worked out. You know, we turned a big double play. Pitch to pitch and there's no real script to it.

On Southern Miss' Performance...

"A great ballclub, man. I mean, they, they, there aren't. I can't think of a team that's much better. I mean, they belong in a power conference, and it's a really, really good team up and down, offensively, defensively, pitching those guys can really, really pitch. And they can do some damage with the bat too. But it was I was really impressed with was being a pitching guy. I was really impressed with their pitchers, their command, and the way they located. And I mean, we only got five hits today, so I guess night hits, but then we got the wrong guy. Look at our guys. But they did a great job, you know, did a great job there. It obviously had a game plan because the same way they pitched this last night, the pitchers today, especially our left-handers. But they were able to execute man. And they were just following us and fastballs and sliders in. And those are tough pitches to execute consistently. And when they missed, you know, you hear the fans complaining because that's their misses were that close.

On this being the first super regional opportunity since 2016...

"I'm happy for my group of guys, man. Again, I get to spend another week with this group and that's I want to extend as long and as far as possible. What makes it so is I get to enjoy it with these guys. So I'm thankful for that. I thank God every day for where I'm at, where I'm coaching and, and the guys that I'm coaching with, from my staff to coaches to players, everybody up and down, administration. I'm just thankful. I thank God every morning. I'm blessed."

On Dorian Gonzalez Leadership and other seniors...

"We've got a lot of guys on this roster that today could have been their last game. Last time put on our cleats. I don't think you wear cleats and stuff. A lot of guys woke up this morning. This could have been their last day in the last. The last game. So, for him to come through, it is huge for Derek, for everybody. Lumpkin will. I mean, a lot of guys came through today, so I'm happy for everybody.

Derek Williams: On emotions going through this weekend with the ups and downs...

“Yeah, it’s definitely been a roller coaster for sure, but the guys stayed confident, and the coaches coached us up the whole time. We had one goal the whole entire time, and that was to win it, and we kept practicing hard and doing everything we can. We came out on top, and it feels really good.”

On Hitting his homerun and batting back from injury...

“It felt really good. The trainers and coaching staff have been there beside my side the entire time. There were a few dark moments along the journey, not being able to play and stuff, but the coaching staff and J.D., mainly being there beside my side, pushed me through, being there for me and keeping me confident. It felt really good to do that for my team, and I'm excited about it."

Will Smith: On his performance...

“I’m going to be honest with you man; I don’t think about that stuff at all. I’m just trying to win a ball game. I’ve played in that game for five years now (referencing the regional final), and we’ve lost every time until now. That’s just a testimony to what J.D. has done here, and our team. We’re just absolutely resilient, and we just don’t give up, man. We were not going to lose that game today, and you knew that whenever we woke up this morning and went to breakfast at 9:15 AM.”

On J.D. Arteaga...

"Let me comment. By the way. He's being very humble right now. This is one of the greatest coaches I've ever freakin played for, and he's going to be coaching for a long time."