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  • 2 days ago
The Auburn Tigers advanced to the Super Regional by eliminating Milwaukee on Monday night. They had to do it the hard way after losing their first game. Head coach Butch Thompson praised his team's toughness and the Auburn Family for their connection to the team at the Auburn Regional. Auburn takes on Ole Miss in a best-of-three series with the winner headed to the College World Series.
Transcript
00:00Yeah, I just, whew.
00:03I think that's our fifth one since we've been here.
00:07And one of the stuff is really hard.
00:09I know when we're in competition and you're in front of a,
00:14on the field and stuff, these guys, you know,
00:17and the coaches go through a lot, take a lot,
00:20because everybody's there to see it.
00:22But I think the other four, we went 3-0 in the regionals,
00:25and this was the hardest, probably most rewarding thing
00:29that we've been through for me personally,
00:33to see what these guys had to go through with the weather
00:35and the doubleheaders and getting punched in the mouth to get started.
00:38And I don't know the percentages on losing the first one
00:41and coming back, but I don't imagine it's too great, too sporty.
00:45But they found a way.
00:47And somebody said, oh, man, you just handled, you know,
00:50setting up your pitching and stuff like that.
00:52That's the silliest thing I've ever heard.
00:55These boys absolutely, we said that,
00:57and they stayed out there ever how long they needed to stay.
01:01And that really, really started with Petro yesterday.
01:04And you got, what's our boy, who come in?
01:11Hetzler.
01:12Hetzler.
01:12Hetzler come in through the last three innings
01:15and then waited an hour and come out and threw four innings
01:17and made it possible.
01:19And then, you know, a couple of guys bounced back.
01:22Cormier bounced back and absolutely finished that ball game for us.
01:27And then Marciano handed the ball over to what's been our most trustworthy,
01:32probably MVP on our pitching staff.
01:34So many games, when there's a game and a chance to win it,
01:39Jackson's not only taken the ball but got to the finish line as well.
01:42So, and then Chase caught every pitch, every inning of this thing.
01:48And he was just amazing, both offensively and defensively.
01:52And got to give him, and I just give the players a ton of credit.
01:56Because either way, I was prepared to talk to them and communicate with them.
02:01Because I thought they laid it on the line for us and was tremendous.
02:05Our crowd's never connected with us that way.
02:08We've been building attendance here the last four or five years.
02:11We've continued to raise the mark of having more people in the ballpark.
02:17And this tournament was different.
02:20There was a connection like I haven't seen before.
02:25And I think the players know that.
02:27I think the players, they run up through there and got to see everybody.
02:31And that was the best connection that I've seen here.
02:35So that was special.
02:37The people that's worked so much, our field crew, had a long, tough week.
02:41They were amazing.
02:43Our administration just keeps thinking of ways that,
02:45what can we do to texture and help this to grow?
02:49But our amazing coaches and players are just tremendous.
02:52And then I thought that Milwaukee was one of the most inspiring teams I've seen in a while.
02:58And they were a handful.
03:00And they play the game the right way.
03:02They absolutely were tucked in a 2-2 game.
03:05And that thing could have went either way.
03:06And whoever's going to have that big inning or that moment or that breakthrough.
03:11Luckily enough, it was Auburn tonight.
03:14But I got to talk to their coaches and see a lot of their players on the walk over here.
03:19And I haven't respected an opponent that much in a long time.
03:24So I give Milwaukee props for doing something for the first time in their program's history.
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