Everything Wes Johnson said following Georgia’s 4-3 loss to Oklahoma
Georgia fell just short Monday night, losing 4-3 to Oklahoma and will now move to the loser’s bracket, where it will play Texas in an elimination game at 8 p.m. on Tuesday.
The Bulldogs fell behind 3-0 in the first and could not overcome the early deficit thanks to the efforts of OU starting pitcher Xander Mercurius’ 7 1/3 quality innings pitched.
Georgia hit three solo home runs, but stranded 12 runners on base, including three in scoring position.
Following the loss, UGA coach Wes Johnson spoke to the media; here is everything he said.
On keeping Caden Aoki on the mound into the eighth inning:
“I disagree. I thought his stuff was just OK in the first two innings. Then I thought he settled in. We got the stuff we’ve seen from Caden Aoki all year. And I just allowed him to get some quick outs and rollover ground balls.
And kept his pitch count low enough that when you’re in those kind of games, you’ve got to have that mindset of, when you’re behind you’ve got to be careful, and you feel like you’ve got to have him keep it there, to keep it within striking distance. I felt like obviously he did that. We had some opportunities, and just didn’t cash in."
On what Johnson saw from OU pitcher Xander Mercurius on the mound:
“Yeah, you’ve got to tip your hat. I told Skip after the game, Xander was impressive tonight and really dominated us with the fastball. We’ve got to be ready to hit the fastball, and we didn’t. We didn’t do a good job of that tonight, obviously.
And then I thought the command of the fastball for him tonight was really good. He was able to run it in on us. He was able to elevate it at times. Then he stuck a couple down and away. When you’ve got a guy who is commanding his fastball to those three quadrants, it does make it tough."
On the lack of extra-base hits through two games:
“We faced a first-team All-SEC guy, game one. And then we faced a guy tonight who was executing his fastball. So our game’s hard. There is that saying that good pitching can stop good hitting.
We can talk about the history of the game and history of time. Tip your hat to Xander tonight. Like I said, threw the ball exceptionally well. Executed it. When he needed off-speeds, he got it."
On what he is seeing from Oklahoma’s lineup and why it’s so successful right now:
“I mean, I think it’s any team in this tournament. You get down to the final eight, and you make mistakes in the middle of the plate and up, guys are going to hit them. It doesn’t matter what team you’re on — Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma, whoever.
It doesn’t matter. And so they’re doing a really good job of when they’re getting the mistake up of getting off a good swing. And, quite frankly, that was the difference in the game tonight."
On using past experiences to overcome adversity the rest of the tournament:
“No, I mean, we’re going to get up tomorrow. We get another chance to play this game. It’s nine innings. It’s when guys start to press that things go bad. And we’re going to come out and play our game. We’re going to try to do it at a slow pace, be ready to hit a little more than we were tonight.
But we’re not — there’s no need to hype up elimination games or winner brackets game. Like I said, I think that’s when players get tight. We’re going to go out and play Georgia Bulldog baseball the way we’ve been doing it all year. And hopefully we’ll play it a little cleaner tomorrow."