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Oklahoma postgame press conference with Drew Dickerson, Coach Skip Johnson and Jaxson Willits #UNC
Jun 2, 2025
Oklahoma postgame press conference with Drew Dickerson, Coach Skip Johnson and Jaxson Willits #UNC
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0:00
Yeah, just really proud of our kids
0:02
today. I mean, a long day. Um, uh, the
0:06
second game started. Jaden Barfield, I
0:07
thought he was really good. Kind of put
0:10
through some zeros up there to kind of
0:11
the offense get their feet under them a
0:13
little bit and then the offense kind of
0:14
started taking off and uh, and went
0:17
pitch to pitch and uh, kind of lost some
0:19
momentum there through the middle part
0:21
of the game. Just proud and uh, Dylan
0:24
Krooks was really good at the back end
0:25
and really proud of him. I'm just
0:27
blessed that God put me in uh these
0:30
kids' hands and uh uh and and I'm really
0:33
really really proud of that and and um
0:37
other than that it's all good.
0:39
Questions? Just raise your hand. I'll
0:40
get to you.
0:45
Drew, it's just it's been a weekend for
0:47
you. Can you kind of tell me what's been
0:48
working at the plate? I mean, just
0:51
keeping it simple. A man of above manual
0:53
prayers. Just keeping it simple.
1:01
Yeah.
1:02
Yeah. Um,
1:05
sorry. Dylan, you're coming in the
1:07
eighth inning. And Angelo, this is
1:10
Jackson. Oh, I'm sorry. It says
1:15
they went fishing.
1:20
Dylan was really good there.
1:23
Let me ask you about that. It looked
1:25
like I mean you brought him in to Drew
1:28
Angelo because he's a dangerous hitter
1:31
and what um okay when he hooked that one
1:34
foul what was what was your first
1:37
reaction? Well I mean uh just executing
1:40
pitches I mean whatever happens is going
1:42
to happen. You can't control all you can
1:44
control is throwing the ball to target.
1:45
That's all you can control. And you got
1:47
to have the guts to sit out there on top
1:49
of that hill and throw the ball to
1:50
target and take whatever comes the
1:52
outcome comes. You know, I mean, that's
1:54
that's what pitching is really about is
1:56
just trying to attack them with
1:57
conviction. And when I went out to visit
2:00
him, we had bases loaded. Just remind
2:02
him that just throw the ball the target
2:04
and whatever happens happens. And um and
2:08
he's he's a tough kid. I mean, he he is
2:11
and he went through a lot and I'm really
2:13
proud of him.
2:17
Jackson, just kind of the mental
2:18
endurance to kind of get through a day
2:20
like this with there on the line. What
2:24
did it take to kind of cut that out? Um,
2:27
we know it was a long day, but feel like
2:29
we bring that energy and focus every day
2:32
in practice and you do that every day in
2:33
practice for the whole fall and then all
2:35
spring leading up to the season. It gets
2:37
easy to uh to stay locked in. So, I feel
2:39
like it was just another day at the
2:40
office and then after one we kind of
2:43
reset the day and we had another one. We
2:44
just treat it like a regular day. Treat
2:46
the first game like one day, the second
2:47
day like the second day and just
2:49
competed the same way we do every day in
2:50
practice. time Jackson. Thank you. Uh
2:55
your double during the big sixth inning.
2:58
Uh you had a message for the fans that
3:01
they've been on you for a few innings.
3:03
Um walk me through that a little bit. I
3:06
mean, we're just having fun out there
3:07
and just playing the game
3:09
baseball. They booed me
3:11
and all saw what I did. That's all it
3:14
was. when when you and and um Jackson
3:17
Vanderbreak exchanged words thereafter
3:20
and you were running in front of him
3:21
trying to distract him. Um what what
3:26
what was said there? I
3:28
mean first off I just want to say I
3:30
wasn't trying to be a dirty player. I've
3:32
never been a dirty player but I was just
3:34
trying to help my team get a run is all
3:35
I was doing. and he took took exception
3:38
to that and basically he came at me and
3:41
I went back at him but there was nothing
3:43
nothing personal we just just competing
3:45
on the baseball field
3:48
coach obviously you don't want to play
3:49
two games in a day but getting rolling
3:53
this morning or earlier today and kind
3:55
of carrying that over I mean you guys
3:57
kind of look the bats up heavily against
3:59
Holy or or against Nebraska and then it
4:02
sort of carried through. He mentioned it
4:04
was a day one, game one, day two or
4:07
whatever, but it felt like it carried
4:08
over for you guys. Well, think about a
4:11
little bit of what happened over the
4:12
course of since we've been here. I mean,
4:14
we start at 8:30, we get to bed about
4:16
2:00, we show up the next day, have to
4:18
play uh uh uh North Carolina and didn't
4:23
play good and kind of we were kind of
4:26
tired a little bit. And uh I think that
4:28
kind of helped us too to persevere and
4:31
come out and kind of got going at the
4:33
end of that North Carolina game and it
4:36
kind of carried over to the Nebraska
4:38
game. And then you get in that
4:41
environment and you're that's what we
4:43
talk about a lot with these young men is
4:45
trying to be in control yourself one
4:47
pitch at a time taking a breath not
4:49
trying to get outside yourself and just
4:51
trying to see the ball and hit the ball.
4:53
And you have to use selft talk. You have
4:54
to use breath. You got to stay with your
4:56
routines. All those simple things that
4:58
really are really simple, but we all
5:00
take them for granted a lot to control
5:03
yourself and in the moment and be
5:05
present. And so, uh, Jaden did a great
5:08
job of giving us goose eggs, and he kind
5:10
of got those guys a little bit more
5:11
present. I mean, the same exact thing
5:14
happened in the first inning yesterday
5:18
as it happened today with a a ball hit
5:21
to to uh Dawson and maybe he wasn't
5:26
present yesterday, but he was present
5:27
today and it was he anticip and he
5:30
anticipated the ball which was a big
5:32
moment to get that lead off out. Adam
5:35
and Pat Jackson, what how would you
5:37
describe you guys approach against Hawk,
5:40
UNCC starter? Um, it seemed like you
5:43
guys went deep into a lot of counts
5:45
early on. I think it was seven of the
5:46
first 12 guys it was a full got to a
5:48
full count. Like was that part of the
5:51
approach of trying to attack him? Um, I
5:54
wouldn't say it was necessarily part of
5:55
the approach. I mean, we'd love to go in
5:57
there and get our first pitch fast and
5:58
hit a double, but we were just up there
6:01
competing and using the uh the plans and
6:03
the the
6:05
uh I don't even know what to say, but
6:07
the the early work and
6:10
the we were just using the plans that
6:12
were given up there by the coaches and
6:14
they gave us good information. We were
6:15
able to go out there and take it and he
6:17
was spending a lot of off speed early in
6:19
change ups and and breaking balls. So,
6:20
we were up there taking those and trying
6:22
to get our fast balls and we got our
6:24
fast balls. I feel like we did pretty
6:25
well with
6:28
fast multi games for Dawson for you
6:31
guys. Obviously the hunger there to kind
6:34
of what's been just kind of
6:37
progression coming through for you guys
6:39
here. Um I think that's the work that
6:42
you know uh Russell Reggie Willis and
6:46
Todd Butler do. I mean they spend a lot
6:47
of time working on their approaches and
6:50
and continue to do that. I mean, we we
6:52
try to pride oursel in in the
6:54
development side of it as much as
6:56
anything because the game uh really
6:59
doesn't care how you feel at times, you
7:00
know? I mean, you got to keep plowing
7:02
away at it, plowing away, plowing away
7:04
at it and be consistent at it. And I
7:06
think if he stays with the consistent
7:08
routines and keeps doing what he's
7:10
doing, I think he'll he's a great
7:12
player. He's an unbelievable athlete.
7:14
It's just like Desan Harris. I mean, you
7:15
look at him, great athlete. I mean, and
7:18
uh uh and he and he worked extremely
7:21
hard at the coaches have done a lot of
7:23
things to help him and that's what's
7:25
really been really really uh huge for
7:27
him in his life.
7:30
Grace and Adam, last two coach, in six
7:33
out of eight innings, you guys got the
7:34
lead off man on. How important was that
7:36
just for setting the tone of this
7:38
offense and then also to put pressure on
7:40
the UNC staff? I think I mean I think a
7:43
lot of times everybody looks at uh
7:45
hitting as offense. Off is a it's a four
7:48
component deal. It has hitting in it. It
7:51
has base running. It has bunting in it.
7:53
It has back control in it. And and
7:55
getting the lead off hitter, it's the
7:57
object is to score runs. And I think
8:00
that's what's we do. I mean, in our
8:02
offense is we you have to get, you know,
8:04
try to get the lead off hitter in. Every
8:06
offense, not just our offense. I mean,
8:08
it's every offense. Get the lead off
8:09
hitter in on and uh and try to get him
8:12
to score as more times as you can. And
8:15
that'll really kind of take the
8:16
momentum. I mean, you start trying to
8:18
get the momentum. You see it in this uh
8:20
game tonight. I mean, they got in a big
8:23
moment and and bases loaded. He almost
8:26
pitched out of it. And Eastston slowed
8:28
himself down a single to get one run and
8:30
he struck out two guys and we get bases
8:33
loaded or they get bases loaded and we
8:35
make pitches and they just didn't get
8:38
the hits, you know, just just didn't
8:40
happen for them. And so that's I mean if
8:42
you ever win and lose at baseball, no,
8:45
it's an imperfect game. It's not
8:47
perfect. Last one, Adam. Skip, uh,
8:51
tomorrow it'll be your fifth game in
8:53
four days here. What What is your sense
8:55
of how much pitching you have left and
8:58
and just how that sort of lines up for
9:00
you guys? Well, I mean, that's a a thing
9:03
that we we're going to look at for sure.
9:05
There's no doubt. I mean, you got
9:06
there's next man up, you got to step up
9:08
and and uh those guys will be ready to
9:10
go out there and throw. Uh they'll pick
9:13
each other up, you know. I mean, it's
9:15
just like uh you know, today in the
9:17
first game when uh Crosslin went as far
9:21
as he did was really big for us. And uh
9:23
and really we wanted um Barfield to go
9:27
one time through the lineup and he got a
9:29
little further than one time through the
9:30
lineup. So, those things will carry
9:32
itself out. I don't know who's gonna uh
9:34
throw tomorrow. I just got a cowboy hat.
9:36
Put their names in it. Draw a name out
9:38
of it. See what happens. All right.
9:40
Congratulations, guys. Thank you.
9:43
Tomorrow, we still don't have a game
9:52
yet. Fight.