OMAHA, Neb. - Gainesville native and Chestatee High graduate Alex McRee says his Georgia Bulldogs baseball team will be ready when it takes on top-seeded Miami in the College World Series, Saturday at 7 p.m. (broadcast on ESPN).
The eighth-seeded Bulldogs (41-23-1) traveled to Omaha, Neb., early Thursday, and McRee -- a relief pitcher -- and his teammates spent the first few hours of the day catching up on some much-needed sleep after suffering through a four-hour delay at the Athens airport due to weather and flight complications.
But after gaining his bearings and getting in two practice sessions, McRee took some time out on Friday afternoon to talk with Access North Georgia sports editor Morgan Lee about the Bulldogs' playoff run, the Hurricanes (52-9), the scene in Omaha, and dealing with travel pains.
QUESTION: You're in Omaha now, what's the atmosphere like?
ANSWER: It feels great. There's thousands of people here, and they're all excited. It's really interesting. There's fans here from all over -- even from teams that aren't even here. [Eight teams advance to the College World Series, which is a double elimination tournament -- until the championship series, which is a best-of-three format between the winners of brackets one and two. Georgia is in bracket one with Miami, Florida State and Stanford. Bracket two consists of Louisiana State, North Carolina, Fresno and Rice.]
Q: How does the team feel?
A: We feel good. We're really anticipating that first game here big time. Tonight [Friday] we're going to take part in the opening ceremonies, and we've already had press conferences and practices. We're just ready to get playing tomorrow.
Q: How do they have the teams situated? Are you sharing a hotel with any other teams, or are you off on your own?
A: I think we're all on our own. I haven't seen another team at our hotel. We're right downtown in a really nice hotel. And we're about three miles from the stadium, so it's pretty convenient.
Q: Looking back on the Regional and Super Regional rounds, which both took place in Athens, you were on the brink of getting knocked out. How did the team respond to that?
A: It was pretty intense in the Regional, losing to Lipscomb in the first game. That put us in a bad situation in the loser's bracket and we had to win four straight games just to advance. Then we lost the second game of the Super Regional to N.C. State, which meant we had to win Game 3 [in a best-of-three series]. Those were some nervous games. But ever since the midway point of the [Regional] win over Louisville, when [Georgia shortstop] Gordon Beckham hit that home run, our offense has just been red hot, so we've been pretty confident.
Q: Do you feel like your offense will continue that momentum in Omaha? Do you feel the break in between the Super Regional and the College World Series could cool you off?
A: We feel pretty confident. We stayed hot in between the Regional and Super Regional -- that didn't hurt us, so this break shouldn't. But everyone out here has got a stud pitcher, so it will be interesting to see how we stack up.
Q: Georgia's scheduled to face Miami ace Chris Fernandez (11-0) in its first game. How do you stack up against him?
A: Well, we faced N.C. State pitcher Clayton Shunick in the Super Regional -- and I know he didn't have the same record as Fernandez, but he had a lower Earned Run Average -- and we did pretty well against him. [Georgia defeated Shunick and the Wolfpack 11-4 on June 6th in Game 1 of the Athens Super Regional, putting up eight earned runs against Shunick -- the most the pitcher had allowed in two years at N.C. State.]
Q: How does your pitching staff stack up against Miami?
A: We did real well this season against South Carolina, which was supposed to have one of the best offenses in the nation. We also shut down Kentucky, so we've faced good offenses.
Q: Personally, you played a big role for Georgia during the Regionals. [McRee came on in the first inning of the Regional-clinching win over Georgia Tech on June 2 with Georgia trailing and pitched four full innings of relief, allowing four hits, one earned run with one walk and five strikeouts.] How big was that outing against the Yellow Jackets?
A: That was huge. That was the best moment of my career so far -- I've pitched better before, but that was certainly the most meaningful moment.
Q: This is your first trip to Omaha, but your coach, David Perno has been there before. [Perno has led the Bulldogs to Omaha three times.] What did he say to the team about what to expect out there?
A: He didn't say too much, but the older players, who went in 2006, talked a lot about it. They said it was an experience you'll never forget and to make the most of it.
Q: I saw the team didn't make it to Omaha until 4 a.m. on Thursday morning. What happened?
A: There was a big ordeal with the plane. First we had to wait 30 minutes on the runway [at Ben Epps airport in Athens] for the bad weather [in the Midwest] to clear. Then, when we were about to take off, the computer that controls the engine went down. So we had to wait another three hours for another plane to fly in that could take us. We were supposed to leave around nine o' clock, but we didn't end up flying out until 1:06 in the morning. We got to the hotel about 5 a.m., so we just all went to bed.
Q: But you'd much rather have to wait than fly on a plane with problems, right?
A: Absolutely.
Thursday
October 24th, 2024
8:21PM
