Dugout report: Avent, Villaman on ACC championship game loss

CHARLOTTE -- Despite an excellent combined pitching performance from Matt Willadsen and Chris Villaman, NC State baseball fell 1-0 to Duke in the ACC Championship Game at Truist Field Sunday. 

Villaman and Elliott Avent spoke to the media following the loss, here’s a full breakdown of everything they had to say: 

Elliott Avent

In the sixth inning, it looked like you guys had a chance to score but a little miscommunication at third base. What do you think went on and did you think he should have tagged on that play? 

Well, obviously he was going to tag. He may have misread the fly ball, and wanted to get a better jump than he probably needed to get. And he left early; he's a smart player. He realized he left early. He went back to re-tag, knew he shouldn't chance it and he did the right thing there. He probably just tried to be a little too good when all he had to do was a regular tag. Obviously we haven’t played Duke all year and didn't know the strength of the center fielder’s arm and he wanted to make sure and tried to get too good a jump there. 

How big was Chris Villaman’s performance to keep you guys in the game? 

That’s quite an environment, and pitching against a team that's won 11 games in a row, obviously hot, you’re pitching against the veteran who was our Friday night starter last year and has a lot of experience out there, and you knew you had to match a guy like that pitch-for-pitch. 

So I thought what [Matt Willadsen] and Chris both did was outstanding in this environment on this stage, just both of these young men grew up tremendously today. They have been good all year for us, but they took another step in their growth process today. 

What was your message to the team after the game? 

It was a long message. I talked to them and said what I had to say. You try to learn in every game and as much as I would have liked to see them out there on that field to collect the ACC Championship trophy, they are a team that I thought that would be special for this ballclub. They have done a lot together with few people. They are almost like the Marine slogan, the few, the proud and the Wolfpack. 

But we learned in the Carolina game, we got down 8-0 and didn't quit in a game that could have gotten ugly, and we tried to grow from that for the rest of this tournament. This is a grueling tournament. This tournament starts with 12 of the best teams in the country. This weekend starts with four of the best teams in the country. So as much as we would have liked to have gotten this ACC Championship, there is a bigger prize out there, and if we can reflect on this game, learn from not only this game but this tournament, and have a good week of practice, we’re looking forward to playing next week. 

Chris Villaman 

It’s obviously not the result you guys want as a team but for you, you threw 4 .1 really effective innings. What was working well that was keeping them off balance? 

I just want to throw strikes to get ahead in the count and just let my defense work. That's all I tried to do for most of the game. Try to stay efficient. 

In the ninth after you shut down the side, you seemed fired up. Were you trying to let your energy feed off on your other teammates? Did you try to get a rally in the ninth? 

I felt fired up to get our team fired up, as well. It was a big ninth inning for us, so I just tried to get my team going. 

What was the response in the locker room and dugout after the game? What did you guys say to each other? 

We just tried to keep our heads up. We have a big week next week, so try to keep our heads up and stay with the task at hand.

What are your feelings after this tough loss?

We just wanted to -- it was a tough loss but we have a bigger opportunity next week, and just keep winning.