NC State’s Elliott Avent, Luke Nixon, and Dalton Bargo met with the media following the Wolfpack’s 17-13 loss to No. 5 Auburn Saturday evening.
NOTE: The press conference can be viewed here. Select quotes are provided below.
Elliott Avent
Opening Statement...
I just want to say that I'm so proud of these two guys and all the guys on this team, not only today. It kind of stamped what we've done all year. A lot of teams have, but I only talk about our team. The adversity this team had to deal with and a lot of things that have happened and the fight they continue to show all year to get us here in a regional, which is postseason for college baseball, is what it's all about. Then the fight they showed today, down 10 runs, one time, right off the bat, after finishing up a game like two hours and 40 minutes earlier. From sitting around to getting down by 10 and fighting back to get within three and then getting down by 10 again, and then coming back again. It was close to a couple things happening in this ballpark today, the way the ball was going out, it could have been different. So, I just want to talk about how proud I am of the players, then I'd also like to say that I've been to a lot of regionals and Auburn, Alabama, is a special place to me. I have been here two or three times, I know two times in the last two years. I think I've been here three times. It's one of the classiest places in all of college sports. The people are great, fans and great sports fans, but it's different from most places you go. They just understand the game, pull for their team, but nobody ever wants their career to end. But if mine had to end, then it ended on the Plains in Auburn, Alabama, with the class people that are here, that means so much to me. Coach (Hal) Baird, I didn't know him, but Pat Dye was one of my favorite football coaches of all time. There’s just so many great people here. The site committee did a great job in the tournament with the rain and the decisions they had to make, but this is how a regional should be run and it has a lot to do with Auburn, Alabama. So, I want to say thank you for that.
Luke Nixon
On being down 10 runs early in the game…
Like Coach said, I think it goes with the storyline of our team this year. How much adversity this team has dealt with, not only just injuries, but personalities clashed early in the year and a lot of different guys were coming in. How close we got and to just see us keep fighting 10 runs down, while it was our second game of the day. We clocked in probably 10 hours in the field the past two days. It really just goes to show and tells you a lot about the guys on her team. I think a lot of guys on our team are going to be special because of that aspect, in general, just because they never quit, honestly. I really respect that out of all our guys.
On playing for Avent for the final time…
I had a great opportunity to be around him for three years. Not just as a baseball coach, but just as a person in general. I don't know, I am almost at a loss for words that I can't play for him again. He loves his players more than anything. He'll live and die for his players. He gets us the best hotels, he feeds us greatly, he gets on us when he needs to and he pulls back when he needs to. He’s really one of the best dudes I've ever met in my life and I'm so happy, I've had the opportunity to be with him for three years. That's all I got.
Dalton Bargo
On being down 10 runs early in the game…
I think the biggest thing is just competing and then for the last few weeks, We’ve been talking about remembering who we are. We're still the same ball club as we were in Puerto Rico at the beginning of the year. We fought all year, fell with injuries and today just kind of showed how our season's gone. We never backed down, kept fighting and were chipping away, just chipping away. We kept saying in the dugouts just chip away and keep playing our game, because we know how good we are.
On what the game felt like in the moment…
That was the definition of a dogfight on a baseball field and that's how postseason baseball is. Those games are fun because runs are going to be scored and plays are going to be made and especially from an offensive perspective, like both of us, those games are really fun for us.
