Dylan Crews, Thatcher Hurd preview College World Series

LSU Baseball players Dylan Crews and Thatcher Hurd previewed the College World Series on Thursday with the media. Here’s what they said ahead of their matchup with Tennessee.

Q. For Dylan and for Thatcher. You just heard your coach say it, and we’ve all seen it. Why do you think you’re playing your best baseball right now?

DYLAN CREWS: We had a little team meeting right after the SEC tournament and got together and we just said five games. Just give us five games to get here and play your best baseball that you possibly can, forget about all the stuff that happened in the season. Just focus on the present right now. Give us five games to get here, and I think everything will take care of itself as soon as we get here.

We have to keep this momentum forward. Like I said, I think it’s just going to take care of itself as soon as we start playing.

THATCHER HURD: Just what Dylan said. I think that meeting was huge for us. A lot of momentum from that. Just something Coach said all year is just surrendering yourself to the result. It’s all about the process and doing whatever we need to do to win.

Q. This question is going to be for Thatcher. How does it feel to be with a new program this year and just all the alignments with your mechanics that you adjusted with UCLA last year?

THATCHER HURD: I love being an LSU Tiger. I love our coaches. Love the teammates to death. Some of my closest friends. It’s been a great season we’ve had. I’ve loved it. I feel like I’ve grown a lot from it.

In terms of the adjustments, just sticking to my process every day and staying true to that. Some results following, and then we’re in a good spot now.

Q. How rewarding has it been for you, Thatcher, to deal with some of the ups and downs you had earlier in the season to fight your way back into having a prominent role again and to be a part of getting this team to this stage?

THATCHER HURD: Yeah, I think it’s been rewarding. With failure, success, I stayed true to my process every day with my work, and it feels good to contribute to the team.

Obviously when you’re going out there and you don’t feel like you’re contributing and letting some of your guys down, it’s the worst feeling in the world. So it feels really good to kind of contribute, and I just want to help us win.

Q. You guys mentioned that you guys held a team meeting after the SEC tournament, and the result has been a five-game winning streak. However, all of those games were in Baton Rouge. This is obviously not Baton Rouge. How are you guys planning on keeping that alive maybe with a little bit less of the familiarity that you have from playing at home?

THE MODERATOR: Dylan, you start.

DYLAN CREWS: Just sticking to our game really. I think we’re in a very good spot right now. Like I said, the momentum is tremendous in this team right now. I think everything is just kind of clicking for us right now.

Bullpen is doing really well. Starting pitching has just been dominant. Our approaches have been great in the batter’s box.

Really just sticking to our plan, no matter change of the field, change of the atmosphere. Just sticking to our plan, that’s it.

THATCHER HURD: I think now more than ever it’s all about just staying true to ourselves, and what’s got us here. I think that Dylan said it perfectly.

Q. You’re familiar with the team you’re playing right off the bat. What is it like to play a team, yet again, that you are very familiar with that also has a really good pitching staff?

THE MODERATOR: Thatcher, you start.

THATCHER HURD: A lot of the SEC teams, we see them in conference and the SEC tournament, saw them in the postseason. It’s just about playing our baseball and staying true to what we know.

DYLAN CREWS: A very good team. I have total respect for them. Great program. Definitely know how to win. We have to play our best baseball for this game. Great pitching staff.

We saw them early in the year, so kind of have an idea going into this game.

But, yeah, like I said, we have to play our best baseball right now.

Q. If we can start with Dylan, obviously Skenes won the Dick Howser today. I wonder what do you appreciate most about him? I imagine it’s probably different being in different parts in your career?

DYLAN CREWS: Yeah. He has had a tremendous impact on my career. Just the way he goes about himself every single day, his preparation. From the first day he walked into the locker room, he has been the same ever since up to this point. That’s what I respect about him.

He goes about himself like a Big Leaguer does, and if not probably way better. So I have definitely taken notes of that. Just try to almost imitate him in every way possible because he has had a lot of success this year.

THATCHER HURD: I think with Paul, he has helped me out I think probably more than he knows. I live with him, and we talk all the time about baseball mindset. I just try to learn from him every day. It’s really special to be around him.

Same with Dylan. Right next to him in the locker and I live with Paul. I’m just super thankful I’ve got to share the field with those guys all year, and it’s special. Just trying to soak it in, you know.

Q. Dylan, how does it feel to just not just be in Omaha, you are one of the three finalists right now for the Golden Spikes Award. Even what lies ahead towards the middle of July, what are you just looking forward to taking the field on Friday night?

DYLAN CREWS: Man, it’s something that I’ve wanted since I was a freshman walking into the locker room. It’s just something that I have thought about every single day leading up to this point.

I want to go here and experience all this, being able to play baseball — or playoff baseball at the Box was something, but being able to play here is something else.

The crowds are going to double, triple. The atmosphere is going to be electric. You know, being able to play here is pretty awesome.

The Old Spice thing, it’s awesome, but we have a job here to do. And, yeah, that’s the only thing on my mind right now.

Q. This would be for Coach and for Dylan.

THE MODERATOR: We’re going with the players first.

Q. Dylan, can you talk about, I guess, the — it seems like a common theme this year has been guys accepting their roles and thriving in those environments. Thatcher is a great example. Josh Pearson. Just can you talk about the willingness of this team and just guys being able to adapt to their roles pretty consistently?

DYLAN CREWS: I think it all starts with the older guys really. Some of our older guys didn’t start early in the year, so having them being able to come in and produce the way they did really just kind of moved on to the younger guys.

They’ve done a tremendous job. Like Pearson and Paxton sometimes. And then just other guys really at any point. I have faith in all the guys. Everybody else does.

It doesn’t matter who you are, at any moment, any spot in the lineup, I think they’re going to do a good job of staying present, staying locked in, and producing.

Q. This one is for both the players. LSU all year has been very good at a whole ton of things. The team is borderline top 10 in walks and hits per inning. They’re a fantastic hitting team. I believe you lead the nation in hits. Dylan as a hitter and then Thatcher as a pitcher, what does it mean to you guys that the other side of the ball is always constantly able to produce and give you some support?

DYLAN CREWS: Yeah, it’s awesome. It’s a good feeling when the pitchers are doing their job and getting the lineup over — or flipping to the other side to have the lineup do what it does best. Just going up there and hitting.

We have a great offensive approach each and every day, sticking to our plan. Just commanding the line of scrimmage in baseball is what we call it. I think we do that, good things will happen for both sides of the playing field.

THATCHER HURD: I think just like both sides of the ball, picking each other up. I think that’s a huge component of our team.

I know when I get the ball or anyone else gets the ball that we’re going to score. As a staff we’re just looking to pick up the offense, maybe to put up a zero that inning. That’s a huge component of our team.

Q. Dylan, I know that hitting in this ballpark, it’s a little different here. The foul territory is bigger. I’m just wondering how that adjusts your game plan as a hitter.

A. As a hitter, yeah. Really it stays the same. Sticking to the approach. Foul territory gets a little bigger, but the field stays the same really.

So we just stick to our approach really. I think everything will kind of just take care of itself. (Indiscernible) approach, commanding the strike zone. Good things will happen on both sides of the ball.

Q. Your answer to my Skenes question triggered something. Did you feel like you had a partner in crime when he showed up on campus, someone else that could shoulder the burden along with you as the face of this program?

DYLAN CREWS: Yeah. I mean, didn’t really view myself as the face of the program. Just doing my thing every day. But, yeah, just having somebody to kind of just lead the team. Not just on the hitter side, but on the pitching side too. Having somebody.

Last year we had older guys being able to kind of be the role model, the leaders of the team. Paul has really stepped up in being able to be the leader for the younger guys.

It’s been tremendous. Guys have been looking up to him and kind of following him and seeing how the way he goes about himself. So it’s been good.

Q. Thatcher, I know when you first came here, you wanted the No. 25, and then you saw that Hayden Travinski had it. Can you talk to me, saying how did your relationship with him start, and what is it like now?

THATCHER HURD: Yeah, I love Hayden. He was one of the first guys I met. When I came here, I didn’t know anyone. He was one of the first guys I met. We would go out and get food together and hang out.

It just felt really cool to be welcomed by him. He is such a great clubhouse guy. He is a leader. To see what he does on the field every day, I couldn’t be happier for him, and no one deserves it more considering the adversity he has gone through and just persistence and doing what he does. I love that guy.

Q. (Indiscernible) Outback, then I saw a bunch of pictures. It’s bunch of you guys that go or different groups of guys that go. What does that do as far as team bonding? Are there other places that everybody kind of goes and groups up and kind of shares a meal together?

THATCHER HURD: Yeah, for sure. That’s one of the most fun parts of college and being on a team I think is going out to eat and hanging out.

Yeah, we love each other. We love to hang out. We go out to eat and it’s the pitchers, and it’s a lot of fun.

Q. (Off microphone.)

DYLAN CREWS: Not really. We’re always around each other every day at the field, so I don’t know. We used to do that a lot in the fall really. We used to go out to the nutrition center, all of us, the whole team, and just have team dinners, team lunches, whatever it was.

I think that helps a lot. I think that’s why we’re so close and why we gel so good. It’s been great.