Thatcher Hurd, Brayden Jobert recap LSU win over South Carolina

LSU pitcher Thatcher Hurd and outfielder Brayden Jobert recapped the team’s 10-3 win over South Carolina in the SEC Tournament on Wednesday. Here’s what the pair of Tigers said to reporters.

Q. Thatcher, what was working today? And also I noticed that you were wearing Paul Skenes’ glove. What goes into that? Was it a little good luck or what was that?

THATCHER HURD: Yeah, I thought I was able to command the fastball. I was trying to go right at them, throw it right over the white. Best way to do it.

And my glove broke the other day, so I’ve been using Paul’s hand-me-down. And it’s got good mojo, so I’m going to keep rolling with it.

Q. Thatcher, what happened to your glove?

THATCHER HURD: When you catch enough balls and you play catch with Paul Skenes, he tends to break them.

Q. Brayden, what was your approach today, especially with that home run?

BRAYDEN JOBERT: Yeah, just to try and hit low line drives and hit my pitch. I’ve been trying to walk more and take more pitches, so understand we’re disciplined at the plate and putting good swings on balls that are in my zone.

Q. Thatcher, against South Carolina’s lineup, what was the game plan heading into today?

THATCHER HURD: Just attack the zone with my stuff, everything with full conviction, get ahead. At times I could have done better at getting ahead and not being too fine. But you build off every outing, and so we’ll continue to attack the strike zone and keep going.

Q. Thatcher, is this a confidence boost for you, especially about to head into postseason ball in the NCAA tournament?

THATCHER HURD: I’ve always been confident. It’s just about surrendering the results to the process and just build off every outing. You can learn a lot from failure, and you learn from success. So keep building off it. But I’ve always been confident.

Q. Thatcher, what about the job Nate did on the back half to shut things down?

THATCHER HURD: That’s what he does. He came in, suffocated the strike zone, picked me up in a big way, picked us up in a big way. That was awesome, and that’s what he’s done all year.

Q. Thatcher, how big do you think this was for y’all’s bullpen to make a statement after all the question marks you guys have had?

THATCHER HURD: I mean, just another day, another outing. We’re not looking into that.

Q. Thatcher, we didn’t get to talk to you after your outing at Georgia. What role did that five innings play in kind of your success today? What did you build from that outing?

THATCHER HURD: Yeah, get ahead. The process is simple. You get strike one, you get the lead-off guy out, and then you’re pretty liberated to expand with your pitches and opens up a lot of opportunities for you. So that’s the plan, and just staying true to the process right there.

Q. Thatcher, one more question about the glove. Are you going to continue wearing his glove the rest of the season, or are you going to get a new one?

THATCHER HURD: Probably keep wearing Paul’s glove.

Q. Did you give it back to him right after your outing?

THATCHER HURD: He’s got a couple gloves, so it’s kind of a hand-me-down. And he broke it playing catch, so I guess it’s fair enough that I get to use his other glove.

Q. Early in the game, Dylan almost hit one out, Tre’ almost hit one out. You kind of broke the seal on that. What did it mean to put you guys on the board and offensively as a whole today? Seems like scoring 10 runs is a good day.

BRAYDEN JOBERT: Yeah, I feel like we were firing on all cylinders today. That just happened to be the start of it. We have amazing players 1 through 9. So if I’m in the 8 hole and Dylan is leading off, I still feel like I’m going to hit.

I’ve never been on a team that it’s been like that. We have amazing players 1 through 9, and if we just play our ball, we feel like nobody can handle us.

Q. Was it difficult to prepare today at all when the game was at 9:30 a.m.?

THATCHER HURD: No.

Q. Brayden, I know that your plate discipline has been a focus this season, and I think you’re batting over .300 in SEC play. What goes into building that plate discipline and making it better this year?

BRAYDEN JOBERT: I would say — well, I got LASIK in the offseason, so that is a huge, huge part of it. Yeah, I didn’t have very good eyes last year. That was obviously a problem. That was a huge difference for me.

You know, just really honing in on like my zone and getting my pitch and understanding the strike zone, understanding what I can hit and what I can’t hit.

Last year I felt like I put swings on a lot of balls that I couldn’t do damage on, and this year it’s just really focusing on hitting my pitch and just taking the rest.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports