Postgame Quotes - Saint Mary's 3, UCLA 2

POSTGAME QUOTES
Saint Mary's 3, UCLA 2
Los Angeles, Calif. (at Jackie Robinson Stadium)
May 29, 2026 
 
Head Coach John Savage 
Opening statement 
“I thought it was a good game. I thought both teams played really good defense. I thought both pitching staffs threw strikes for the most part. A couple big swings by Johnson, it really was a difference in the game. Two solo home runs. We just didn’t do enough offensively to put ourselves in position to create runs at the end of the day. 12 o'clock at Jackie in late May, it’s usually pretty offensive. Today was not, for whatever reason, not a very offensive day. I think you gotta give Saint Mary’s some credit. I thought the senior right-hander threw outstanding, I thought he did a good job. And the left-hander came in and did his job. You got to give credit where credit is due at this level. Tough loss, but there’s a lot of baseball left and it would be a really good opportunity for our guys to get back at it. We’ve played a lot of close games this season as anybody that’s followed us. Same thing that makes you laugh will make you cry at times. We’ve kind of been playing on it a little bit, that tight rope a little bit, so I understand that. And we lose Brennan, we lose Aguayo. We didn’t have Will, and no Reddeman. It’s baseball, the next guy up, so no excuses for us. But at the same time, we need to make sure we get back at it again tomorrow.” 
 
on players being out due to injury 
“Aguayo, he rolled his ankle really bad. Right when he was finishing up infield-outfield, he rolled his ankle on the tarp and couldn’t play. Payton, it was an oblique, really, really painful. So he went down. And it's tough, it’s hard. It’s not so much who’s gonna play, as a head coach. I just feel bad for them, missing the opportunity to play in a game that you win 51-6 and you’re excited to play. Then you get a freak injury before the game, you get the oblique, I feel for those guys. I don’t feel sorry for us in any way. We have guys that can fill in. That’s the nature of the game. I just felt bad for those guys that they had to be pulled from the game. They’re being evaluated, we should know later today or first thing in the morning. There’s no determination right now on what their playability is tomorrow, but keeping my fingers crossed. Reddeman isn’t pitching this weekend. We’re hoping if we get an opportunity to play next weekend, that he’ll be up and running. We will get Gaspirino, which is good. Like I said, I don’t know the status of Aguayo and Brennan.”
 
on the ninth inning home run 
“It was a routine fly ball. It was a late May Jackie fly ball that leaves the ball park. I don’t know what it was hit at or the exit, but he’s a big, strong, guy, and you got to give him credit for getting the ball up in the air. We didn’t get the ball up in the air enough, it’s baseball, it's a day game. Across the entire country you see balls like that sometimes fly out during the day. Nothing crazy, when it went up I thought it was a fly ball right.” 
 
on the pitching plan for the weekend 
“We’ve been consistent as any team in the country in terms of our plan, and that will remain the same, that has always been the case. When you lose the first game, it's all hands on deck. Michael Barnett will start tomorrow and we will see where it goes. We will need everybody to get this thing done. That’s okay too, we will see what sort of inventory you have and how sharp guys can stay ready that haven't pitched much. It's easy to get four or five guys ready to pitch. It’s a little more difficult to get about 12 guys ready to pitch. That’s kind of our sweet spot, we like to balance it and try to keep guys ready. We did that all season. I think we led the country in ERA, after 57 games. There’s something there that clearly shows depth and our depth will be tested this weekend.” 
 
on what it’s going to take to advance to Super Regionals 
“It’s just a lot of guys playing together. This team is a really, really awesome team to coach. It’s a great group of guys, it’s been built the right way. We can go on, and on, we’ve described that enough. It’s toughness and competitiveness, it’ll have to be won by pitches and by innings and day by day. You can’t get ahead of yourself. You can’t feel sorry for yourself. It’s the nature of the tournament, it’s a four-team double elimination tournament. Right when you feel comfortable you can get uncomfortable. So right now we are a little uncomfortable and that’s okay. That’s a good test for our guys.” 
 
Junior catcher Cashel Dugger 
on Saint Mary’s right handed pitcher 
“He competed. He was kind of a cross-fire right hander and he was making pitches. He ultimately just outcompeted us. He just got to it. We had a clear approach going into it and we just ultimately didn’t execute enough.” 
 
on feeling pressure from the target put on their backs 
“We’ve had that target on our backs all year you could say. We came out here ready today to play our game and focus on ourselves. So no, we didn’t take the target any differently than we did all season.” 
 
on the pitches called during the home  runs 
“Coach Savage actually calls the pitches. It was two fast balls and they were good pitches, it was where we wanted them. You gotta give credit to him for putting good swings on it. Like coach said, he’s a strong guy. You just kind of got to tip your cap a little bit.” 
 
Junior third baseman Roman Martin 
on leaning on each other as veterans 
“We’ve been through a lot as a core, especially our junior class, only winning 19 games my freshman year and then having success last year. We have kind of been on both sides of it. I just say we know how to lose and we know what it takes to respond. I think just being clear with the younger guys, just encouraging them to keep going.”