Scott Brosius: “You win as a team, you lose as a team”

USA manager Scott Brosius showed for the press conference after losing the Bronze Medal Game of the Premier12 2019 against Mexico. In a very close game, Mexico tied the game in the ninth and then earned the walkoff win in the tenth to qualify to Tokyo 2020.

“First of all, I want to congratulate the Mexican team for winning today,” started Brosius.

“We played them twice in this tournament, and they beat us both times. Today, it was a very good game, we are a bit disappointed about the result, we played well, we made a huge effort, but Mexico found the clutch hitting at the end of the game.”

Matt Clark hit a tying-game home run in the bottom of the ninth. The pitch before he stopped the swing just in time to avoid the strikeout. Brosius reflected: “The nature of the check swing is this, for the defensive team is a strike, and for the offensive team it is not. In the end it’s a matter of appreciation. You must give credit to Clark, that homered the next pitch in a clutch situation.”

What should USA do better to get the win? “You win as a team, you lose as a team. It’s not the time for blaming anyone for this result, or regret in terms of what we did or what we didn’t,” answered the manager.

“We pitched the ball extremely well and our defence was great. We pitched well enough to win every game in the tournament. I think maybe what we could do better is to cash in the opportunities we had to score more runs.”

Asked about the Americas Qualifier in March next year, Brosius said: “It’s too early to think about that. The game finished just 20 minutes ago, we have another chance to qualify in March, so we have time to think about it.”