USA press conference, Brosius: “A big swing today gave us the victory”

USA closed the Super Round with a win over Chinese Taipei, and manager Scott Brosius declared to be happy with the result of the game.

“We knew we’d have a very tough game today, like mos of the other games of the tournament. Low scoring, good pitching, and runs becoming a premium,” said Brosius. “The starting pitcher for Chinese Taipei threw a great game today, very difficult to score on, so it became a game where only one big swing could decide the game. They had a big swing that put them ahead in the score, and we had our big hit that gave us the win. So very pleased to score that two runs later on the game.”

Brosius compared this game with the previous USA match in the event: “This game was very similar with last game against Australia, in terms of how it was played and how was pitched. Today Chinese Taipei did a good job executing their game plan, we didn’t see any fastball in fastball-counts, the pitchers kept the ball down and away, and I’m sure if we play on Sunday we will see more of the same.”

This was USA’s last game of the Super Round. Brosius analysed the performance of his team so far. “If you take into account every aspect of the game, you’ll realize that we pitched the ball really well. Our pitchers have given us the chance to win every single game. Our starting pitchers have been solids, and our relieving pitchers have incredible keeping us in every ballgame.

“I think the challenge we’ve had in the tournament at this point is to sustain some rallies, getting runners on base, make some adjustments early in the game on what the pitchers are doing, and getting runners on base. We’ve hit some home runs, today we had a huge one, but we need to put more pressure offensively and put more runners on. In the other hand, I think defensively we’ve doing well.”  

Asked about his experience as a manager so far, Brosius said: “In this game, you never stop learning, no matter how long you’ve been in the game, as a player, coach, manager, whatever the role you’ve been, you never stop learning. The experience of being around of the players, watching them compete, being in a competition like this, is always a valuable experience and makes you better in whatever you do.”