ECU-Tulane Quotes
May 24, 2006 | Baseball
May 24, 2006
HEAD COACH Rick Jones
Overall Thoughts On The Game
"I thought Brody Taylor pitched well and they played well defensively. Even though they had two errors, they made a lot of plays and we hit a lot of balls hard that just didn't have eyes. But that's going to happen. I thought we played really well also. Sean pitched tremendously and gave us a great effort. Defensively we were errorless, so you know we played well there as we have all year, and we had some real good at-bats but it was one of those days where the game was unforgiving and we didn't have anything to show for it. You have to couple that with the fact that East Carolina played very well and Taylor pitched well."
On Jake Smith's home run in the fifth
"Smith got into one there. It's a game of inches so many times and their ball inched out and our balls stayed in. It's just one of those things. But you have to give them credit because they played well, and I thought we did too."
On leaving the bases loaded in the first
"I thought we let them off the hook a little bit there, we only got one. But you have to tip your cap to (Taylor). He made a real good pitch to Nathan Southard. It wasn't like Nate had a great pitch to hit. The ball got in on his hands and he just couldn't get the barrel on it. The next time up, he barreled one up the center hard."
"If we had gotten more runs in the first, it certainly helps. No question. We were hoping we could. But then again, we got eight in the first on Saturday and got beat, so there's no guarantee. But I'll tell you this. If we stake Sean to a two, three or four-run lead, I'd feel pretty good about our chances."
On a six seed beating a three seed
"It's a good league. Pick up tomorrow's paper, you're going to see this happen in other tournaments where there's a good league. We've got one of the top four or five leagues in the country and you're going to have quality play every day. We understand that, it was one of those things, and that's why Sean Morgan was pitching today because we knew it was going to be a tough game. We certainly know what East Carolina is playing for. We are playing more for seeding (in the NCAA Regionals), but at the same time, we want to win every game we can win. We're going to be right back in there tomorrow trying to do the same thing, and I don't anticipate it being anthing other than tough no matter who we play because it is a good league."
FIRST BASEMAN Mark Hamilton
On Brody Taylor's performance
"He worked down in the zone and threw a good mix of offspeed. As a team, I thought we were on him here and there. But he made good pitches to get out of jams, and that was the biggest thing. He just got out of jams and he didn't really walk a lot of people. He kept people off base, and a lot of the balls we hit hard went right at people so we never really got into a big situation except for the first inning. As frustrating as it is, it does happen."
On how Taylor pitched to him in particular
"In the first inning, I felt he was going to throw me a lot of breaking balls. So I could pretty much sit on that, and if I got a fastball to hit, I could still get to it. But he just kept throwing me breaking balls and I hit two the first two times up. The first one went to the warning track where (Harrison Eldridge) jumped up and caught it, and another was a real hard ground ball to the second baseman."
"Later in the game, when they had a little bit of a lead, they started pitching me differently - throwing some pitches off the plate, trying to nibble on the outside corner. In the last at-bat, he threw me a totally different breaking ball then what I had seen all game. He had been throwing a slider, more of a slurve that had a big dot on it and it was easy to recognize. And then he really buried one in that last at bat that completely fooled me. It broke more 12-6 and had a different spin on it. "
LEFTFIELDER Matt Riser
On the game in general
"We had guys on all day, but (Taylor) made good pitches when he needed to. We hit the ball hard, but just didn't find the holes. Their third baseman played well and made some good plays over there. We didn't find the holes today, but hopefully we will next week (in the NCAA Regionals)."
On Smith's homer
"Like coach said, it's a game of inches. When the ball goes up, I thought I had a good bead on it and I didn't think it was getting out. I jump at the wall, and the next thing I know, it's six inches over my glove."
STARTING PITCHER Sean Morgan
On his performance
"In the first inning, I just had to calm down. But after that I felt like I kind of got into a zone. The arm felt fine, but that's just baseball (Smith) hit my best pitch and he hit it over the fence. I left it a little up and you've got to give credit to him."
EAST CAROLINA QUOTES
HEAD COACH BILLLY GODWIN
On first-round win over Tulane
"Coming off a tough weekend (sweep at Memphis), it was certainly a good win for us today against a quality program like Tulane. I think these two guys beside me (starting pitcher Brody Taylor, catcher Jake Smith) are the main reasons why we were able to do that. Brody went out and gave us another solid outing and Jake's home run was huge when we scored those three runs (fifth inning)."
On playing high-RPI team like Tulane in first round (post-season chances)
"To be honest, I told them that we have to win the tournament (to advance). That's what we need to do. We need to play like our backs are against the wall. If we're going to get into the NCAA Tournament and keep our string of seven straight regionals alive, we need to win this tournament. I don't want to rest my hands in playing deep or anything like that. If we win it, there's no question that we'll go. That's what I relayed to them and they came out very focused and responded well.
On strength of Conference USA (potential matchup vs. Houston)
"Conference USA is such a great conference. Houston's got another outstanding club. I thought all year that we played with everyone in this league. I think if stay within ourselves and play well, we can match up with anyone
STARTING PITCHER Brody Taylor
On pitching performance
"I had a good feel for the hitters today, knowing how to pitch against them and then I fell into a comfort factor during the game, I didn't try to overthrow or do too much because my game is to just go out there and pitch and try to throw strikes.
On getting out of the first inning allowing only one run
"It was real big , because I think if that they would have scored more runs, it would have put us in a big jam and put a lot of pressure on us to come back from a big deficit early. I was just happy to get that ground ball double play."
On handling Mark Hamilton
"I worked hard on keeping the ball away from him but also making him respect me on the inner-half of the plate at times. I think he and I are a good matchup with my breaking ball, working away from him (strikeout and near-home run to rightfield both came on breaking balls)."
CATCHER Jake Smith
On his hitting performance
"I didn't get many good swings early, but the key was seeing and reacting to the slider I hit. I didn't know it was going out but it kept going. I just tried to stay confident with my approach and try to stay in the middle of the field."
On Tulane starter Sean Morgan
"Sean did a good job on us all day. He's a great competitor but we just stayed with our game plan and that kept us in the game. The first inning was real big. It gave us a lot of confidence to score right after they did. It was a back-and-forth battle but you have appreciate the job Brody did and Shane for shutting the door."
