Quotes From Tulane/East Carolina Game (May 26)
May 26, 2006 | Baseball
May 26, 2006
HOUSTON, Texas - No. 3 Tulane 2, No. 6 East Carolina 1 (10 innings)
Reckling Park - Houston, Texas
Host: Rice University
TULANE UNIVERSITY QUOTES
HEAD COACH Rick Jones
Thoughts on the game
It was a really good ballgame and we played all three phases today. We had 10 hits as they did. We got the timely one. We were tremendous defensively and our pitching was outstanding. Billy settled in and did a great job for us. Trey did the exact same thing, and of course, Daniel got the win. He came in and got that big double play ball. Mac had a big hit there, Matt Riser - who was having a little bit of spasming and a lot of guys would have come out - gets that single. Then Cat has a great bunt, and Mac with a real good job of two-strike hitting.
On the play of Mark Hamilton
Hammy made two really good defensive plays at first today and had three hits. I know he was motivated for us to win, and at the expense of him being the MVP, he got slammed a little bit in his hometown paper this morning, so I know there was some incentive there too. I thought that was a real cheap shot to praise another guy and show up the kid from the home town in the process. That happen sometimes, and he certainly didn't deserve anything except positive things. He's the Conference USA Player of the Year because he had a great year. No disrespect to anyone else, but he should be chastised for having a great year. He didn't do the selection. He didn't do the voting and I think it was a motivation thing. I don't want to speak for him there on it, but he's not going to comment on it and I told him I would because I thought it was a real negative. But it turned out to be a real positive for us.
On Warren McFadden's game-winning hit in the 10th
Mac's hitting in the three hole for a reason. He's had so many big two-strike hits for us and so many big RBI for us this year. You're going to have a day. The guy was pitching to him with that slide ball did a good job. He was really on top of his game and he made some great pitches to Mac. They went out there one too many times, and he went with the pitch.
On the team's ability to get key hit today as opposed to Wednesday's 4-2 loss
You've got to put in play for it to do that. We both had seven hits on Wednesday. We both had 10 hits today. So 17 hits and we split the first two games. The difference is we've accumulated enough wins that our situation was a little different from there. We knew that going in. They were going to be real hungry because they're playing for their post season lives and we're playing more for seeding and the possibility to host. They're both big, but there's no question, when you're trying to keep your season extended, you're going to be out there with a sense of urgency.
You just keep putting the ball in the play and eventually something is going to fall for you is what you keep thinking. But we've talked about it many times. Mac's hit doesn't matter if we don't play great defense and we don't pitch. And we've done that all year to give ourselves a chance to win those games late with a timely hit.
On the team's bullpen performance
Especially in the last 25 ballgames or whatever, we've been able to play a lot of seven inning games because you've got Trey (Martin) and Daniel (Latham) down in that pen. It's a comforting thing and today was another example of being able to do that.
On Matt Riser's health
Yesterday, he made a throw and spasmed up a little bit. He's a little tight today throwing, but he could swing the bat. He's pretty stiff right now. We're going to see how he feels at breakfast tomorrow morning before we make a decision on whether he'll go because he's certainly got to be ready for next week. Knowing him, he's going to say he's fine, but we'll see before we make that call. Our lineup has been pretty set for a while. He's had six hits in the last three days and really been a catalyst for us. It's the time of year where you want to see your guys playing the best and he's one of them as are the guys sitting around me.
On starting pitcher Billy Mohl's performance
We need to bring him to Texas more often. He's been really good in this state. Billy threw really well today. After the first couple of innings, I was worried about him a little bit because his arm speed for his breaking ball was not nearly what it needed to be. He just didn't look like he felt good. If he felt well, it didn't look like it to me. That's why I sent Coach Sutter out to check with him. He was working slow and a lot more deliberate that we wanted to see him.
From the third inning on, he just got into a rhythm and groove. Billy's got late movement in the zone with his fastball. When he's on top of his game, his ball will run in on the hands of a right-handed hitter late. It's not overpowering, but it's got so much life. But he can manage that ball in the zone and his breaking is just good enough. He's usually going to get a lot of quick outs. The ballpark was certainly working to his advantage today, but that's what happened. He started getting that fastball in on their hands a little bit and started getting some quick outs. He really got rolling there.
On the pitching plan for the rest of the tournament
Stephen Porlier is going to go in the first one, Johnny Whole-staff in the second one. There's no reason why you'd hold back right now. We may be going into the stands here if we get to Sunday.
RIGHT FIELDER Warren McFadden
On his performance at the plate today
He kind of had my number today, but playing this game you're going to fail every now and then. You can't worry about that previous at-bat. With a runner on in scoring position, it's just time to look for a ball up that you can drive and get it out of the infield. All day I struggled a little bit with the slider. They were throwing me away. First pitch was a slider and I took it. I was looking for something to hit hard that early in the count. They came back with another slider that was a strike. The third pitch, he left it up. You look for a waste pitch, but he left it in the zone and my eyes kind of lit up and I put it in play.
On his final at-bat
All day, the pitches had been either on the black or two inches off the plate. Just seeing a ball middle away, it was the best pitch (to hit) I'd seen all day. He got ahead early in the count with the first two sliders so I figured he was going to come back with the same thing. Things just went my way. Whenever you get behind two strikes, you're not really trying to guess and look for a certain pitch. You just want to fight, stay in the count and he gave me a ball to hit.
FIRST BASEMAN Mark Hamilton
On his performance today
I feel like I was seeing the ball real well. The wind was howling in. I tried to make the adjustment to hit the ball low off Mathews' extension as he went low in the zone. I felt like I handled it real well. I knew they were going to pitch me outside so I went with a couple of pitches early in the game. I tried to put a lead on us late in the game. I thought I got a ball I could drive, I hit it pretty good, but it got knocked down by the wind a little bit. In the last at-bat (the intentional walk) I kind of figured that was going to happen. You've got to set up a double play right there. That was standard good baseball and I've got to tip my hat the guys on their team. They played really hard today and it's a wonderful thing to be in a game like that.
JUNIOR RELIEVER Daniel Latham
On his performance today
Going into the last inning, we had battled all game and we had two great pitching performances I went into the game. I threw one pitch in the ninth inning and got the double play ball. That's just great defense right there for us. Going into the last inning, I knew if I threw strikes, my defense has been there all year. We're one of the top defending teams in the country and they've been helping us all year. That's what makes our pitching staff great. We have great defense behind us, and if we make pitches when we need to make pitches, they're going to make the plays for us.
On the final at-bat to ECU's Adam Witter
With the wind blowing in like that, I was just trying to keep the ball down and we went down and away with a fastball first pitch. I was just trying to get him to basically do what he did. We wanted him to kind of roll over. That's what I was looking for. He was going to be trying to turn on a fastball. He was sitting fastball. I kept it down and away and he just pulled off and rolled over it. We got the outcome that we wanted.
EAST CAROLINA QUOTES
HEAD COACH BILLY GODWIN
On the game
First of all, congratulations to Tulane University. It was a hard fought win. I thought our guys played hard. (Shane Mathews) did a great job beside me, and it just wasn't in the cards.
On the loss
It's very frustrating. Shane did all we could ask him to do today. That's for sure. I thought we blew some opportunities on bunts early in the game and baserunning. You can't make those mistakes this time of year much less against a club like Tulane. I was real proud of the way our guys battled. I thought they played hard. We just didn't the breaks when it counted.
On reserve second baseman Drew Schriber, who came on to start the 10th
Drew is going to be a great player in our program. If I look back on Drew Schieber's career, he made the best effort he could today. If I look back on his career in four years, we're going to be real pleased with what Drew Schieber does for East Carolina University.
On the Regional outlook
We've had some great wins. We've had some awful tough losses like today. We've had some good wins. I would believe in my heart of hearts, that we're one of the best 64 teams in the country. That's for sure. I know how the automatic bids work, and some of the teams that aren't in Conference USA. If I'm on the committee and I know they have to deal with the automatic bids and so forth, but our club deserves a shot. We were competitive with every top team in the country all year.
I've been in this game a long time. I'm no spring chicken. This isn't my first rodeo. I don't think as a coach, I've never had as many difficult losses as we've encountered this year. If we look back and we do some things here or there, we certainly could be sitting close to 40 wins. It's kind of how fragile a key part of a game goes. We weren't able to execute that, but I can promise you as long as I'm here, you're going to see nothing but improvement out of East Carolina University.
STARTING PITCHER SHANE MATHEWS
On his performance against Tulane
It kind of follows out the year. I've had a little problem with the sixth-inning hump. I finally got over that. Coach Godwin always says before a game, he gives you the ball and says `Give me about nine.' That's what I did. I tried to leave everything out on the field. I just couldn't have done without the guys behind me. We got ground balls, and they fielded it. You couldn't ask for any better defense the whole game. They helped me out so much.
