The University of Mississippi Athletics
NCAA Regional Game 6 Postgame Quotes
5/31/2009 | Baseball
OLE MISS
HEAD COACH MIKE BIANCO
Opening Comments
"It was a great college baseball game. Not so great if you're an Ole Miss fan, obviously, but it was an unbelievable game. Certainly you have to tip your hat to Western Kentucky for the day that they had today. Beating a very good Missouri team, then coming in here and being down 9-3 very late with our ace closer on the mound, they just wouldn't give in, and they continued to rally and just beat us. The good thing for us is that we won the first two, so we get to play tomorrow."
On pitching for Monday's elimination game....
"Drew Pomeranz will start, and everyone will be available. Drew will go as long as he can go, then we will take him out. We just want to get him out in the first inning and take it from there. Drew felt good today and said he could pitch an inning today. He'll be ready to go, but everyone will be available to play. I mean, certainly not (Brett) Bukvich, but we'll check everyone tomorrow and see how they're feeling just like we do on a Sunday. I'm certain that a lot of guys will want the ball tomorrow."
On gaining momentum early in Monday's game...
"I think it would be nice. You always want to get off to a good start. We have a terrific record when we've fallen behind this year. Certainly as a coach and players, you always want to grab the early lead, hold the lead and continue on, but I think if anything you learn from tonight, it's not about getting the lead, it's about playing the entire nine innings. That's what happened tonight. We played really well for seven innings, but their two innings were better than our seven."
Sophomore RHP Jake Morgan
On his performance versus Western Kentucky...
"I felt fine and good up there on the mound. I thought everything was the same as yesterday, but I just didn't locate my pitches and I was leaving everything up. That's what happens when you throw against a good team like that. You leave your pitches up and you don't locate, you get hit around."
On adjustments Western Kentucky made from their first meeting...
"Maybe they were sitting back on the slider more, but even then they had good swings on the fastball, too. They're good hitters and they need to be complimented on that."
Sophomore 1B Matt Smith
On Western Kentucky's comeback after being down 9-3...
"We haven't seen a team come back from that, especially like they did. They did a good job, and you have to give them credit for it. They had good quality at bats. We're looking forward to coming out tomorrow in front of our fans."
Junior OF Jordan Henry
On momentum going into Monday's elimination game...
"I think we have the advantage. We're playing at home, and it's going to be this crowd out there again. Like Matt said, we flushed it and we're looking forward to tomorrow. That's what we've been talking about all season- the next 200 feet, flushing what happened and so what, be ready for tomorrow. We're excited to be playing here tomorrow in front of our fans again."
WESTERN KENTUCKY
Head Coach Chris Finwood
Opening Comments
"I've been doing this for 21 years and that is probably the best ballgame that I have been a part of in terms of comebacks, the stage and the atmosphere. I have been saying it all year about these kids. To go out there and play the way they did today for 18 innings and to beat a heck of an Ole Miss ballclub in front of a great crowd with that type of a comeback is an amazing feeling. I couldn't be more proud of them. We had a lot of big hits and they never gave up. We were able to battle back and put up a bunch of runs off of an outstanding bullpen. It was a heck of a win for us and our program. I am fairly certain that that was the biggest win for us in school history. It's just an awesome feeling for our kids and our fans, and I couldn't be more proud of them."
On seeing sophomore LHP Drew Pomeranz in Monday's game......
"We've seen him and he is really good, so we have got our work cut out for us there. He's also throwing on short rest so you'd like to think that it's going to affect him. As far as his stamina, we are going to be in the same boat. I'm hoping to throw Matt Ridings and he would be in the same situation."
On what it means for the WKU program to make it to the Super Regionals......
"When you start to put first-time and school history behind things, then obviously it's special. This is a special group of kids and they are one win away from doing it. It's not going to be easy, but we have an opportunity.
Junior 3B Wade Gaynor
On facing Ole Miss sophomore RHP Jake Morgan for a second night......
"I would say last night he pitched well and we struck out twice looking. We didn't have real good approaches against him. Today, we were successful. I don't know if he had worst stuff or whatever. We just made an adjustment."
On home run at-bat versus Morgan.......
"I was more worried about not striking out four times on the night. He threw me a slider and I pulled off of it. I was getting in the box telling myself center field and he hung me a slider."
On swinging out of a deficit.....
"We haven't made that big of a comeback on that big of a stage this year. We never feel like we are totally out of the ballgame. Whenever you are down 9-3 to Ole Miss at home in front of 10,000 people, you don't have anything to lose. We just wanted to take good at-bats and hitting is contagious."
Junior 1B Jake Wells
On game-winning home run.....
"In my two-strike approach, I was looking for a fastball out, something I could hit into the gap. Luckily, he (Nathan Baker) hung me a slider, and still with an opposite-field approach sped up my bat and got lucky enough to hit one out."
On team approach going into the 8th inning down 9-3.......
"The main thing was just to get on base. I was in the seven hole this game and was wanting to get on base and leave it for guys like Gaynor, Rice and (Chad) Cregar. With them anything can happen. So the most important thing was to get on base."
Sophomore C Matt Rice
On finally breaking through with a big inning.....
"Coach told us to keep going up there with good at-bats and good approaches, and eventually we would get some runs. We strung a few hits together and scored some runs."
On momentum of win......
"Hopefully this will carry over to tomorrow. The first one today helped us carry over to the second one, so we are just going to go out and give it everything we had."
