UC-Irvine 3, Wichita State 2 - Postgame Quotes
June 12, 2007 | Baseball
Wichita State
Head Coach Gene Stephenson
On The Game
"It was another great ball game for people to watch I suppose. I thought for the way we pitched we deserved a better outcome. Most of the time we'll catch line drives like the one in the first inning. Most of the time we'll make a play on the bunt that gave them their first run. It just didn't go our way tonight. They didn't hit many balls hard in the last couple days and they found a lot of holes. The hardest ball they hit all weekend was the last hit of the game. I thought we battled hard against a pitcher like Etheridge. We couldn't get under his pitches. We finally started adjusting late in the game. Our team played with great heart and there was no shortness of effort on their part."
On a call being overturned at first base in the ninth inning
"I thought he was clearly off the base or else I wouldn't have gone out there. I just asked him to ask for help because surely as obvious as that was somebody else would have the angle on it. The important thing in a game like this is that they get the call right regardless of which way it goes. The right call was made and we capitalized on it so it worked out for us."
"Irvine is a very well-coached team that executes well. Their two pitchers pitched well and they're going to give a lot of people fits."
On This Year's Team
"We had great heart. We played hard, not always smart, but we played hard. I'm very proud of our guys."
On Senior Derek Schermerhorn
"He's been a great leader, a great competitor, and a great teammate. He's as good a man as we've ever had here. They don't make them any tougher than Derek. He's my kind of guy."
Derek Schermerhorn
"His delivery made it tough to see the ball. We struggled to make adjustments all game. Finally he started leaving a few pitches up early in the count."
Andy Dirks
On UC-Irvine's Wes Etheridge
"I got some hits against him but I didn't hit the ball very hard. I finally moved up in the box to take away some of the tail on the ball. He lived down low in the zone the entire game."
Tyler Hill
On his ninth-inning game-tying single
"I just tried to picture the situation I might have and tried to keep my anxiety down and find a good pitch to hit. I tried not to think too much about it."
UC-Irvine
Head Coach Dave Serrano
On the Game
"This unbelievable group of young men is now going to take the next step and take a trip to Omaha. I really need to wake up from this dream but I'm not ready to stop dreaming. The resiliency of this team showed in the bottom of the ninth inning. There's probably been a lot of teams that have come into Eck Stadium and crumbled late in the game but we refused to give in. I'd like to thank my entire staff for helping put UC-Irvine on the map."
On an overturned call at first base in the ninth inning
"I have to trust the umpire's instincts. It didn't effect us as a team. My only question was who had the best angle on the call. It's just another thing this team has had to overcome."
On scoring first
"When we score a run first we're hard to beat and our track record will prove that. To get that run right out of the gate was huge for us."
Bryan Petersen
On the game-winning single
"I just wanted to battle and put the ball in play so we could have a chance to score."
On WSU Starter Rob Musgrave
"He was good. He was using different parts of the plate and mixing speeds. He lived at the knees and gave his team a chance to win the ball game."
Matt Morris
On a near-collision with out-fielder Ollie Linton on a diving catch
"I didn't get a great read on the ball but I was listening for Ollie and I couldn't hear him with the crowd so I decided to do whatever I needed to do to go for the ball. He got me in the hip and leg."
Wes Etheridge
On retiring 17-straight in the middle of the game
"I was throwing one pitch through most of the game. They finally made the adjustment late in the game and forced me to start mixing stuff up."
