UC Irvine Quotes
June 12, 2011 | Baseball
UC Irvine Quotes
UC Irvine Coach Mike Gillespie
Opening Statement:
"I think the rain delay seemed to be what the doctor ordered along with the ballpark hamburgers that we ate on the way out. We had several different guys as you saw come up with big hits. I think Drew Hillman clearly gave us a real lift and a real spark with two different at bats, which I think changed the mentality for us in the dugout. Everyone got electrified when that happened, then two or three more clutch hits and then Jordan Leyland came up huge with the two-strike double, so I'm thrilled."
On putting in Andrew Thurman after rain delay:
"It was an easy call. With the length of time and the fact that he (starter Matt Whitehouse) was up at 70 pitches it didn't make sense to put him back out there. Obviously in a best-case scenario, if we were to be here for three games, we would like to have had Thurman start the third game. Nonetheless, we were down 3-0 and there isn't going to be a tomorrow if we didn't manage to come back today, so it was not a tough decision."
On pitching for tomorrow:
"It's a little hard to believe that Whitehouse or Thurman could go out there. (Matt) Summers is going to want to have a fist fight if he doesn't get put on the list to be out there, say late in the game. Guys you haven't seen - (Jimmy) Litchfield would be likely to be the first guy out. Third baseman (Brian) Hernandez is a guy that would figure into the mix. We saw (Phillip) Ferragamo yesterday and he's a guy that we have used a little bit more lately. We have some trust in him."
Drew Hillman
On effect of the home run on the team:
"I think the rain delay definitely helped us. It kind of seemed like halftime in a basketball game. When we came out for the second half after the rain delay, we really came out all fired up. Jordan ( Leyland) had a good bat the inning prior and got some full counts going and I got all set up and hit it pretty far."
On advantage of rain delay and breaking UVa momentum:
"We were down 3-0 and nothing was really clicking for us, so I thought that helped."
On what today's game means for tomorrow:
"It's do-or-die tomorrow. (Today) gives us some momentum going into tomorrow but it's a one-game playoff to get to Omaha so I think both teams will come out pretty fired up."
Jordan Leyland
On the offense:
"Once Drew (Hillman) got those couple of big hits, I would say hitting is contagious for us. It has been like this all year. One hit after the other and we were able to put together a couple good at bats in each of those last three innings."
On his double:
"I was just trying to get set early. (Branden Kline) had a good fastball and I knew he was going to try and get away with it the previous two pitches. The previous at bat he had a bunch or sliders so that's what I was looking for and he happened to leave the slider up and they shifted and left a gap."
On gap in left center field:
"They were playing it throughout the entire weekend. They kept shifting yesterday and today, but I was pretty surprised, it was a pretty big gap. I'm not much of a pull hitter."
