April 26, 2014

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Head Coach Chad Holbrook
Opening Statement
It’s a disappointing loss. I thought that Jack [Wynkoop] and Taylor [Widener] deserved a better fate. They pitched their hearts out for us. We played our hearts out but we just didn’t do enough offensively. We have to score more than one run against a team like Alabama that’s so offensive, big and physical. Their [Alabama’s] pitchers did a really good job. [Justin] Kamplain and [Thomas] Burrows are really good, as their numbers indicate. We tried hard and we hit some balls on the nose that happened to be caught. We had a couple of opportunities to score there and we just didn’t quite cash in. It’s a tough loss but by no fault of our players. They played as hard as they could and tried as hard as they could and we just came up short.

On Grayson Greiner’s tag out at home plate
Here’s how we play around here; when there are two outs and we get a hit, nine times out of ten we’re sending the runner. We make guys throw us out and we try to win the game. Tanner [English] hit the ball right at him, Grayson [Greiner] is a catcher and he’s not the fleetest of foot. That might have been our best chance to score that inning and we took it. I’ve coached third base and it’s not easy. If we make an error, we’re going to make it trying to win the game, that’s how we play here. The kid [Alabama’s left fielder] made a decent throw. It could have been a foot off to the left and [Greiner] would have been safe. That was our chance and we took it, it just didn’t work out.

On his expectations of [Taylor] Widener batting and pitching
I was expecting him to be equally as good as a hitter offensively as a pitcher. He’s gifted with a great arm. He’s only going to get better on the mound and the more opportunities I give him offensively, the more he’ll produce for us offensively, too. He stayed in there and battled his tail off against left-handed pitchers, it was impressive. When we recruited him we thought we were recruiting a gifted hitter. I haven’t deviated from that. He got off to a little bit of a slow start, but he’s finding his way. He’s confident now, he feels good, and he’ll be getting a lot more opportunities going forward.

Left-handed pichter Jack Wynkoop
On his last inning and how he felt overall
My last inning was tough. A [Alabama player] hit a double then I did a pretty decent job of putting the ball in play. That’s what happens when you make mistake pitches in this league and that is kind of how I felt overall today. I made some quality pitches but made a mistake here or there and good teams will find ways to make those mistake pitches count for runs.

On if he felt pressure on not having much run support
No, I did not think it was a pressure thing at all. We have been battling all year so that is not a situation I am worried about with this team. My job is to go out there and try to put us in a position to win the game and sometimes it does not happen.

Designated hitter/right-handed pitcher Taylor Widener
On if having success at the plate translated it to the mound
It did [translate], I was nice and relaxed up there [on the mound]. I was just going with the game and I had some good momentum going to the mound.

Shortstop Marcus Mooney
On the Gamecocks having trouble against [Justin] Kamplain
His fast pitch had a lot of movement and all of his pitches were working for him. It is hard to hit against a guy who is hitting all of his spots every pitch. Unfortunately, we could not string together enough hits to put some more runs on the board.

On getting the only RBI of the game and being a `pesky’ hitter that benefits him at the leadoff position
I have been seeing the ball pretty well lately. When I come up in that situation [with a runner in scoring position], I am just going to hit it hard in the outfield somewhere. Maybe I can get a double and end up in scoring position and the worst case is they catch it and we still get the run in and that is what ended up happening. I like to swing the bat a lot and put the ball in play.

Catchter Grayson Greiner
On the team not being able to get that one big hit this game
Last night we got the big hit there with Gene Cone’s triple and today we just could not get it. It was a pitcher’s duel and unfortunately, we were on the losing side of that one. We need to come out tomorrow and help our pitchers out a little bit more. Jack Wynkoop and Taylor Widener both pitched great and we just did not do enough at the plate for them.