Feb. 24, 2012

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South Carolina vs. Elon Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Ray Tanner Quotes

Opening Statement
It was a good first win in the series for us. It was a great outing by Michael Roth. He made some nice pitches in some situations that could have gone different. He got some change-ups over. He was throwing his cutter pretty good tonight. Outstanding pitching gave us a chance to win. Elon uncharacteristically made some errors to give us some run scoring opportunities, but the story of the game for me was our pitching staff did a really nice job.

On planning to keep Roth in with a no-hitter intact…
No, there really wasn’t. I wanted to pull him out a little earlier actually. I was hoping we would keep him around 85 (pitches). I think he threw 99. I left him out there maybe an inning longer than I wanted to.

On Michael Roth getting a chance to hit this season…
In all honesty, we only have Kyle Martin, (Chase) Vergason, LB (Dantzler), and some of those guys that are going to be playing. We don’t have a lot of left-handed options off of the bench. Michael has had a pretty good pre-season swinging the bat in my estimation. I know that because of his pitching load that a lot of people would question me using him offensively, but I plan to do that some. Especially in a pinch-hit situation, I am going to run him up there. He has played the game a lot, and I think he is swinging the bat as good as he has since he has been here. He partakes in practice every single day. Maybe if he calls me out on it I need to give him an opportunity.

On the play of Joey Pankake
I was very happy with Pankake tonight. I thought that this was his fourth game, and he was very comfortable. He made some nice, tough plays. He was on base. He had a hit that got us going and I think he scored three runs. I was really pleased with the way he looked tonight. That was kind of what we hoped that we would get from him, and I was particularly proud of his effort.

On the performance of Nolan Belcher
I thought he was good. I was touched by our fan support and the encouragement that they game him and the appreciation that they showed him upon entering the game. I thought that was special. I really did. I know that we didn’t have 8,000 tonight, but the applause that he got when he came into the game was great, and I know he appreciated it as well. I thought his stuff was good. He threw some good change-ups. His fastball was okay, in the mid to upper 80’s maybe. He got a couple of knee-buckling breaking balls in there too. He was close with a couple of pitches he didn’t get as well. So, that was encouraging. Nolan, if you remember back when he was a freshman, pitched in some very difficult circumstances. He wasn’t just a guy who got innings as a freshman. He pitched critical innings, and I know he wants to get back to that point.