May 19, 2012
– Head Coach Ray Tanner
On coming back in the tenth…
“I didn’t feel that confident about it. We were in an environment today that gave us an opportunity to be successful. Our fans have been great to us. We have been tough to beat at home. We were playing a great LSU team. We tried to get into a situation where we could get a shot there at the end one way or the other and they tacked on couple and we tried to make a run at them. Walker hit that ball extremely hard to center that if it goes a little bit either way and we may tie that thing up and have a chance to win. Congratulations to LSU they have a tremendous team, a great pitching staff, mature players, a lot of ingredients to be successful and they have been. I’m proud of our team as well for hanging in there. We made a run toward the middle of the year to get back into the conference race and we ended up playing on the last day for a chance to win the whole thing. Which as I told our players I am impressed by what you did, staying the course and battling and working hard. We’ve come a long way since opening weekend in Lexington, KY. I’m disappointed certainly. I’m disappointed for our players and fans that we weren’t able to win today. Like I said I am also proud of what our players did and how they worked to get back into a position to continue to play. I really appreciate our fans for trying to help us win today. They did everything they could to help us score some runs today.”
On how this compares to two years ago…
“I think that when you are in a situation on a daily basis that you expect to win, it’s a sting. You take a shot and you don’t feel good about it. I do believe that it is some perspective that we get to continue to play. We have got to regroup. We are going to go to Hoover in a couple of days and hopefully we will play well. I know I’ve been criticized over the years for not really getting after it in that tournament and that really hasn’t been the case. I would like to stick around and play there as long as we can next week. Like I said these guys have done a good job, we started a team at the beginning of the year without a whole lot of experience except for a few older guys. We’ve had some lumps along the way, we’ve scuffled some. We kept battling and I’m proud of these players. I’m disappointed right now, I wanted to win today, but hopefully we can re grouped and make a run, do a good job in Hoover and try to get hot at the right time.”
Evan Marzilli Junior Outfielder
On the tenth inning…
“I mean through out the game you are always battling to get runs you always have to have confidence that you are going to come back. Honestly we always think we can win, but today we just fell kind of short.”
On the not capitalizing on opportunities…
“You are always frustrated when you can’t capitalize on opportunities to score some runs. It’s part of baseball. Obviously we wish we could have had those back and got some hits and put the ball in play, but we didn’t. We have to move on and worry about the next game.”
LB Dantzler Junior Third baseman
On today’s hitting…
“They were spotting up, did a good job. We were just out in front and couldn’t get enough hits to win.”
On Marzilli’s hit in the tenth…
“We definitely started getting excited thinking that we were going to have a chance. We hit some balls hard. Christian hit one right at him, I went up and just missed a few. That’s just how it goes. We just have to bounce back and play well in Hoover.”
On getting ready to play in the SEC tournament…
“I think we have a lot of veteran guys to help us with that. It is definitely tough. This would have been first ring for a lot of us, but we have got to bounce back. I don’t think it will be trouble. We might be upset for today, but we will bounce back in practice tomorrow and get after it.”
Evan Beal Freshman Pitcher
On the tenth…
“I don’t think it was anything from a stamina point. I felt good, I let coach know how I felt and that I was going to go back out there. I just wasn’t spotting it in later innings, but that is just how it goes sometimes.”
On playing well in Hoover…
“I think playing well in every game is really important from here on out. It is certainly something we want to do after loosing this game, is go and maybe try to make a statement in Hoover and really play well and show what we are really made of.”
Colby Holmes Junior Pitcher
On the game…
“Everything was working today, fastball was down for strikes, slider was real good. I threw a couple of good change ups there at the end. Everything felt good today. I would have stayed out there longer, but I wanted to do what was best for the team. I came out with my head up and Beal came in and did his job.”
Expectations for himself…
“I was just wanting to come out and give the team as many innings as I could. Coach asked me last night if I was good, if I was ready to go. I was like yeah I’ll give you everything I’ve got. I did what I could to put the team in position to win.”
On his health…
“Everything feels great. No pain. I got a little tired there at the end, but everything feels great.”
