March 22, 2012

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Head Coach Ray Tanner Quotes
Opening Statement…
It was great to get on the board. We have been scuffling a little bit lately, and having the number one team in the country in town was not an encouraging sight. But, you have to play them. We played really well. I thought (Michael) Roth was tough out there. He missed a few spots here and there, but he didn’t give up many hits. He gave us a chance to hang in there offensively, and we started to push a few runs across late. It was a great win for us.

On Matt Price coming in from the bullpen…
Well, we talked about it periodically for the last two or three weeks. Not just because we had been skidding a little bit, but we discussed it. I know that personally — that bus ride home from Kentucky, when all three of those games were kind of in the balance — I am not sure he would have been in there in the fifth or sixth inning when they took the lead on us a couple of times, but I also thought if he pitches in relief we might get at least one on that road trip, if not two. We talked about it with Matt, and we sort of made a decision about it early in the week. If this game presented itself, in at least a tie situation by the seventh, we were going to try to make it happen. That was the scenario that played out, and he was pretty special when he got there. He wasn’t quite as good the last inning, but we mishandled a ball out there for him too. So, will it be permanent? I don’t know, possibly. We will see how it unfolds, but with him in the bullpen, somebody has to step up. Logically it would be (Forrest) Koumas, but we will see.

On who he is considering to be the starter on the mound in game two…
I don’t think that Webb would be so farfetched, although he has been good in the bullpen for us. Koumas is a guy who hasn’t stretched it out yet, but he has been there before, so we could start him. Like I said, I haven’t talked to coach Meyers, but he is a candidate.

On bouncing back after failing to score in the first inning …
Well that was difficult because number one, when you get some opportunities against a guy like Hudson Randall, sometimes it is only once. We loaded them up, and strikeout, strikeout, strikeout. You’re thinking now that there are going to be four or five goose eggs up there. That is a little frustrating, but we hung in there. Our guy gave us a chance. He gave us a chance by the way he pitched, to hang in there. I thought our maturity was pretty good for a team that has been scuffling. We have. I told them before the game that I have been part of the problem. I have been a little bit edgy. Maybe a little bit frustrated. Maybe a little bit too vocal with a lot of the young players, and I told them before the game that I will still be thinking the things that have been saying, but I won’t say them. So, I was a lot better and our guys were a little bit more relaxed in there. We were at home. We had a great crowd, and we wanted to be able to make a run in the late innings and it played out for us like that tonight.

On the play of Adam Matthews…
Besides Roth giving us a game, and we had a chance to win it late and bring Price in, Adam Matthews was the big story for me. He looked comfortable. He really looked comfortable to me, and he hasn’t been in a while. He is a guy that works very hard He wanted to have a big senior year. His numbers weren’t good. He got off to a slow start. I had to sit him down a couple of times and he said, “I don’t want to.” He gave me some comfort tonight. He took some good swings tonight. Obviously the ball that left the yard gave us an opportunity to get that thing going a little bit, but that was great to see.

South Carolina Player Quotes

Pitcher, Michael Roth
On what it means to beat Florida…
We are just excited we played a great game tonight. It is our first SEC win, so that is huge for us. Especially coming off of a loss last night, and the four of the five games that we have played. The way we played tonight was great and let’s hope we can keep it going this weekend.

On he thought coming into the weekend…
I just think as a team we needed to get a little bit better. We showed up tonight and we did a great job.

Pitcher, Matt Price
On what the future holds for him…
I am not really sure. The coaches and I have talked and if it was a close game tonight, they wanted to win the ballgame, so they threw me out there in a tie game. Mike did his job and kept us in the game and our batters stepped up tonight.

On feeling comfortable coming from the bullpen…
I have always felt that coming from the bullpen so it is good to feel that again.

Outfielder, Adam Matthews
On what he saw on his home run…
I saw a curveball. I am thankful that I got a good swing on it. It felt good coming off the bat. What I have been doing lately is just trying to stay short and get to the ball and get the bat head out there, and it is finally paying off a little bit.

On what the win means…
It is big for us going forward. It helps us get the momentum going forward. To do it against a good team like Florida means a lot. Each of our guys are excited about what’s ahead and we know we have a lot of work to do – myself as well. We have room to make improvement so we are just going to come out here each day and try to get better.

First Baseman, Kyle Martin
On his experience as a pinch hitter paying off…
The experience is there, going in against Clemson and then coming in, in the same situation (tonight). Going in like that, you look for a pitch to hit and you just try to get the next guy up.

On what Coach Tanner told him before his at bat…
He just told me to get a pitch to hit and hit a sac fly. That’s about it.