April 5, 2011

Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery

South Carolina Head Coach Ray Tanner
Opening Statement
I’m very pleased with our guys tonight coming out of the blocks. I thought we had great awareness for a midweek game. We got a great start out of Patrick Sullivan. We had a bunch of hits tonight, some good things happened for us, and we were able to get some guys in the game. It was a great win in the middle of the week.

On Patrick Sullivan’s performance…
I was very, very happy for him. He is a young man who is a local product, who has been in the program for a while and has worked extremely hard. He’s been the consummate team guy. He’s probably deserved some opportunities a lot earlier than today, but he never complained about lack of appearances or opportunities. He waited patiently. I certainly thought he deserved to be out there tonight. He looked good; he was comfortable. I was happy for him, and certainly happy for our team. Our guys pulled hard for him in the dugout tonight. That says a lot about who he is. Not only did he have a good game, but he also had guys in the dugout rooting him on. It’s a great statement about his character.

On Jackie Bradley, Jr. …
He’s going to travel. I didn’t even know he had an issue yesterday, he didn’t tell anybody. It was an easy, optional day in the weight room. A lot of those guys like to maintain on our off days. With our schedules it’s hard to get an ample amount of lifts in so a lot of those guys will go in on an off day to get some work done. He just did an RDL lift and it caught him a little bit in his back. I was out this afternoon and I get a call that his back is bothering him and he was going to the training room. He thought he was fine. He was fine swinging, but we thought bending over might be an issue for him. He took batting practice, and it wasn’t bad. It may not (have been) as comfortable as normal. He seemed he might be able to get through it. When he started jogging to the outfield and got to the first base coach’s box, it was all over. He said it was too much for him. I guess he’s day-to-day.

Christian Walker, First Base
On filling the injury related holes in the lineup…
I know we have enough guys. It’s hard to take Jackie Bradley Jr.’s place. We have guys who can fill in and play the role for the time being. Evan (Marzilli) is great in the outfield. I didn’t think I had any extra weight on my back at all. I just tried to play my game and get a couple hits.

Patrick Sullivan, Pitcher
On his first career start and win…
It was a great opportunity. I was glad to finally get out there and get a chance. I threw well. I got behind a couple hitters though. I probably could have thrown a lot more strikes. It was a great experience and hopefully get another chance.