April 3, 2011

Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery

South Carolina Head Coach Ray Tanner
Opening Statement
Very, very happy about being able to win all three games this weekend. [That] doesn’t happen much in this conference. All three games were in the balance and could have gone either way. Anybody’s ball game; they certainly had an opportunity today. But we continued to do a pretty good job on the mound and kept our team in a position to win the game. Can’t say enough about what our pitching staff has done, had some timely hits, pretty good defense too, but our pitching staff has been big for us.

On Forrest Koumas’ outing…
I was impressed with his outing. I know that he’s young and anxious and he was going to tell me that he could go. I didn’t expect anything less. But, I got a little bit more than what I though he could give. He was in the hospital for three days. He jumped out of there Thursday, came over and got a bullpen in, and was able to stay out here for about 75 pitches and he probably should have thought he should have stayed longer.

On Forrest Koumas getting opportunities to pitch…
I just didn’t think that this is where we would be because of Neff, Webb, and Westmoreland. I just didn’t think that he would be in the situation that he would get these opportunities. But, of course, because of injuries and Westmoreland not pitching very well he got some opportunities. Our rotation has been unsettled to say the least.

On Peter Mooney…
I said it yesterday, I think; I just believe he’s comfortable. He was comfortable in the fall and in the preseason and then the season starts and he was going to do too much. I think he just took too much on himself, tired to hard, and tried to maybe be somebody he wasn’t and now he’s settled in, he’s comfortable and he’s playing like he’s capable. When you see Mooney start getting hits the other way like the lead off in the game today, he’s in pretty good shape. Mooney’s got a great feel for what’s going on out there. He’s been really good for us; certainly had a great day today.

On pitching depth…
Our bullpen continues to be stellar for us. You can’t say enough good things about what Coach Meyers has done. You can only win if your pitchers allow you the opportunity. We had some timely hits but we didn’t score a whole lot of runs, but we still had opportunities to win because those guys did a super job.

Peter Mooney, Short stop
On the interference play…
I just knew that you have to make an attempt to go the next base when that happens, so I realized it was going to be called and I decided to go to third.

Christian Walker, First baseman
On first SEC sweep…
It means a lot. Hopefully the first of many, but you’ve just got to flush it and move on and look for next weekend.

Forrest Koumas, Pitcher
On hitting batters…
Like last week, a couple of off-speed stuff just slipped out. They get on the plate so you’re going to hit people that dive in.

On how he’s feeling…
I felt good before the game. I feel great now. I felt like my velocity was down a little bit but you know I kind of blame that on not being able to get my arm up for the last couple days.