Feb. 11, 2005
South Carolina Head Coach Ray Tanner
“I’m glad we picked up the win today. Longwood is typically a winner. They’re a very disciplined, they don’t mistakes. Aaron Rawl pitched very well and Conor Lalor closed up well.
On whether Rawl was on a pitch count:
“We wanted Aaron to throw 80-85 pitches, and when we took him out he was exactly 80. Whenever Rawl goes out there, he always gives you a chance to win, even if he’s not particularly sharp.”
Regarding the fact that South Carolina was playing with a depleted roster: “Certainly, with some of the injuries we have and suspensions, we have a smaller roster. It ends up being a good thing because it gives some of the other guys an opportunity to play. A guy like Joey Friddle goes out and gets two hits today.”
Regarding the self-imposed suspensions of six of his players: “I’m disappointed in what happened, but there’s a lot worse things that can happen. We go through compliance meetings at the beginning of the year and those guys just missed some of the message. They didn’t know that they were doing anything that would result in them missing games. I have to take some responsibility for this as well, as the head baseball coach. The players are also disappointed and now they understand.”
