April 15, 2009
– South Carolina head coach Ray Tanner
Opening Statement
“I thought it was a great college baseball game for a midweek game. Jay Brown did a good job for us. I felt the difference was the start that (TJ) Clarkson gave The Citadel. He was really good. It looked like couple times he had some control issues, but he got right back in the zone and ended up striking out seven of our guys. Both teams had some opportunities at the end. Jackie (Bradley Jr.) hit a room service 4-6-3 that could have ended the game, but that’s baseball. They made the pitch and made the play. Their bullpen did a nice job and our bullpen did a nice job, with the exception at the end. I felt that (TJ) Clarkson did a super job for The Citadel in the starting role.”
On The Citadel
“They are good. I always tell people they’re always better against us, they’re good. (Richard) Jones is a really good hitter. The first baseman (Chris) McGuiness, look at his numbers. He’s getting hits and 47 walks and only eight strikeouts. Pretty formidable middle orders for them. (Bryan) Altman must be hitting 800 against us in his career. I told Coach Jordan, whatever you’ve got left, just tell Altman it’s the Gamecocks. Tell him the team is wearing garnet and black and he’ll do well. He’s been clutch for them against us.”
On the upcoming weekend vs. Auburn
“I can state the obvious. They’re all important games. We’re all jostling for positions. We’re trying to stay in the hunt. You’ve got a few teams out front now that have a little bit of cushion, but the rest of us in the league are fighting to play at the end.”
“We’re trying to get back to where we started. We went 1-2 the first weekend and we were a game down, and we’re still a game down. Auburn is a team that hits a lot of home runs. They’ve had some pitching woes but they’re a good club. Their numbers are very similar to ours; their record is about the same as ours. We need to be ready to play. Our guys know the numbers and we know what we need to do. Our RPI was low 20’s coming into this game. We’ve got to win enough games so that becomes a factor.”
