March 21, 2010
Head Coach Ray Tanner Quotes
South Carolina v. Tennessee March 21, 2010
On pitching in the game
“Pitching wise it was outstanding, we were able to match up and do some things. Still the game was in question because we hadn’t put a lot of runs on the board. We had some run scoring opportunities and we weren’t able to get out of it. Today I made a decision to go with some veteran people. Bobby Haney has been making progress physically, he’s been swinging the bat better and he squared up a couple of balls. I went with the older guys with the exception of giving Kyle Enders some rest. Brady (Thomas) is an older guy as well but just hasn’t played a lot here (lately). It was a good game for us I thought we had some competitive at bats I thought our guys were ready to play. With that being said we could have lost that game today. Tennessee was right there until we scored late today, they were right there to win the game. It was anybody’s game. I’m extremely proud of our pitching staff and our players as well. We’ve had some good at bats.”
On sweeping Tennessee
“It’s tough in this day to get a sweep under any circumstances. I told our guys before the game today that we had to make an attempt to play and it all worked out. But they had to treat this game different than they treated the first two. This game could go a long way. This was a balance game. You have to approach it the right way. You aren’t necessarily going to win because you have heightened awareness and you’re hustling and doing everything the right way, you can still lose. It was big for us. I like Tennessee’s team; I think we caught them at a good time.”
On Scott Wingo
“That was enjoyable to watch. All you can ask of anybody is to compete at the highest level. It’s not going to work out all the time, but that’s exactly what you saw there. The guy competes for it, he always has. Now he’s having a little more success than he has had his first two years offensively. That was big. That’s all you can ask of your players.”
On previous games preparing for SEC play
“I think what’s been good for us is that we’ve been in a lot of tough games. It’s not new to us. Third game of the year when we faced Heck from Duquesne, who is a quality pitcher. That was a game that went right down to the end. We got our taste of having to play tight games, tough games and having to battle behind and having to maintain a lead. It might have benefitted us so far. Bottom line is that our pitching staff has been pretty solid.”
