May 11, 2011

Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery

South Carolina Head Coach, Ray Tanner
Opening Statement
Five games is tough in college baseball, especially coming off a weekend road trip. It worked out great for us. We were at home, we played pretty well and we got quality pitching. Patrick Sullivan stepped up and gave us a quality outing. He ate up six innings, did a nice job for us and put us in position to win the game.

On Patrick Sullivan getting out of the bases loaded jam in the fourth inning…
It showed me a lot. That’s not an easy thing to do, regardless of who you are. He walked a guy and then had two sharp base hits. Then he made some really good pitches. He got out of that inning and it was very impressive. His composure and poise was very good. As a coach when you’re sitting there on the side and there are base runners everywhere, it’s not a good feeling. But, when your pitcher shows you he has poise and composure, you stay with him. Although Patrick hasn’t been up there a lot, he showed us that tonight. It was impressive.

On momentum gained from midweek games…
You want to win. I know last year we had a tremendous run in the middle of the week. We haven’t been bad this year, I guess we have a couple losses. Every game is important. We talk about the SEC and the weekends, but there’s 26-non conference games that play a big role as well. We’ve done a pretty good job, but you want to win. You want to feel good about your team going into the weekend. Players want to feel good about themselves. We wanted to win these two games after exams; now it’s just baseball. We’ve done a good job, but we know we’re playing a team on Friday that is playing really well. We’re glad we’re here at Carolina Stadium.

Peter Mooney, Shortstop
On any pressure to perform this weekend…
I don’t think so. We just have to go out there and keep doing what we’re doing. Yes, there is a race at hand, but we have to play our game and not worry about anybody else. We just have to come out and keep scoring runs. If we score 11 every time out, we can find a way to win.

Evan Marzilli, Center Field
On comparisons to his performance last year….
No (it doesn’t bother me), because that’s something I want to get back to. I hit really well last year, especially when postseason came around. I think it’s good to keep reminding me that yeah, I do have the ability to do this. It just keeps reminding me to get back to where I was last year.

Patrick Sullivan, Pitcher
On moving into the weekend rotation…
I don’t know. We have a lot of capable guys on our staff. I was glad to get back out there and try to pound the zone and limit walks today. I was able to battle through a long inning with a bases loaded situation. I tried to get us deep in the game.

On the six-run second inning…
It was huge. Our offense has been great all year. When you have that defense and offense behind you it makes you feel a lot more comfortable. You’re able to get in there, pound the zone and get some outs.