June 3, 2011

Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery

South Carolina Head Coach Ray Tanner
Opening Statement
That was a great college baseball game tonight. It was a hard fought game for us. Michael (Roth) battled his rear end off tonight. (Andy) Moye was very, very special as well. Only gave up six hits on the night; that’s unique in this game. Both had credentials coming in. We were just very fortunate to be able to win tonight and get to play in the winner’s bracket tomorrow.

On the experience the team, particularly Michael Roth and Matt Price, gained last year…
When you have guys like that that have been in situations many, many times, you feel good about what’s going to happen. Whether it’s victorious or not, you have the right guys there and that’s all you can do. They’ve been there and they don’t come up great all the time, but they’ve had a lot of success. We were fortunate tonight to be able to scratch and claw tonight. Those veteran guys give you a chance. Georgia Southern is very, very good. They are a very well coached team. They have some really special players over there, and to get a performance like that from (Andy) Moye. They have some other special guys on the mound too. They’re an outstanding club.

On the numerous close games this season…
I started the year at 52 or 53 and I just turned 91. It’s tough over there. I’ve got a couple assistant coaches that wear it too. We do a poor job of not handling it better. We hang on every single pitch even in the first inning. That’s part of it. We played some good defense at times, we pitch well throughout and we struggle putting runs on the board. We’ve won a lot of games. We’re not a team that can blow you out very often. We have to win some close ones to be effective.

On the hit-and-run that helped score the first run…
Honestly, it was a green light take off by (Christian) Walker. He doesn’t run a whole lot. I think Moye realized that Walker probably wouldn’t take off. Coach Holbrook gave him the green light. We were just trying to make something happen. I tell guys all the time that you try to win and if it doesn’t work out, that’s okay. You can’t back into things. You have to try to make some things happen and occasionally, it goes the wrong way. We were fortunate it worked out in that situation.

Michael Roth
On Georgia Southern…
Obviously, (Andy) Moye pitched great and it was a hard fought battle. They’re a team that doesn’t strike out much. They keep putting balls in play. It was a fight out there.

On finding a rhythm tonight…
I say I battled early on, and I’d say I got stronger as the game progressed. That’s been my year, I’d say. I think I get a little bit better in the late innings.

Brady Thomas
On putting his injury behind him…
You just try to put that in the back of your mind and play the game. I was glad to get a sacrifice fly to help the team get on the board early.

Adrian Morales
On Georgia Southern Pitcher Andy Moye…
He’s a veteran; he’s experienced. He was throwing right on right change ups, which we rarely see. He throws a hard fastball. He was able to keep us off balance. Luckily we were able to get two runs to help Mike (Michael Roth).

Georgia Southern Head Coach Rodney Henson
Opening Statement
It was an outstanding college baseball game, as well pitched of a game on both sides as you will see. Andy (Moye) was outstanding and (Michael) Roth was outstanding for them. Neither guy was willing to give in. I’m proud of the way that our team played in front of that type of crowd. I thought our guys showed a lot of poise and composure. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t find ways to score and you’ve got to tip your hat to them.

On what makes Michael Roth so effective…
Roth is one of those guys that is hard to hit hard. It’s not like it’s eye popping stuff, but at times he can be effectively wild out of the zone. I think at times he preys on hitters aggressiveness. You can’t try to do much against him and I thought at times we had some good at-bats against him. He just has a great feel for pitching and his defense made some plays behind him.

On Matt Price’s outing…
He’s just a different look. He’s a power guy with his fastball and will come right at you. We have not faced him a lot, obviously, but it looked like he had pretty good command of his slider tonight along with his fastball.

Pitcher Andy Moye
On the pickoff throw that got away…
It just happened so fast that I didn’t throw it with a lot of confidence. I kind of just turned and threw, and it just got away from me a little bit.

On when he knew his pitches were working…
Right off the bat, that first inning I had a quick inning, I had all my pitches working. The curveball came a little later in the game, but I had the fastball and changeup working early in the game, and I knew if I was able to keep their hitters off balance mixing those two pitches I was going to have some pretty good success.

Third Baseman Brent Pugh
On what makes Roth effective…
He was outstanding tonight; we only got two hits. He just mixes up his pitches and it threw us off balance, he’s just an outstanding pitcher.