Feb. 25, 2012

Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery

South Carolina Head Coach Ray Tanner
Opening Statement
Outstanding pitching gave us a chance to win today. Elon pitched extremely well also. They had a crack there at the end to keep it interesting after we had the miscue at second base. (Matt) Price was really good. The job Tyler (Webb) did was impressive and (Forrest) Koumas came in and had a couple good pitches as well.

On Connor Bright at second base…
He seemed to be having a pretty good day until one went through the wickets to make it interesting. Tyler was really pitching well and he needed that play to get to the end. That’s part of the game. I can live with the physical mistakes as long as we don’t make too many metal mistakes.

On the 16 total strikeouts today…
Matt for one thing today, might not have had his best fastball today, but he was able to get his slider and his curve ball over the plate. He threw some change ups to their lefties. I think they started six lefthanders against him today today. That meant he was going to have to throw his change up effectively. When you can throw two breaking balls for strikes that gives you a great chance. His fastball still had some giddy-up. It might not have been in the mid-nineties. He was throwing pretty well. He got behind a couple times 3-0 and he came back on hitters. Sometimes those will get you in trouble if you’re not able to get back in the count, but he did. Tyler comes in and throws some good change ups and his fastball had a little bit of life as well. We needed those guys to be that good as they were. As you saw at the end of the game, Elon was one hit away from tying it up or going ahead.

Freshman Outfielder Tanner English
On the ninth inning…
It was getting close. That’s why you play the game, to play in a situation like that. Sometimes your nerves are going to be going. Your adrenaline gets pumping. It’s really exciting when the game gets like that.

On playing close games…
It’s definitely good to play games like that. If we were just blowing everybody out, then we’d be sitting back on our heels a little bit. It’s good to play close games and it’s definitely good to win those.

Junior Pitcher Matt Price
On how his arm felt today…
My arm felt great today. I talked to coach and he put me on a pitch count. Once we got to a certain pitch count, I went back out for my fifth inning and when I came back in, he said I was done and Webb was going in. Webb backed me up today and did a great job.

On whether they he wanted to pitch the sixth inning…
Not even a question (that I wanted to pitch the sixth inning). You’re only as good as your last start. You just want to go out there and prove everybody wrong.

Junior Pitcher Tyler Webb
On his comfort level…
Yeah. I feel very comfortable coming out of the pen. I think I’ve maybe settled down a little more than last year. I was comfortable then as well. I’m just excited to help the team win and pitch whenever I’m called upon.

On the ninth inning…
I wasn’t tired. I just got behind with the first couple hitters. I hit a guy on the slider that moved more than I thought it would. I just kept another slider up and he hit a hard ground ball. I wasn’t tired; it was a good piece of hitting on his part.