April 9, 2013
Head Coach Chad Holbrook
Opening Statement…
I feel very fortunate to have won the game. The Citadel has a good offensive team. I am always on edge with those guys. The middle of their line up is as good as any team we have played this year, I really believe that, (Joe) Jackson and (Bo) Thompson and (Tyler) Griffin are good hitters and you don’t ever feel comfortable when those guys are up. I’m proud of the guys for winning. It was a big game and we needed to feel good going into a big and tough weekend this weekend. I thought Vince gave us a chance to win the game; he was probably the difference for us there on the mound. We had some other guys come in and get some big outs for us too. Jack Wynkoop maybe threw the best that he has in the last few weeks. I just didn’t want him to face (Bo) Thompson there in that situation. I didn’t want to put the winning run on in the ninth inning or the tying run on base via the walk. I was proud of Jack. We couldn’t keep the ball in the infield there and Curt (Britt) got the big out when they had the go ahead runs in scoring position. Good win for our team. We will take it and move on to play a talented Florida team.
On the tying runs in the ninth…
It has happened to us before. You feel good with Tyler Webb or Matt Price out there that it won’t happen. I remember several years ago I think we were playing against Alabama and we gave up a three run homer in the ninth and Brady (Thomas) won it with the same deal, a walk off home run. We have been in some games like this before you always feel good when you are at home and your tied. You have got the last crack at it and you would rather be in our dugout then theirs if our tied at the end. It’s hard to win on the road late. I felt we still had a good opportunity to win the game. We had the heart of our order up and joey put a good swing on it, he got a good pitch to hit and put a good swing on it.
On expectations for Joey Pankake…
Well I mean he is our three-hole hitter and he is our shortstop. If we struggle at those positions both offensively and defensively it is going to make things very difficult for us. He wanted to come to South Carolina because he wanted expectations. He wanted to play in this environment. That’s why the kids come here, that’s why they want to be here. He had a decent year for us last year as a freshman; he played in a lot of big games. He smelled the popcorn in Omaha so he knows what big time college baseball is all about. We count on Pankake to lead our team. Sometimes I want to strangle him, but at the same time you aren’t going to see this coach take him out of the lineup.
On the walk off home run…
I mean he started me off with a slider; he threw it for a ball so naturally I was sitting fastball for the second pitch. I got one I could drive and put a good swing on it.
On them (the Citadel) tying the game…
We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. They are a good baseball team. It was pretty close the whole way through. They got out to an early lead and we got back ahead and put a few more on. They tied it back up at the end. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, we had to work our way and see what we could get done.
On pinch hitting…
First pitch was a slider it obviously was a ball. I was losing for something to drive and luckily I scooted through there and found a hole.
On limited at bats…
I guess just trying to stretch out and run down to the foul line and back. Trying to keep my legs loose, always looking to see who is in the bullpen just to see what kind of matchups are coming up. At that point in the game, they had a righty going and we figure K-Mart (Kyle Martin) was going to hit. Then they had a lefty going and coach told me and George to get ready and happened to call my number.
