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March 15, 2014

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Head Coach Chad Holbrook
Opening Statement

Some days baseball puts you at a loss for words and I kind of felt that way today, especially after game one. The beautiful thing about this game is that there is no clock and you have to get that 27th out. I have a resilient group of players who always believe that they can win the game and they found a way to do it when the odds were stacked against them. I feel very very blessed that we have some good kids in that locker room that never give up and battle and pull for each other and I am awfully lucky to be their coach and we beat a great team. I have been here for six years now and there are a few teams that really stand out that have come in here (Carolina Stadium) to play us, one is the Vanderbilt team from a couple years ago, I know a few of you remember that team. The LSU team that won the national championship in 2009 and that Ole Miss team that we just played. That is how good I think that they are and our team beat a great team today and I couldn’t be more proud of them.

On Max Schrock’s home run in the first game of the day
I don’t believe it. I still don’t believe it. The thinking behind the decision was that the wind was blowing out to right, we were down two runs and we needed a pop fly. Max (Schrock) can hit a fly ball to right field. It just worked out. People say it was a great decision and all but the kid made the play, he is capable of doing that. To be honest with you it was no brainer because you have a right-handed pitcher in there and the best hitter on your team sitting in the dugout and he is only able to do one thing right now (due to injury) and that is swing a bat. I’m not the sharpest pencil in the box but anybody would have put Max Schrock up in that situation. It worked out for us and he is one of our best hitters and he got a pitch to hit. He also has all of the intangibles that you need to hit in that situation as well. It just worked out for us. I was also very proud of Brison (Celek) as well because he could have tucked his head and been a little bit discouraged for not being in the starting lineup and low and behold he came in and helped us win the game against a really good pitcher. It was really a group effort.

Freshman RHP Cody Mincey
On the mindset of the bullpen and the scoreless streak

No we don’t really talk about it (the streak) that much we just try to go in there and get a win and win the series and throw strikes. That (the streak) ran through my mind when I was up there on the mound it was just try and get a double play ball, pop fly in the infield or strike the kid out.

Sophomore Infielder Max Schrock
On the sequence before he came up to bat

Brainard told me to come in early today to get treatment and he said, `I think we are going hold you out today you seem a little sore and maybe in the later innings if we need a pinch hit you can get in there.’ So I’m thinking that’s fine I can do that and he also told me that I would be getting treatment throughout the game, so I was coming up here and getting treatment every hour or so. I think I went up there in the seventh to get my treatment done, and Brainard came up in the eighth and told me to get taped up and get ready to go because I was going in in the ninth. So I went down and let Coach Holbrook know that I was ready to go, and he called my name and I went up there and didn’t feel very loose but I saw a pitch up and put a swing on it.

On the approach at the plate
It definitely wasn’t home run. The guy on the mound was good, and I had two strikes on me so I was more so trying to stay up the middle and keep the inning alive, and it just so happened I saw a pitch up and put a good swing on it.

Junior Outfielder Tanner English
On the bunt single in the fifth inning

Coach Holbrook and I had talked about it. I knew he was going to keep throwing sliders that where breaking out over the plate and I thought that would help me get the ball on that side of the field. So Coach Holbrook told me to trust it, and I fouled the first one off but I thought that I had a good chance at it and I was able to get it down the second time.

Freshman RHP Reed Scott
On the approach coming to the mound

When I came in my mentality was to just keep it close because I knew that our hitters where going to start scoring some runs. I felt good and just tried to throw strikes. They are an aggressive team, and I wanted to keep them off balance and try to throw strikes