June 2, 2013
Georgia Tech Head Coach Danny Hall
Opening Statement
“It was a great ball game and it looked like we had let it slip away. We had miscommunication on the fly ball to right that turned into an inside the park home run. To our guys’ credit, they battled hard and had a great ninth inning. We were able to give ourselves a nice little cushion going into the bottom of the ninth and against the top of the (Illinois) order. I thought Jonathan King struggled early with command, but thought he finished the game really strong and then Zane (Evans) pitched the last three innings and did a tremendous job as well.”
On only allowing one run in the 8th inning…
“It was very important and I know Zane (Evans) was really upset, which is understandable. I think that kind of affected him on the next couple hitters. To his credit, he regrouped and Kyle (Wren) hit it right on the head, to get out of there only one run down was big and it probably did give us a little boost.”
On confidence entering the game with Vanderbilt…
“Obviously if we had (Daniel) Palka and (Sam) Dove in the lineup, I would feel a lot more confident, but we’ll just have to see. Vanderbilt is very good and they are playing very good at home. They have outstanding pitching and they put pressure on you. The key for us will be our starting pitcher. He has to throw strikes and can’t walk guys. We have to play defense and then hope to get some timely hits with guys on (base).”
Georgia Tech Outfielder Kyle Wren
On going to bat in the ninth down a run…
“I think it was pretty devastating at first because it looked like it was going to be caught and then both of them crashed into each other. As soon as we saw them on the ground for a while we knew it was going to be an inside the park home run. Then they got runners on first and second with no outs and Zane did a great job of getting out of that situation without giving up another run. Getting out of that inning and allowing just one run really gave us our edge back.”
On Zane Evans’ versatility…
“He’s been doing that all year and that’s what we expect from him. He had a huge clutch hit in the ninth inning to give us some extra padding and then threw three innings of great pitching, so that’s what we expect from him.”
Georgia Tech Pitcher Zane Evans
On the jam in the eighth inning…
“I enjoy it, it’s fun. I kind of struggled throwing strikes and I got into a little jam there when they hit the inside the park home run. I know I just need to make pitches and get my team back in the dugout as quick as possible.”
On momentum entering the game with Vanderbilt…
“I think it can (carry over). We started swinging the bats to end the game and hopefully that will carry into the next game. We just need to have our intensity going the whole time. We already played a game and they’ve (Vanderbilt) been resting all day, so we need to come into the game with energy and be ready to go.”
Illinois Head Coach Dan Hartleb
Opening Statement
“Obviously very disappointed. I thought we played well today. Our guys bounced back from a tough loss last night. We gave them the lead going into the ninth inning and just couldn’t close it down. I’m really proud of all of our players and what they accomplished this year. It’s tough to see it end this way because again, I’m proud of what they’ve done.”
On missed opportunities…
“We had multiple opportunities throughout the game with runners on second and third and runners on third. I felt like we could’ve broken the game open but just couldn’t come up with those two-out hits. We had one 2-out hit by Jordan (Parr) earlier in the game, but other than that we did give up a lot of opportunities. That’s part of baseball. It’s been a little frustrating down the stretch because we’ve done that over the past three weeks a number of times. But again, we’ve gotten our share of those 2-out hits. It’s part of the game.”
On building the program…
“I think we’re heading in the right direction. We look at what happened on the mound in this tournament and over the past month. We’ve been starting two freshmen and a sophomore. They’ve done a very good job. We’ve had our backs against the wall a number of times, and they’ve shown they can compete at the national level. We’ve used guys out of the bullpen that are freshmen. We have Jason Goldstein behind who’s done a great job. As you go around the infield and through the lineup we have sophomore players. I think we’re building a very strong program.”
Illinois Outfielder Justin Parr
On being disappointed…
“I wouldn’t even use the word disappointed. We have high expectations for ourselves and coming into the year we had high expectations. We expect a lot. That’s the kind of program we have, that’s the kind of players we have. We have a very demanding program- that’s a good thing. We had a quality program; we made steps forward from last year. We moved in the right direction and we competed in every game.”
Illinois Outfielder Jordan Parr
On playing with his brother, Justin…
“I can’t really say enough about my relationship with Justin. He’s my best friend in the entire world. Going to the park every day for mandatory practice or in the weight room, it was my dream come true. To play with him here at Illinois and to continue that from high school, it was pretty sure to have that opportunity that Coach (Hartleb) gave us. It was pretty special.”
