May 20, 2009
VANDERBILT QUOTES
Vanderbilt Head Coach Tim Corbin
Opening statement…
“It was a very important game for us. We had a tough week-and-a-half in some regards with the tough losses we had all coming down to the ninth and 10th inning. We talked about it a lot coming into this tournament. It is a situation where we have to play well. We have to give a lot of credit to [pitcher] Mike Minor tonight. He has pitched a lot of great games at Vanderbilt, but this is probably the best he has pitched in my estimation. I thought Andrew Giobbi did a nice job in catching the game. The credit goes to Minor – he did a great job. We had timely hits in the middle of the order. I am just proud of what happened.”
On starting pitcher Mike Minor’s complete-game victory …
“Certainly in a tournament situation it is great because you can play as few as four and as many as six [games] if you lose in the first game like we did in 2007. Having a guy complete a game obviously saves some arms. We have 12 guys, but Minor made the comment in the 7th inning because we were figuring out whether or not we were going to send him back out there, but he told [Assistant] Coach [Derek] Johnson this is what we train for. And he is right. These pitchers train hard and they train for situations like this, and he is very capable of doing something like this. He has four days of rest, and he was the right guy to take the ball. When we approached him with the subject of starting, there was no hesitation. He is just a tough, tough kid, and he has proved time and time.again why he is one of the top pitchers in the college game.”
Mike Minor, Vanderbilt Starting Pitcher
On his complete-game win against LSU in the SEC Tournament First Round …
“Early in the game, I wasn’t really pitching, I was just throwing the ball. I got lucky with my defense back there backing me up, turning double plays. Later in the ballgame, I started feeling my stuff, and started throwing more off-speed, more curveballs and sliders. The change-up was not too good tonight, so I just kept with the slider to keep them off balance and mixing it up with first-pitch curve ball and first-pitch slider. And then in the eighth and ninth inning, I clicked in and I felt like I was just starting the game – and it worked for us.
LSU QUOTES
LSU Head Coach Paul Mainieri
On his team’s 4-1 loss to Vanderbilt on Wednesday …
“Congratulations to Vanderbilt and their pitcher [Mike Minor] was really fantastic. We didn’t really have the same magic in us that we had last year. In that ninth innin,g it seemed like deja vu, but we just couldn’t get it done and couldn’t get the big hits. I thought Austin Ross pitched well enough to win on most nights. Being matched up against Minor, it just wasn’t good enough for us tonight. The whole story of the game was Minor. He pitched outstanding. I can see why everyone thinks so highly of him. It was a tough loss, but we just have to regroup and take it one day at a time. Hopefully we can get a win tomorrow and see what happens after that.”
Micah Gibbs, LSU Catcher
On the pitching performance of Vanderbilt’s Mike Minor …
“He mixes his pitches really well. I know his change-up is one of his better pitches. He pitched his fastball when he was behind in the count. He also pitched his cutter really effectively to both righties and lefties. It looks like it’s going to be a four-seam fastball and then it just comes in on you.”