June 2, 2013
Recap | Box Score | 
Russell’s Photos
Vanderbilt Head Coach Tim Corbin
Opening Statement
“Tough game for us. Their kid (Josh Heddinger) pitched a very good game. There isn’t much you can say about that. He pitched well, he pitched through the game and we weren’t able to really mount any attack. We just had nothing going in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth.”
On tomorrow’s elimination game…
“It’s not another game because it is a finalization for both teams. Outside of that routine will be the same. How we lineup and how we approach it will be the same way. We hit the ball in spots and then there were other innings that seemed to go by quick. I think games like these are anomalies, I really do and I don’t think they happen much. I tend to think our team reacts to games like these, they have in the past and I suspect they will do it again.”
On feeling like it just wasn’t his team’s night…
“It was one of those nights and Connor Harrell’s ball probably justified the whole deal. It was a ball hit hard right back up the middle that caromed off the knee and the kid stuck with it and threw him out at first base. It’s frustrating, especially 15-20 minutes right after it happened. We’ll sleep it off and take a good shower and make sure we wash everything off.”
Vanderbilt second baseman Tony Kemp
On the lack of offense…
“I don’t think it was getting the bats going, I thought we swung the bats really well. We had a couple really hard hit balls right at people. They made good defensive plays, the third baseman picked a couple balls. We had a lot of hard hit balls, but it just didn’t fall tonight.”
On the team’s energy tonight…“We came out with what we wanted tonight. The ball just didn’t fall where we wanted it too. It’s just a game and you have to put it in the past and look forward to tomorrow.”
Vanderbilt catcher Spencer Navin
On the pressure of an elimination game…
“Loser goes home now, but we have to treat it like any other game. We’re going to come out ready to go just like they are. It’s going to be a battle.”
On Vanderbilt pitcher Walker Buehler…
“I thought Walker did pretty well actually. He had his stuff tonight, but they had a couple of two-out hits that widened the lead, but other than that I thought he was pretty sharp.”
Georgia Tech Head Coach Danny Hall
Opening Statement“I think it was a great day for us. This game was really outstanding. I can’t say enough good things about Josh (Heddinger). I thought the key for him was in the first inning they had a guy at third and two guys coming up, (Mike) Yastrzemski and (Connor) Harrell, and he got out of that jam. I think it gave us some momentum, and I think it gave Josh a lot of confidence. It was a team effort. We made some great plays defensively. He kept making pitches, and I think everybody in our lineup got a hit. So, just a really good day, and we beat two really good opponents.”
On having momentum after Mitch Earnest’s home run…
“I said if I had that to do over again I would’ve given (A.J.) Murray the stop sign (on the previous play when he was out at the plate). When the guy bobbled the ball in left that kind of made me think we could score. (Matt) Gonzalez hit a little loop single and then Earnest hit a two-run homer, so it kind of took the pressure off Coach Hall, as they say.”
Georgia Tech pitcher Josh Heddinger
On getting stronger through the game…
“I just kept throwing strikes, that’s all I tried to do. I didn’t think about long how it was, how tired I was, what the score was. I just tried to keep throwing strikes and keep us in the game.”
On staying composed…
“I know they’re a very aggressive offense and they feed off just one thing at a time. So my job was to get out there and have no runs or one run. If I could keep that and extend it and attack the strike zone, I knew we had a really good chance.”
Georgia Tech outfielder Kyle Wren
On continuing the momentum from the afternoon win over Illinois…
“I think a lot. I think in the previous interview we said the bats came alive in the ninth inning in the last game, and we knew we were going to have to come out strong. They were throwing a good guy, he was throwing really hard, and I think we were all just really trying to be aggressive. That worked out for us in the first inning, and it seemed we kept getting hits every inning and getting runs on base. When you’re doing that, you’re going to score runs. Hopefully we’ll keep that same approach tomorrow.”