May 23, 2009
VANDERBILT QUOTES
Vanderbilt Head Coach Tim Corbin
Opening statement…
“First and foremost, it was a very clutch pitching performance by Caleb Cotham. He was a kid that was injured, and we used him in small doses. Last night when we approached him about the start, he gave us all the right answers. He pitched very, very well, and I am proud of him. I am proud of the way he came back. He gets a complete game out of it. We did a nice job, and played defense again, which has been our go-to thing in this tournament. Offensively, the bats picked up today, and we put ourselves in a good position.”
On Vanderbilt’s hitting…
“[The bottom of the line-up getting hits] was needed. We put Joe [Loftus] back into the lineup after taking him out. I think it was good that he sat out. I don’t think it is a bad idea sometimes for kids to sit and watch the game and have the game come back to them, and it did for Joe and it did for Jason Esposito. And [shortstop Brain Harris] had a tough tournament offensively, but he has played really well defensively. But the fact that we have balance in our lineup helped a lot. It is something that we have talked about because we have gotten some key performances from the middle, but we hit through the line-up and that is the reason for the double-digit win.”
Caleb Cotham, Vanderbilt’s Starting Pitcher
On his complete game performance...
“I faced Arkansas earlier in the year, and it was predominately fastballs. Coming into today, I felt pretty good. I was feeling pretty confident, and I felt kind of normal. Then, later in the game, I was getting tired, and I knew I was going to have to pitch a little better, knowing how I have thrown before. I threw some change-ups and some sliders to keep [Arkansas hitters] honest. I had to pitch a little more rather than just fastballs because they are smart hitters.”
ARKANSAS QUOTES
Arkansas Head Coach Dave Van Horn
On his team’s 11-1 loss to Vanderbilt …
“Obviously, this is disappointing. Give Vanderbilt credit – they played well. They pitched very well. Obviously, the fourth inning was a big inning for them. When we gave up the two-run double that put us down four, we knew we were in a little bit of trouble. However, it was a good week for us. We got to play a lot of guys. I think all the position players we brought got to play. We had some young guys get a lot of at-bats. I saw them get better. We need to heal up a little bit. There’s always something that stands out in a game, and for us, it was the fourth inning.”
On the pitching performance of Caleb Cotham…
“I thought he threw really well. He didn’t get behind much and got ahead in the count. His fastball in the first few innings was in the high 90s. Then, when he got tired, he started locating his pitches well. The balls he was throwing to our right-handers was pulling them foul. We just had trouble staying inside the baseball. He just pitched well.”
Bo Bigham, Arkansas Second Baseman
On Caleb Cotham’s pitching…
“[Caleb] Cotham mixes his pitches so well. He threw a hard fastball, then would come in with a change-up and a slider. He just kept us off balance really well.”
On the team’s performance in the tournament…
“We came in needing to win some games. We played good up until today. We hit a few balls hard today, but they were right at them. We’re really confident about our team. It was a great team effort this week and we’re looking forward to next week.”
