May 24, 2008
Vanderbilt Quotes:
Vanderbilt Head Coach Tim Corbin:
Opening statement:
“We came up short tonight, but we’ve got some young kids who grew up this week.”
On pitching:
“It was a tough challenge – we didn’t have a whole lot. If we’d gotten to the championship game, we would’ve pieced it together, but it was tough.”
“We limped in here a little. The fact that we won the first game, lost the second and came back – we feel a little bit better about where we are.”
On whether he learned anything about his team this week:
“I always expect character, we always expect to win at the end. I liked what I saw from our young kids this week.”
Shortstop Ryan Flaherty:
On the difference in the game:
“They had a guy in there that was shutting us down. Our downfall is that we couldn’t come back until late.”
On what the team can take away from the tournament:
“I think we can take a lot out of this tournament. We’ve got a little bit of momentum going.”
Ole Miss Quotes:
Ole Miss Head Coach Mike Bianco:
On the game:
“I’m proud of our guys and the way they competed. I just heard that we are the first eight seed to make it to the championship game which is amazing. I’m proud of what we did today. We really competed. We played well for most of the game, but we had some bad innings and gave up some big runs. Besides that, we had some huge homeruns with two by (Michael) Guerrero and one by Smith. I thought Bukvich did great tonight off of two days rest. He didn’t have his best stuff, but he competed well. Jake Morgan also continues to shine”
On the team’s recent play:
“I think we are playing our best ball right now. When you look at our league and the environment we play in, I think without a doubt we are doing our best.”
On Brett Bukvich’s performance:
“He just really competes out there. I’m proud of him. We haven’t thrown a lot of fastballs. We tried to mix it. It’s been a really good three-pitch mix where we mix the fastball with change-ups and breaking balls. The thing about him is that he seems to make big pitches at big times.”
Pitcher Scott Bittle:
On Brett Bukvich’s performance:
“He was huge. He went out there and got us a big lead. He did wonderful today, and we couldn’t have asked for anything better.”
Center Fielder Michael Guerrero:
On his homeruns during the tournament:
“I was told that I wasn’t going to hit one at all, not even at batting practice, because the field is so big. I had to prove some people wrong, so I feel pretty good about it.”
Pitcher Brett Bukvich:
On beating Vanderbilt:
“It’s huge. Since the win at Kentucky, we have just been playing great ball. Now we are going to come out and try to win a SEC championship.”
