March 15, 2009
Vanderbilt Head Coach Tim Corbin
On the win in Sunday’s second game:
“Every time you have an inexperienced group that drops a game their confidence drops too. It was like we were dropped to our knees there, I thought it was critical the way we came back in the first two innings in the second game, putting two and three up. That was what got us back into it. If we put up a zero on both ends we might not win that ballgame.”
On Sonny Gray’s performance:
“I would’ve pulled him if he had pitched poorly. I had Brewer out there as a safety valve. If he couldn’t get the first hitter, I probably would have gone to Brewer since Brewer is good against left-handed hitters. After the at-bat to Power where Sonny gave up a single in the fourth inning, it seemed like he was fine after that. He calmed himself down and he wasn’t shook. I think the big thing for a young kid like him, he’s got a good arm and a special arm, but he was unfazed that three guys got on in-a-row and they tied the game back up again. He had to get it back together again and was able to regroup.”
On the team:
“Some of the players are confusing me right now. They’re playing well at some points and not in others. When you get to that point, when there’s not consistency, then you’ve got to go with another person. We took a gamble by putting Goodenow out in left field. He’s played some left field before but he’s been at first base and pitching. I needed to get his bat in there because sooner or later Richie makes contact and is going to put the ball in play. Two balls in the gap and one that almost got over the head, but he just has to hit. We still have a few things to figure out.”
On the offense:
“The first two games, I didn’t think we swung the bat that well. This game, I thought this guy (Aaron Barrett) was pretty good. We jumped on him early and shook him and got him out of the game and got into their bullpen and that was good.”
On the go-ahead run:
“Getting Loftus over to third base and Brian Harris doing what he had to do. When I went up to him on the on-deck circle I said, ‘You know what you got to do here,’ he said, ‘I’ll get it done.’ He’s a kid who’s been around the program for a while that could put the ball in play.”
Vanderbilt Shortstop Brian Harris:
On the game:
“It was a tough first two games. We just weren’t having really competitive at-bats. The third game, something clicked and we kept it rolling throughout the game.
On his sacrifice fly:
“Bittle is a good pitcher. He throws a lot of hard sliders. I was trying to see something up and he left it up a little bit. I didn’t hit it well, but I hit it well enough into the outfield to score Joe (Loftus) from third.”
On the importance of the win:
“It was tough the first two games, coming off two tough losses, it’s hard for a team to come back to win the third game. I think a lot of the young guys helped their ego. They’re still trying to find their game and figure out what they do well and don’t do well. It was important for them to see that they’re good enough to play at this level.”
On his leadership:
“I am trying to lead by example. Hopefully the young guys look at not just me, but a lot of the other guys who are stepping up and doing well for us. We’ve had many older guys who’ve come up in big situations and hopefully the younger guys can look at that and say, ‘I can do that, too.'”
