June 4, 2011
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Jones’ Photos 
| Green’s Photos
Vanderbilt Quotes
Head Coach Tim Corbin
Opening Statement…
“First of all, it’s a great not to start on with what Grayson has accomplished this year (setting a new school record of 13 wins this season). He’s been our second day pitcher and he’s been so big in so many situations. This game included in that. He came out and set a good tone. I liked how he bounced back in the middle innings. He took a shot there when they scored the two runs. He was almost out of the inning in the fourth, but he was very resilient. In the sixth when they got two runners on, he got himself out of it. My hat’s off to Grayson with the way he’s pitched all year and the way he’s pitched tonight. The game was very similar to some of the games we’ve played all year. It was a very tight game up until the seventh inning and then we distanced ourselves late. I think the big key was the three-run fifth inning and Conrad’s hit, left on let, taking a breaking ball and shoving it in the 3-4 hole and scoring those runs. That was big and then Westy’s blow and Curtis’ blow. It was a hard-fought game. They’re and SEC team, there’s no doubt in my mind. They’re a quality group of players and they are very well coached.”
On focusing on one game at a time and not looking ahead…
“This has been a fun year to coach these kids because they’ve stayed very isolated on what they need to do, and I think because of that they’ve stayed consistent. Because of the consistency, we’ve been very successful. What Grayson said is the mindset of all of those kids. They play one game at a time; they play one pitch at a time. It’s not coach-speak, but it’s how we’ve gone about business the whole year. I think because of that, they’ve stayed locked in to what they need to accomplish.”
On responding to Troy’s two-run fourth inning…
“I thought it was important. You could feel in that inning Grayson got the big strikeout and then (Troy’s Todd) McRae got that big hit and it was a blow in the middle innings because of their pitching. Their pitching was shutting us down a little bit. We were getting off some decent swings, but they were all caught. I think for Tony to push that ball up the middle and to make some things happen with our feet, that was key. It got the momentum back in our dugout and in a game like this, it’s a swing game. Swing games are tough to play because you know that if you do lose it, you’ve got to go back and play two the next day, if you win the first one. That was a tough moment at that time. I didn’t really have any doubts, and I don’t think the kids did either. I felt like we were going to get right back in the game at some point. We`ve done a lot of that all year. We’ve played a lot of close ball games up until the seventh or eighth inning. This was indicative of what we’ve done.”
On bouncing back in the fifth inning…
“I think the pitcher really kept us off balance early and he wasn’t giving us a lot of hits. We really had to take advantage of those freebees early. I think that fifth inning we really responded well and bounced back after they scored two in the fourth.”
On pitching to eight right handed hitters…
“That kind of plays into my skill set well. I’m predominately fastball, changeup, so that’s kind of what I do most games. That helps me. I just really attacked their hitters like I attacked hitters all year just trying to keep the ball down, moving the ball in and out and work off the changeup and throw the slider in late. It wasn’t really any different than I had seen these past few weeks.”
On setting a new school record with 13 wins this season…
“I think more than anything I just feel extremely blessed to be in that situation. That’s absolutely a team goal because I can’t do anything that I’ve done without the guys behind me, without Curt, without the guys in the field, without the guys hitting. I’ve had unbelievable run support, unbelievable defense, unbelievable catching all year. I think more than anything, I just feel bless for the coaches who have put me in this situation and for my teammates who have backed me the way they have this year.”
On his homerun…
“I just missed a couple in the previous two at-bats. You can’t hit them all all of the time. I was just trying to put a good swing on the ball and fortunately it got enough backspin on it that it barely got over. In the air that we were playing in, probably what we’re going to be playing in the rest of the weekend, you have to concentrate more on hitting line drives and balls in the gap because it’s going to be pretty tough to get the ball out.”
Troy Quotes
Troy Coach Bobby Pierce
Opening Statement
“I felt Vanderbilt pitching was very good tonight. We put some pressure on that pitching in several innings, took an early lead and got what we needed out of our starter. But credit Vanderbilt for coming back.
“The ground ball up the middle (that scored two runs) turned into a disaster for us. It probably not a wise decision from a player that has made great plays all year. That turned into a big play for Vanderbilt, and certainly put the momentum back in their favor.
“They take advantage of mistakes and they continue to put pressure on you to make mistakes. We were doing the same thing, but we just couldn’t finish it off.”
Vanderbilt success of getting key outs by their pitching staff:
“In the critical moments of the game, they made some quality pitches. When they really had to make a pitch, they made them. You just have to tip your cap. That’s exactly what all good baseball teams are trying to do.”
About his starting pitcher Jimmy Hodgskin
“Jimmy is a freshman and came out too hyped up. That’s something they have to learn through experience. After the first inning, I thought he was going to have a great night, but some command issues crept back. All in all, Jimmy pitched well enough to get the job done.”
Troy’s pitching for Sunday and beyond…
“We’re still okay with our pitching, but we are going to have to swing the bats and score runs. Hopefully we can get deep into the game tomorrow with our starter. But it’s really one game at a time now.”
Catcher Todd McRae
Talk about Vanderbilt’s offensive abilities:
“We missed out on a couple of opportunities offensively. (Vanderbilt) is a good hitting team and has excellent strike-zone awareness. They didn’t swing at some pitches where we trying to get outs.”
Talk about owning the lead only to have Vanderbilt come back with three quick runs:
“I always feel good (about those situations), especially with our bullpen. It was just a matter of a bad inning that got away from us.”
Outfielder Daniel Peterson
Talk about the Vanderbilt starting pitcher (Grayson Garvin):
“Coming in we compared him to a guy we faced at Samford, a big lefty that we had success off of. Really, he threw a lot of good quality pitches, and we couldn’t capitalize on opportunities we had.”
Troy’s approach to their encounter Sunday vs. Belmont:
“We’re just going to keep our heads high, regroup, and play the baseball we have all year. Hopefully, we get the outcome we want.”
