June 12, 2011
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Howell’s Photos 
| Green’s Photos
Vanderbilt 9, Oregon State 3
NCAA Super Regional, Game Two
Hawkins Field
Vanderbilt Head Coach Tim Corbin
Opening statement…
“It’s tough to put into words. I first want to congratulate Oregon State. That was a tough one tonight. They have been in this position before and have come out on the winning side so we were fortunate to get through it. Moments like this are for Charlie Hawkins, Rod Williamson, people who have been at Vanderbilt a long time and have seen a lot of things. It’s a good feeling to be part of a team that brings joy to the community. Brings joy to the university. I’m really, really proud of the kids. You have asked a lot of questions about 2007 and there was a large part of me that wanted you to put that to bed because that moment right there causes a lot of inner turmoil with coaches who have seen it. Now you can bury that one very deep because it’s 2011, and what these kids have achieved to get to this point is phenomenal. The consistency that they have shown throughout the year, athletically and academically. To play the amount of games that they have and come short ten times. We talked about August 25 and how that was the day we were going to open Ameritrade Stadium. We said the stadium will be built then, but will we be built then. We are built today. We are going, but the train has another stop. We’ll enjoy it for 48 hours and then get back to work. I’m so proud of these kids. I love them, not just because they won this game tonight, but because they are going to have great memories.”
On going with Will Clinard…
“The right-handed breaking ball against the right-handed hitters. They changed the lineup from last night since Grayson [Garvin] started and I knew he was the right guy out of the bullpen to slow their bats down a little bit. It’s not like they hit Grayson, he just had a little trouble tonight finding the strike zone. The game was a grind-it-out game and it was a rhythm we don’t like to play. We got it back on track with some movement. When [Anthony] Gomez got that big hit it was huge. Aaron [Westlake] had a big night in a big situation. It was just Will getting in there to slow the hitters down.”
On the rhythm…
“I think they were trying to get us out of our rhythm. It was almost like a speed bump. It was stop and go. That pitcher was a freshman and effective and held it together. After giving up the home run to Westlake early, he set us down for three innings. The game was in the balance there till the fifth inning with Gomez’s hit.”
On the confidence of the team…
“They are a very confidence group. I told them they walk on water but they understand there are rocks underneath the water holding them up so they have a strong sense of humility too. They are convicted kids and I don’t think I’ve seen a group of kids who are so selfless. You talk about a group of 12 kids who were drafted and we never felt that draft. We didn’t talk about the draft. There wasn’t parent involvement with the draft. Never have I been a part of a team where that has happened before. To push those things aside and be selfless… it’s not a great team, it’s a legacy team. They are going to learn a lot of things from this and they are going to want to enrich their lives somewhere. Whether it’s marriage or whether it’s business, they have developed something they can grasp on to and take it further than sports.”
First baseman Aaron Westlake
On the three home runs…
“I was seeing the ball well. It was the same approach I’ve taken every day. [Anthony] Gomez was able to get on and get the pitcher in the stretch and usually when you have guys in scoring position or guys on base pitchers tend to leave balls up where if they were in the windup it would be a little different. It’s not all the credit to me, I do well when Gomez does well, it seems. Winning this game was a far greater feeling than what I did.”
On if the home run in the first inning opened the game up…
“It opened the game up I think but Oregon State is resilient so they are not going to lie down without a fight. I guess the final home run put the nail in the coffin. Will Clinard shut them down and pitched a hell of a game.”
Pitcher Will Clinard
On getting settled in…
“I’ve been put in that situation a lot this year. The coaches put me in a great situation like they have. I knew I had a great defense behind me so I could go in and throw strikes. I struck the next guy out then had the final batter fly out so I just had great trust in my defense.”
On if he knew he was coming back for the ninth inning…
“I did. I expected to get the ball and D.J. came and told me I was going in.”
On growing up as a fan of the program growing up…
“It’s unbelievable. I’ve been coming to games since I was a little kid so I know what the program was like before coach [Tim] Corbin got here. I know the program is going up and our next step is Omaha.”
Shortstop Anthony Gomez
On success with hitting…
“Once you have guys on base it brings the infield in so once you see a pitch up you can get it to the outfield and you are doing your job. With Westlake behind me I had a good chance.”
Oregon State Head Coach Pat Casey
Opening Statement:
“I’d like to, on behalf of our program and our university Oregon State congratulate Vanderbilt. They’re a great team, we wish them a lot of luck and they certainly earned their way to Omaha.”
On pitcher Ben Wetzler:
“We really didn’t have a lot of options. Osich is done and we didn’t really have our closer and we didn’t want anyone to know that, but he got hit with a line-drive. Ben started for us all year long and won some big games for us. I think when we took him out it was 2-2, so he did his job.”
On controlling the pace of the game:
“We were just trying to control the running game. They like to keep moving and we tried to control the running game as much as we can, not so much slow it down as keep them from taking off.”
On Vanderbilt’s Aaron Westlake:
“He hit mistakes tonight. Now, that doesn’t take anything away from him. We just left some balls in the middle of the plate to the wrong guy on a couple of occasions. Saying that doesn’t have anything to do with his power and everything. He is a tremendous hitter.”
1st baseman Parker Berberet
On the Beavers’ season:
“We knew how good we were all along and it was great proving people wrong. I wish we could have taken another step, but it was a great season looking back. It’s tough right now, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
On the team’s performance:
“We swung the bats, we kept swinging and we kind of went dead on offense. That’s just baseball.”
3rd baseman Carter Bell
On Vanderbilt pitcher Grayson Garvin:
“Wasn’t he the SEC Pitcher of the Year? He’s pretty good. He’s been proving that all season. He competes and that’s what you need to do at this level is compete every pitch, every at-bat, and that’s what he did.”
On tying the game in 3rd inning:
“In big games like this you can’t miss opportunity like those and we just didn’t come through tonight. I still think we competed all game long like we have all season.”
