June 7, 2014
Recap | Box Score | Green’s Photos 
| Howell’s Photos
Postgame Quotes
Nashville Super Regional
Stanford 5, Vanderbilt 4
Stanford Coach Mark Marquess
Opening statement:
“It was obviously a great college baseball game, a little too great for me late in the game. We gave them a lot of opportunities and they took advantage of it. I thought we were comfortable with a 4-1 lead, but, obviously, that wasn’t the case. I’m real proud of the way we played. Brant Whiting played well, got three hits for us. Obviously Wayne’s home run in the ninth was fantastic. He’s done a ton for us already.”
On the strike zone in the eighth andninth, snowball effect:
“It becomes contagious, in a negative way sometimes. Then all of a sudden you try to focus on throwing more strikes and you tighten it up. We had a couple of big plays, a bang-bang play at first base. We’ve got two outs and they hit it up the middle and we couldn’t get the out there. It was tough, but that happens. We gave them a lot  base on balls, hit by a pitch. So we were real fortunate to come back.”
On approach for tomorrow:
“Pitch, play defense and get timely hitting. Real simple.”
On stopping the bleeding in the eighth and ninth:
“They could break that game open. We’re fortunate. We don’t get a couple of close calls, yet we escape with the bases loaded. They can get a big hit and bust it open. Like yesterday, we’re down 10-nothing and we’ve got the bases loaded, two outs and it’s 10-6. That’s what it’s all about.”
Wayne Taylor’s walk-off performances:
“Wayne got a big hit, that single that brought Whiting in, that was a huge hit at the time, and you got to hit it good to score Whiting because he doesn’t run real fast. I think a lot of it has to do with confidence. I think (Taylor) had two strikes when he hit the home run today, and against Indiana, he hit a home run with two strikes. He’s in a good groove right now.”
Starting pitcher Cal Quantrill
On feeling pressure of a must-win game:
“I try not to put too much pressure on myself. We knew we were going to be in for a good contest and were able to pull it out. ”
Designated hitter Wayne Taylor
On his approach to his last at-bat:
“For me I remember seeing that (Adam Ravenelle) the first time when we played Vanderbilt in the preseason. I remember he was a guy who throws a hard fastball and a good slider. I was trying to get a good fastball to hit. If I was going to get a hit with his velocity I had to get the head of the bat out. I thought it was a pretty good pitch he threw, it was down and I was able to put a good swing on it. ”
On the feeling of winning a game with one swing:
“We have had a lot of really exciting games. Especially in the regional last weekend, when we had a ton of exciting games. We are kind of used to the emotional roller coaster by now, which I think is good heading into tomorrow because I think it’s going to be a pretty good contest again.
On feeling like a team of destiny:
“I think as a team we are very confident in our ability. At certain points in the season we haven’t been playing at the level we are capable of. I think it’s great that now at the biggest part of the season we are playing really good baseball. I think we are very comfortable in spots like tonight where it’s close and we are confident that we will pull through.”
Vanderbilt Head Coach Tim Corbin
Opening statement:
“I thought it was a heck of a college baseball game. It really was. We were just on the opposite side of it. But that doesn’t minimize the effort of our kids, Carson (Fulmer) and our players’ ability to get back into the game. They beat us with their bats. You know you have to hand that to them. We didn’t give them anything; they earned it. But I’m just proud of my boys. Proud of how they got back into the game and how Carson battled the entire time and gave us a chance to win. I thought (Cal) Quantrill was good. We’re very knowing of him. We recruited him. He’s a very special pitcher. He can really decelerate the baseball in any count. You got to credit him because he kept them in the game for a long period of time. I’m glad he’s done. We’re in the same situation as yesterday. So nothing’s changed.”
On leaving bases loaded and missing an opportunity:
“Well it played out that way. But we missed an opportunity early too when we had a runner at third base with less than two outs and we didn’t get him in too. Yes, we did not get the timely hit that we needed to secure that game. We were put in that position because of the walk but we just didn’t get the timely hit that they did. And really that’s the tale of the game.”
On taking back the momentum in ninth inning:
“I thought we were going to win that ballgame. There wasn’t any way we weren’t going to win that ballgame. I thought we were just a hit away. Vinny (Conde) hit one on the screws and it just fell short. Rhett (Wisman’s) ball was hit pretty well but it was hit just to the shortstop side and he was able to field it. Those things happen. Ro Coleman’s ball was hit down the line and that was close to being a double. The game is sometimes separated by inches. It’s just tough sometimes. That’s the way it goes. But I really liked the way we played though. We played clean baseball and didn’t give them anything. The fact that (Brant) Whiting and (Wayne) Taylor, they just hit the ball well.”
On dealing with one-and-done situation:
“You certainly can’t play that way. You can’t. You just have to play the game the best you possibly can. We talked a lot about that today. We talked a lot of staying off the scoreboard, just winning the frames. We’re 45-0 when we win the frame, I mean most teams probably are. But if you just do a good job of winning frames during the course of the game, the likelihood of you winning is great. So we just didn’t today. But I give credit to Quantrill. Quantrill is very good. That’s not a freshman. That’s not a freshman at all. He’s a very established young man and he’s a good pitcher.”
Starting Pitcher Carson Fulmer
On confidence that the team would battle back:
“I mean we’ve been doing it towards the better part of the year. We always have the capability of coming back. We’re as tightly bonded together as a group. You know I think that anything is possible. I think if we are in that situation again we do come out on top.”
On performance and how Stanford hit:
“They competed very well. When something happens you kind of look back, and you go I should have thrown a fastball there, a curveball there. When it’s all said and done you can’t think about that. You can’t regret what you threw because before you throw the pitch you have to have all your confidence in that pitch.”
On feelings of the game, the highs and lows:
“I feel like we feel accomplished in a way because we did have a three run deficit. We came together, and we were like okay we are going to come back and we are going to win this. Unfortunately, we didn’t come out on top, but I feel as a team we are in the right mindset. We are ready to go, and ready to come back tomorrow and get a W”
Left Fielder Rhett Wiseman
On the team’s momentum late in the game:
“We spend a lot of time and train so that no matter what happens in those first six innings of the game; really focus in on the last three innings. I thought today we had the momentum early, but lost it in the middle part of the game. Soon as the seventh inning came around we really brought it back together. We focused on what we needed to do. Just chip away and get guys on base, and we did that. We tied it up just couldn’t close it out.”
Did it feel like you were one hit away from breaking this game open?
“I mean it was the first time we had the momentum back since the second inning. It’s just a great feeling because we know the trust we have in the bullpen, and how the bats were working at that time of the game that it was our game. It was, and what are you going to do. Guy takes a 95 mph fastball hits it out of the park. That is the first home run Adam Ravenelle has given up in his college career. So…. That’s baseball.”
Did it look like the ball was gone off the bat?
“He got a good piece of it. You’ve got to give him credit. Stanford played well today. Like coach said, they didn’t give us anything, and got to come back out tomorrow strong”
On his mindset of how they left the game on a high or low:
“I think as funny as this may sound that we ended the game with a ton of momentum on our side. Taking that (momentum) into tomorrow just like Stanford did yesterday. They had a lot of good momentum going into today even though we got the win. They had something good to go home proud about. They put up six runs in the late half of the game yesterday. I feel it’s the same way for us. We ended the last three innings just how we wanted to today, and we will carry that right into tomorrow.”
What made (Cal) Quantrill so effective?
“He just utilized his changeup. He was throwing a lot of guys backwards, and his changeup was his best pitch today. When you weren’t looking for it he’d throw the slider in there. You’ve got to give him credit. He’s a different pitcher than he was when we faced him earlier this year.”
