May 31, 2014
Recap | Box Score | Russell’s Photos 
Postgame Quotes
Nashville Regional
No. 1 Seed Vanderbilt 11, No. 4 seed Xavier 0
Xavier Head Coach Scott Googins
On the game:
“I thought we came out and Vinny came out and gave us a great start, and kept them at bay early on. The part that is disappointing is again Vinny gives us a great start, and then that sixth inning we just walked too many guys and the game got away from us at that point and time. Our guys battled and I’m proud of them. It’s just a tough pill to swallow when you give up that many free bases.”
On Tyler Beede’s performance:
“I think Tyler Beede had his good stuff today. I thought his slider was on. Our scouting report was to lay off the slider, and our guys were having a tough time picking it up and he was throwing it for strikes. He looked pretty good today, and give him credit on that.”
On the rain delay:
“People were pouring in. I thought it was a great atmosphere. Again I was talking to our guys about this place is going to be sold out and it’s going to be a great atmosphere. We don’t play in front of a lot of people like that, so I thought it was going to be a great opportunity for our players. I told Coach (Tim) Corbin I was really kind of bummed we had that rain delay. But no the rain delay didn’t affect our players.”
On Vinny Nittoli’s performance down the stretch:
“He’s been the workhorse for us, but, to be honest, six to seven innings is what he gives us – even the days he’s been on. The pitch that hurt was the passed ball – you don’t see that a lot of times. When it comes off the wall that hard they are usually out at the plate, but it kicked past Rizze.”
On concerns about quick turnaround tomorrow:
“Our guys have responded well to adversity lately. Hopefully, our guys get another chance to respond to it, and keep playing for another day. I think our guys will be ready.”
On playing more aggressively offensively:
“Well, it’s tough to open up when you are not getting guys on base. I’m hoping we can do a little bit more offensively. Again we will try to open it up.”
Infielder Michael Moore
On facing Tyler Beede:
“First time up, obviously I was just trying to sit on a fastball, just looking at one zone and if you get the fastball don’t be late to jump on it. That’s what I’m doing on my first at-bat, and jumped right on it.”
On tips against Beede:
“After that first at-bat they thought they were right on him. A lot of guys were just missing balls. It wasn’t like he was overpowering us from our point of view. Everybody was pretty confident. I didn’t need to tell them much. We thought we were going to get him eventually.”
Experience of playing back in hometown:
“It’s kind of bittersweet. In the end you want your team to win regardless of how you play or where you play, but it’s good to be here, to be home. We know we still have a good shot to win it, we have to get back focused for tomorrow.”
Catcher Daniel Rizzie
On facing Tyler Beede:
“Obviously he’s got a good fastball, and you got to jump on it when it’s there. It’s tough to come back once he gets ahead of you with that slider and changeup working the way they were today.”
On long inning and getting behind hitters:
“It’s tough especially with that lineup as good as they are one through nine with really competitive hitters. Can’t give extra outs to a team like that. The extra bases on the walks really hurt us, and once that started happening they started squaring up and it kind of snowballed from there.”
Vanderbilt Head Coach Tim Corbin
Opening statement:
“I just thought it was a well-pitched game by Tyler and very good game in a lot of different ways. He controlled the count and had to come back from long offensive breaks, which isn’t always easy. He set the tone for our team and got a lot of outs by himself. He limited free bases and change rhythms. I thought his charge was good all night. I was very proud of him and we were able to separate ourselves later in the game. But it started on the mound. There’s no question about what he did or gave us tonight. Also a good catching performance as well by Jason Delay.”
On Beede’s performance:
“I thought his charge tonight was very good. Before we even got started, the fact that he was ready to go and sit for a while, the breaks in the middle of the game. To come right back out and get the leadoff hitter, that was important for him and us. I just liked the way he settled the other team down at a time in the fourth or fifth inning when the game was back and forth.”
On importance of clean pitching and defense:
“I think regardless of what you do offensively, if you can pitch and play defense in these tournaments, you give yourself a chance. That’s really all Tyler and our defense did. You take some of the defensive plays Jason made tonight that could have turned into an extra base. That’s really how we need to play. I felt like that as that game went on, we totally needed to do something.”
On starting the tournament with a win:
“I just wanted to win. It didn’t matter what kind of start it was. We wanted to move forward onto that second game with a `W.’ That’s all that matters really. But the kids have gained some confidence. I thought they hit well the past six days and relatively well tonight.”
Going into tomorrow’s matchup against Oregon:
“Good matchup. Pitching and defensive team. It’s a little bit like ours. They certainly can do the small ball thing very well. They certainly can put some pressure on you. But in order for a team to do that, they have to reach base. So the goal will be to try to keep them off base and for us to get on against a very good right-handed pitcher in (Jeff) Gold, who we’ve seen before. He’s had a great year as a starter. I’m looking forward to the game and it’ll be good match up against a good team and well-coached team. It’ll be exciting.”
Vanderbilt junior pitcher Tyler Beede
On his mindset starting the tournament:
“Honestly to just enjoy the moment. Certainly, the season was what it was and we all wanted to kind of refresh and begin a new season. Obviously it being the postseason I just wanted to enjoy the moments with the coaches and players and just go have fun. It was obviously a Regional game but I wanted to treat it like any other game, pound the strike zone and let the team play. Obviously in the sixth, we broke it up a little bit. It was a fun game to be a part of and good for us to get the first win in the Regional and go on tomorrow to face Oregon.
On mixing his pitches:
“I certainly wanted to attack with the fastball and challenge hitters. Sometimes that’s how it works out. You can make an adjustment of guys around your fastball. But if not, you kind of stick with what’s working for you. There through the second time going through, we just mixed in some offspeed pitches to get them off-balanced a bit.”
On rhythm throughout the game:
“I don’t ever try to play the score or even look at the scoreboard. I try to keep it a 0-0 ballgame in my head. But once the game starts to spin like that for the other team, we start gaining momentum. It’s sort of my job to go out there and have shutdown innings and keep momentum in our dugout and keep offense rolling. That obviously picked up when we had four consecutive scoring innings. That was just what I wanted to do. Go out there and have a quick inning so we could keep the momentum going in our dugout.”
Vanderbilt third baseman Xavier Turner
On offensive performance in the sixth:
“Honestly I thought we got quickened before that. The inning we got the hit and run, I felt like we busted the game open after that. Sixth inning was a good inning. We got some free bases and made them pay.”
Feelings on where the team is now after the first game:
“I’m just ready to get back out there tomorrow. It feels good to get the first win out of the way. The first game always the hardest game of the tournament. We played well and just need to continue to play well.”
