May 21, 2008
Final Stats
TULANE QUOTES
HEAD COACH Rick Jones
Overall thoughts on the game
"Marshall outplayed us in every phase of the game. They outpitched us, they outhit us, the out-defended us, and they really did a good job running the bases. We didn't do a good job of keeping their guys that can really steal the base. They did a great job of that. They came out and were ready to play, and I thought we were too. (Steve) Blevins threw another complete game against us. That's two times he's thrown a complete game against us. Both times we've had him where some guys would be on the ropes, and he would fight back and get the big outs like he did in the ninth inning, and you've got to tip your hat to that. There's nothing I can say except I'm very disappointed that we didn't play better, but I thought Marshall played better in every phase."
On if the loss puts a lot of pressure going into the rest of the weekend
"I don't know. I think we might have felt some tonight. I don't know. I didn't sense that a whole lot, but when we lost the three last weekend, if that had happened in the middle of the season and we would have had the East Carolina series at the end of the year, I think people would have looked at it a lot differently. But that's just not the way it worked out. we finished third in the league which has traditionally been a four- and five-bid league (to the NCAA tournament). So, I still think our chances are very good regardless, but certainly we would like to win tomorrow and make it a little bit easier."
JUNIOR FIRST BASEMAN Sam Honeck
On how the team will stave off elimination throughout the tournament
"We have an elimination game tomorrow, and we've just got to come out, play as hard as we can and try to get a win out of it. I know I speak for all the guys when I say we don't want to stop playing. In order to make a regional, I think we've got to win, so that's what we've got to and we're going to do it."
MARSHALL QUOTES
HEAD COACH BILLY WAGGONER
On winning the game
"Great job by Stevie Blevins. Our guys played well. We beat a great team, a well-coached team. It was a great overall win for our program."
On Steve Blevins' Complete Game
"We've given him plenty of rest coming into this game. And that's huge when your starter can throw a complete game and you save your bullpen. His two full games have been down here. We actually stretched him our more in the first one (his complete game win over Tulane on April 5). Because we'd given him so much rest coming into this series, we knew we could stretch him out a little more."
SHORTSTOP ADAM YEAGER
On their strategy in the game
"We just wanted to come out early and make Shooter work tonight, make him throw strikes. And I think we did that. We were just trying to scrap against him. He's the best pitcher in the conference. You're not always going to get good swings off a guy like that, but I thought we scrapped really well."
On his attempted steal of home
"I saw his (Taylor Rogers) wind-up and said to (third base coach Tim Donnelly) and said `I think I can get it.' And he said `Alright, just let Nate [Lape] know you're coming in.' But they made a nice play, and got me."
PITCHER STEVE BLEVINS
On winning the game
"We've played them before, we've seen Shooter before. He's a great pitcher, but we've got a pretty good offense. We were pretty confident we could get a few runs, and if I could shut them down early, then we'd score a few runs late and keep building off of that."
On the importance of a complete game in a tournament setting
"It's big. It saves our bullpen for tomorrow and for the next day. We've got everybody fresh for tomorrow."
