University of North Carolina Athletics
Players Ready For NCAA Play
May 24, 2000 | Baseball
May 24, 2000
TarHeelBlue: What do you guys think of the draw you got in the regional?
Clay Hooper: "We're very excited about it. For one thing, it will be break from league play. We feel like teams in the league know how to play against us, so it will be nice to play somebody who is, hopefully, unfamiliar with us.
"It's kind of a third season for us, and we want to get it going again, back to the level we were at earlier this year. If we play our kind of ball, I'm not sure it matters who we play. We're more concerned with ourselves right now."
Ryan Snare: "I basically agree with Clay. Everybody on the team is very excited. I think they've put us in a region that we have a decent shot at winning.
"We're definitely going to have to play some good baseball. You know we played Penn St. twice earlier this year. It doesn't matter that we beat them twice, they're going to come out ready to play. We're going to have to play good ball, but I definitely think we have a shot at winning this regional."
TarHeelBlue: Ryan, what do you remember about Penn St.?
Ryan Snare: "I remember they had a righty (Peter Yodis) who came out and flat shut us down in the second game (Yodis gave up no runs and just two hits while striking out eleven in a 3-2 UNC win in 10 innings).
"The first game was a little lopsided, but I understand they hadn't been outside much, plus it was their first two games of the season. They've only lost eleven games since then, so they haven't done too badly for themselves.
"We've got to come to the park ready to play."
TarHeelBlue: Clay, what do you think about playing a team you've already beaten twice?
Clay Hooper: "So much has changed since then. We were playing as hot as we have all year at that time, and like Ryan said, those were their first games of the season. A whole lot has changed.
"You know, you can almost throw it out the window that we've played them before. We know they're a good ball club, and I think they respect us as a team as well. It's a whole new situation playing them now than it was earlier in the season."
TarHeelBlue: Will you be pitching on Friday?
Ryan Snare: "Yes, I'm going to throw the first game. You know, everybody says we beat them, but we are definitely not taking them for granted. You've got to pitch to them just like if we were playing an ACC team.
"Penn St.'s a good team, or they wouldn't be in our region. We can't take them lightly. We've got to go out and play tough the whole game."
TarHeelBlue: How's the team's confidence now?
Ryan Snare: "The confidence of the team is real good now. We feel like we have a shot at winning, but the teams that are in our regional are there for a reason, so we'll have to play good ball.
"Everybody's excited, and we can't wait to get out there on Friday."
TarHeelBlue: Will it be a relief to get out of the ACC?
Ryan Snare: "(Laughing) It'll definitely be nice. Like Clay said earlier, it will be nice to play someone who doesn't know as much about us. It should be a lot of fun."
TarHeelBlue: What did you think of Adam (Greenberg) being named Rookie of the Year in the ACC?
Ryan Snare: "If you look at all the outfielders in the ACC this year, there's nobody who's done a better job than Adam Greenberg. He deserves it. There's not too much else to say.
"Just look at what he's done this year. His defense is brilliant, his offense has been tremendous. Hands down, he deserves it. He's really, really good."
Derrick DePriest
TarHeelBlue: How does your arm feel after a long season?
Derrick DePriest: "It feels fine. I'm just ready to get back on the mound and try to redeem myself a little bit from the ACC Tournament."
TarHeelBlue: Did you pitch against Penn St. earlier this year?
Derrick DePriest: "Yes, I pitched against them in the second game. In fact, I gave up my first earned run of the season against them (one earned run off one hit in 3.0 innings).
"It looked like I would get the loss, but a couple of the freshmen came through in the bottom of the tenth.
"They have a quality club. I remember they hit the ball well, they fought off some tough pitches. We definitely need to play our best.
"There's some good teams in our regional. Penn St.'s good, and Rutgers has a really good team. I don't know too much about Army, but I'll learn. I know they're (Army) trained to do their best and not give in, so we've got three pretty solid teams in our regional."
TarHeelBlue: How's the confidence of both you and the team?
Derrick DePriest: "The team's confidence is incredible. We've had some tough losses lately, but we've played the toughest competition in the nation in the ACC over the past couple of months.
"The NCAA seedings bear that out. Three of the top six seeds are from the ACC, and five of our teams made it.
"We've played the best teams around, now we've just got to get out and play our game. We've got to just play a good solid game, with good pitching, hitting and defense. If we do that, I think we'll be all right."
TarHeelBlue: Are your ready to get out of the ACC?
Derrick DePriest: "Oh yes, just look at what the conference has done this year. We've had three teams (Florida St., Georgia Tech and Clemson) ranked number one at some point in the season. We we're ranked second at one point, and everyone knows Wake Forest has a tremendous team.
"That just goes to show you we play in one of the best conferences in the country."
