University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes
June 9, 2006 | Baseball
June 9, 2006
University of North Carolina
Head Coach Mike Fox
"This is obviously a big win for us. I thought Josh Horton's homerun jumpstarted us and anytime we can get a lead early for Andrew Miller, if he is throwing like he has for most of the year, then we feel confident. After that we're just trying to tack on runs."
"We did some things offensively and Andrew threw really well for us. This was a big win for us but we know how tough it is going to be and we're sure that Alabama is going to come out tomorrow and give us their best shot."
"Andrew has a terrific breaking ball and hard slider and that's a tough pitch for lefties to hit. We threw Alabama a lot of them and when we thought they might be diving for the off-speed pitch we threw them a fastball inside just to keep them honest."
#33 Andrew Miller, P
"It was nice to put some runs on the board in the first inning and then when Tim Federowicz hit the home run to make it 5-0 it was easy to relax. I was able to go out there and throw the ball over the plate and let them hit it in play."
# 12 Josh Horton, SS
On first inning home run: "I got a good pitch up in the zone, a curveball, and I was able to put a good swing on it. (Mike) Cavasinni set the tone with a good at bat and ended up poking one throw and really set the tone at the plate for us."
#11 Mike Cavasinni, CF
On first at bat of the game: "In the first at bat I always try to work the count as deep as I can and see as many pitches as possible. (LeBlanc) kept throwing fastball after fastball when I was sitting off-speed and I was just trying to foul off anything that wasn't an off-speed pitch. He laid a fastball inside and luckily I got my hand through it and hit it up the middle."
University of Alabama
Head Coach Jim Wells
"It was a tough night. Their guy was good. Dominating. And what gets lost in the shuffle when you get beat up like that. We just didn't play well in any phase of the game whether it was fielding a bunt or turning a double play it led to runs being scored. And they're a good team, and we have to, like we've had all year for the most part, keep the game close and have a chance to win in the end, hopefully get into their bullpen.
"This particular team's success is precipitated on, set up by pitching. So if that breaks down--- which, thankfully it hasn't much this year but at an inopportune time right now--it's hard for us to win. We really have to match their guys who are very good.
"But tomorrow is another day, and hopefully we will play better and even this series up. I believe that we can do that. I believe that that's possible. I really do. I know every coach is supposed to say that but if we do what we've done all year we will have a chance to win and have a chance to win this thing."
#23 Wade LeBlanc, Pitcher:
On his night on the mound: "To sum it up in one word, my night was terrible. I didn't come out and do my job. My job was to come out and keep the game close and give these guys a chance. They did their part. I just didn't come out and do mine."
On if the two-run home run hit in the 1st inning affected him: "Not really. It seems like I give up a home run every game. By now I'm used to it. That's one of those things that you have to bounce back from and I wasn't able to do that tonight."
On what wasn't working: "You name it, it wasn't working. I didn't have anything tonight. The biggest game of my year and I didn't bring my `A' game. I didn't bring it to the table."
#2 Emeel Salem, Outfielder:
"There's a reason he's (Andrew Miller) the sixth pick in the draft. He's a great pitcher. And it's really hard to solve a guy like that. He has three pitches and even movement on a 97 mile an hour fastball. We didn't capitalize when we had chances but he didn't make enough mistakes for us to get anything going."
On the approach to Saturday's game in the best-of-three series: "We have to forget about this. Luckily this is a three-game set. It's not live or die in one day (the first day). Now tomorrow we need to play better. We need to execute and play better small ball, play better defense. But this thing is far from over. We're still in it and we're confident we can come away with it."
