University of North Carolina Athletics
NCAA Baseball Regional Quotes
June 1, 2007 | Baseball
June 1, 2007
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No. 1 North Carolina 6, No. 4 Jacksonville 0
Chapel Hill Regional Game 2
Postgame Quotes
North Carolina Head Coach Mike Fox
Opening Statement:
"Obviously we are happy to get off to a good start in the tournament. The story of the game was Robert Woodard and how well he pitched. I thought Matt Davis was really good for them and I was very impressed. We did what we needed to do and Tim had some big swings of the bat for us, we are happy to get off to a good start."
On Robert Woodard's performance:
"Robert has always impressed me since he has come in here, he won't take tomorrow night off. He wills himself in there and he never really seems to get out of control. He is so composed in the way he carries himself that the other players and coaches feed off of that."
On playing East Carolina tomorrow:
"There are a great team and it will be a lot of fun. I don't think what you have done against who during the regular season plays a factor during the tournament."
On Woodard getting deep into the game:
"It is always important in a regional to not get to your bullpen too early. That is why we started Robert because his ability to throw strikes and not have us go to our bullpen."
On the team's pitching performance this year:
"We have pitched well all year long. That is a credit to Coach Forbes and our staff, our kids have to go out and make big pitches. I have been impressed with our pitching all year long."
Pitcher Robert Woodard
On his performance tonight:
"Jacksonville is a good program and those guys are going to put the ball in play. I had to bear down with runners in scoring position, but I felt good."
On the three-run second inning:
"It was a huge lift, our hitters really stepped up and to have a cushion early on was a big lift."
On the rest of the weekend:
"It's the NCAA tournament and its time to lay it all out there. It was a big rush and felt great. East Carolina is going to bring their best tomorrow and its time to go get them."
Catcher Tim Federowicz
On his performance tonight:
"I was seeing the ball real well today and in the last at bat I was trying to fight anything off."
On trying to get things started for his team:
"I try to be a little bit more patient and get my pitch, a few of the other guys were a little to anxious. I got my pitches and it worked out."
On catching Woodard:
"He did a great job hitting his spots and locating his pitches. It gave me a lot more freedom to call what I wanted."
Jacksonville Head Coach Terry Alexander
Opening Statement:
"As the ball game turned out tonight, we got enough hits, we just didn't get the timely hits that we needed. I certainly think we could have made the game a little closer. I really felt like North Carolina was a little too comfortable for our situation. They were able to get out of some jams and that really made them comfortable and confident, certainly what we don't want them to be. A lot of that I have to tip my hat to Robert Woodard, who made some huge pitches in big times. I think that as a coach, we're looking at our players and wishing they would have done this and done that, but sometimes it's the guys on the other team that keep you from it. I really think that Woodard was on his game as good as it could be, especially when we had some guys in scoring position. I think we had runners in scoring position in six of the nine innings that we played and didn't score, so he made a lot of big pitches."
On Carolina only giving up two runs in the past three games:
"I thought they definitely made some big pitches at crucial times. We would have liked to have had a bad ball bounce over their head and certainly something we needed to get going. We just didn't get it. Like I said, they are extremely confident and that's not good for opposing teams."
On not scoring with the bases loaded in the 2nd inning and then giving up three runs in the bottom half:
"The three runs that they scored- it put us a little bit in a up hill battle, but it wasn't scary. Three runs in the second inning is not something that we all of a sudden say, `Oh my gosh, we got to battle back'. When those three runs were still there in the 7th inning, in that they had actually extended by one run with a bad hop, all of a sudden I thought, `Oh my gosh, that is'. You don't think of it being that way at the time. They hit three doubles in a row. They hit it, it wasn't anything we necessarily did wrong."
Logan James
On facing Robert Woodard, his childhood friend:
"For my first at-bat, I came up with the bases loaded, it was a real big situation. It was a really good experience. I tip my hat to him. Like my Coach said, I could see it in his face and his demeanor when he had the pressure situation and he made that pitch. That's why he's been there every Friday night for the last three Regionals because he's the one that makes the pitches. It was a great experience. I'm glad I got to face him and I feel like he did a really good job."
On failing to score with two runners on in the 5th and 6th inning:
"It was frustrating. We got eight hits, they got 10, but just like Coach said, they did it in the pressure situations when they needed to do it. We didn't step up. In the conference tournament last weekend, we had those timely hits. Hopefully we'll bounce back."
