University of North Carolina Athletics
Quotes: North Carolina 6, Western Carolina 5
June 4, 2007 | Baseball
June 4, 2007
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Chapel Hill Regional Game 6
North Carolina Head Coach Mike Fox
Opening Statement:
I knew Josh [Horton] was going to come through for us again. He is just that type of player. Rob Wooten is a great story for us, not pitching for a couple of years and then he's in the biggest game of our season. We've relied on Andrew Carignan to take us where we want to go for several years now. I'm excited on behalf of our players. I think we showed some toughness, some determination and some grit today. And I think we had a little bit of pressure on us actually in this regional and I'm not quite sure why. Maybe people expected us to win with last year, so we'll learn from that next weekend and try to play a little looser and a little happier.
On the toughness of his team:
I'm so lucky because you can't recruit the kind of make-up that we have on our team because you just don't know with high school kids. We have some kids that just have great make-up for lack of a better term.... Internally, deep-down, they are some good kids.
On Josh Horton:
On if he was surprised the Catamounts pitched to him in the ninth:
I was definitely not surprised with my previous at-bat (a strikeout with the bases loaded in the seventh). I was just trying to forget about the one before, bow my head, say a little prayer. I looked down at Coach Fox and he was just grinning at me. It took a little a of the pressure off. I just tried to smile and have fun. I didn't even really get the barrel on the ball. It wasn't that much better of a swing, but it dropped in for me. I guess that's the game.
On if this team is comfortable playing from behind:
No, definitely not. We definitely want to play from ahead. I wouldn't say comfortable, but it does have something to do with the guys having been there before and not panicking. That's not the game plan, to get behind and come back in the ninth.
On his success today:
I knew if I held them, we'd come back eventually. I never had a doubt. Once we got a hit, I knew Andrew [Carignan] was coming in. He's the best closer in the country, so it's pretty good to have him behind me.
On coming back today after a rough outing against ECU:
The other day I just got picked up by my teammates just like it happens. Then today, I saw Josh coming up with men on second and third, and I started getting ready because I knew I was coming in. That's what I was ready for. I like to redeem myself after the other day, and I like to be relied on at the end of the game so it was a good position for me.
On the likelihood of hosting a super regional for the last games played at Boshamer Stadium before it undergoes renovation next year:
Well, if we're hosting, they're coming to us, whoever wins that regional. We're excited for it. I don't think we ever have hosted a super regional here. It's a great way to send it out. It's a turning point for this program, a great way to send out the old Bosh and bring in the new Bosh, so we'll see what we can do.
Western Carolina Head Coach Todd Raleigh
Opening Statement:
"Tough game we had a chance obviously, two outs in the ninth and we are winning. The kids played as hard as they possibly could and thought we had the match-up we wanted, but it just didn't work out. Both winning runs score on walks and that hurts a little bit. I thought they were pretty good pitches, but the umpire didn't.
On ninth inning strategy:
"Well Horton had already seen Holland once before and Masters has been tough on lefties all season long. Horton had been struggling today and we just thought it was our best match-up. I thought about walking him, but that allows no margin for error. You can kick yourself for it now, but I felt pretty good about it. We had the match-up we wanted and it didn't work out."
On Wooten's shut down performance:
"He did a good job and mixed pitches well. We hit some balls hard against him, but he did keep us off the board and that was key. To win games like this, that is what you need and we had a similar type performance last night. He did a really good job."
On ejection at end of game:
"I didn't like the call and I am not really supposed to comment on it. I didn't say anything that bad to him, but I thought the ball was outside. I thought he got caught up in the moment with the crowd cheering and everything. I asked Kenny Smith about the pitch and he said he could not hit it with a boat oar. I just like to see the game decided by the players and I was frustrated."
On Kenny Smith's stellar year:
"He's unbelievable, an All-American and he had twenty home runs and over eighty runs batted in. He's given us great defense and he's been tremendous. He's been great, a great team leader and we are just sorry we could only have him for one year."
On another one-run loss:
"It's tough and you say your up one with two outs in the ninth you take your chances. It always hurts more when it is a one-run loss because you second-guess yourself. It doesn't take away from a great game though."
Western Carolina Catcher Blake Murphy
On having the lead the majority of the game:
"It boosted our confidence a lot and just showed us that we could play with them. We showed we were just as good as they are and we have good hitters, we showed that in the third inning. We played as hard as we could and it just didn't work out."
On losing two one-run games in the regional:
"Yeah it hurts a little bit, but we were in the position we wanted, to get it to our closer and sometimes it just doesn't work out."
On ninth inning struggles by Western pitchers:
"I think they were just trying to do too much and throw a little too hard. They needed to just calm down and throw strikes."
On Wooten's shut down performance:
"He threw a lot of curve balls and he has a real good curve ball. He did a good job keeping us off balance and he slowed the game down for them, got the momentum back and it went in their favor."
Western Carolina Outfielder Jonathan Greene
On the possibility of winning if reached an additional game:
"I thought once we got to the second game it would be up for anybody. Both teams we going to be playing hard, but our team has a lot of heart and I thought we could win that second game."
On the team's hitting performance all weekend:
"All year we have been able to hit, if one person is not seeing the ball than someone else is seeing the ball well. It's a whole team effort and we've been hitting it hard all year."
