University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina 5, East Carolina 3 - Quotes
June 3, 2012 | Baseball
June 3, 2012
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2012 NCAA Chapel Hill Regional
Sunday, June 03, 2012
Game 5: North Carolina 5, East Carolina 3
North Carolina Head Coach Mike Fox
Opening Statement
"Pitching and defense. Today was very typical of a lot of our wins. We don't look the best in the batter's box but we somehow got it done. I thought obviously our pitching did the job and Michael Russell was really good at short and made a couple big plays. We capitalized on a couple of their walks. We had a chance to break the game open and just didn't get it done. Other teams hang around and that's the NCAA tournament for you."
On Mike Zolk's two run pinch-hit
"Mike Zolk is always ready. He epitomizes how kids should treat the game and respect the game and respect not playing. The kid has been amazing. Great maturity on his part. I just felt like that was a good matchup and he looks at the ball good and I really felt like he was locked in and was going to give us a good at bat. I like to see that type of attitude rewarded and tonight it was."
Freshman Starting Pitcher Benton Moss
On his performance
"We knew that we were on the ropes, and I knew we were too. I just knew that I had to make pitches and I took it one pitch at a time. ECU knows how to put the bat on the ball and they made some good contact. We made good plays, we had a key double play. We had to play defense today and that we did. Key pitches, key outs in key situations really helped us today."
On tonight's game
"I feel like [the pressure] was alleviated last night. We knew that we had lost, and so either we're going to win, or we're going to lose, there are only two outcomes that can happen. There really is no pressure. You can ask any of the other guys and I think they'll tell you the same thing."
East Carolina Head Coach Billy Godwin
Opening Statement
"Certainly I'm disappointed. I felt like our kids competed well today. It was a game of freebies and we talked about that when you play big clubs. We had 8 walks. If you told me before the game we're going to come in here and get 10 hits, they're going to have 5, and we're not going to make any errors then you have to like your chances. It just didn't happen. When you look at it from the flip side, they walked no one. Walks are like hits in this game. You put people on and they took advantage of it. You can get away with it sometimes but you don't do it against a good club at home."
On the Pirates' season
"As most seasons are, it was peaks and valleys. We got off to a great start. When you look at the whole body of work I was pleased. We did enough to get into the NCAA Tournament, there was no question about that. Guys came over here, we had a tough loss on Friday, but we competed very hard. As a coach you want to win, I draw up game plans all night and try to never sleep, but you don't win every game. In the end it's about what these guys believe and how hard they go about their business. From the total body of work I was pleased in the end that they fought every pitch and they never gave up and always believed we we're going to win."
Senior Left Fielder Tim Younger
On North Carolina Starter Benton Moss
"I felt like we swung the bats pretty well today. Like coach said, he didn't walk anybody but he got ahead of us. Their infield play behind him didn't make any mistakes, but I thought we fought pretty hard today. Whenever you can get two outs with one play, it's always big. We fought to the end and always believed we had a chance."
Sophomore Designated Hitter Drew Reynolds
On the future of the program
"We feel like this is a place that we can get the job done. We buy into Coach Godwin and believe everything that he says and we trust him 100% when we go to battle. He sets us up and it's just a matter of us getting the job done. We're going to try to continue to build off of that and take the next step."
