University of North Carolina Athletics
Game 4 Postgame Quotes: Davidson 2, Florida Gulf Coast 1
June 4, 2017 | Baseball
DAVIDSON
Opening Statement from Head Coach Dick Cooke:
“That's one of those games where, unfortunately, someone has to lose. That's just a good baseball game on both sides of the ledger. Two base on balls total, no errors… That's just good baseball all the way around. Pitched great by both sides. Evan [Roberts] did a phenomenal job, and their guy was outstanding. Both guys did a great job of throwing non-fastballs in fastball counts. They got some bad swings, which is what you have to do. Jake [Sidwell] did a phenomenal job in concert with Evan of calling the ball game. You could see the value of Eric's [Jones] base hit to get that insurance run because we knew [Nick] Rivera was coming up and we were wrestling in the dugout as to whether Evan was going to start that or if we were going to bring someone different in because it would have been the fourth time Evan saw him. That second run gives us the cushion to run Evan out there for the ninth. If a guy's on, he's coming out. We didn't have that conversation, but Evan knows the drill. It was a good baseball game.”
Cooke on how this game ranks in program history:
“It's certainly 1A. I think that we were still not reeling, but the energy from last night was clearly evident certainly through the fan base leading up to this ball game tonight. A couple of folks here working for the NCAA commented to me about how loose and relaxed these guys were from the dugout, unsolicited. We've had that comment a bunch for a while, so that told me that they weren't overly distraught about what this means in the grand scheme of life.”
Cooke on the call to steal home:
“That was Coach Taylor's call. It's worked a couple times. They defended it well. It's a tough play for a left-handed pitcher to defend. We did it in a conference game and it was a game changer for us. Huge. When you've got a feeling you're not going to score a bunch off the guy, you've got to scratch somehow. It was worth the gamble. If you're down you're probably not going to make that gamble. Some of that confidence came from knowing that Evan was going to continue to put up zeros out there.”
#38 Evan Roberts on what he thought went well for him today:
“I was locating real well today. I was hitting my spots. I was confident. I was attacking them. Coach Cooke and Jake [Sidwell] had a good game plan. I was with them all the way. It was a total team effort all around. This is the most cohesive unit I've been a part of my entire life. Defensively, they played great and picked me up all game. We got clutch hits when we needed to.”
#6 Eric Jones on his RBI base hit:
“I was really surprised they left the lefty in. I knew they had a righty warming up, and the guy had just walked Brian [Fortier], so I was excited to see they left him in there. I was looking to be aggressive and hit something deep. Thankfully I hit it where they weren't.”
FLORIDA GULF COAST
Opening Statement from Head Coach Dave Tollett:
“I thought it was a great pitchers' duel. [Evan] Roberts was good. [Josh] Dye was good. They got the key hit. We didn't get the key hit. I felt like we hit several balls on the screws. They made some great plays defensively. We just could not get anything to fall, but happy with our effort, especially Dye. I thought best game he's pitched all year against a real good offense.”
Tollett on what the Davidson pitcher did to be effective:
“His changeup was very good also. He had a good mix of his changeup and his breaking ball and would come in enough to keep us honest. And so he did a tremendous job. I thought we hit a couple balls, I mean they made some great plays and my hat is off to them. I mean they made the plays.”
Tollett on if he is surprised to be playing North Carolina in an elimination game:
“No, I think when you get here there's 64 good teams in this country, and we're just glad we're still here and we'll be ready to play tomorrow.”
Tollett on bouncing back from the loss:
“We're a pretty veteran team. I think we'll be okay with that. I mean we've done it for the last two weeks. So I think we'll be fine there.”
Tollett on the help of coming out of the losers' bracket in the conference tournament:
“I think that helps. I really do. I mean because we've been there before, and we had to win four games in 24 hours. So I think we're okay from the mental side of that.”
Josh Dye on the pressure when neither pitcher is allowing runs:
“Honestly, I don't worry about the pressure. I just go out there and pitch my game. I'm not a big guy with worrying about fans cheering or anything like that. I just go out there and do my thing.”
Dye on if he was running out of gas late in the game:
“I thought I was fine. I made a good pitch. Guy just got a barrel to it and came around.”
Dye on what was working for him today:
“Changeup. Changeup was definitely my best pitch.”
