Clemson-Middle Tennessee Coaches Quotes

May 26, 2000

POSTGAME QUOTES

Middle Tennessee Coach Steve Peterson

“It was a great match-up between (Jeff) Parsons and (Ryan) Mottl. Both guys were making great pitches. Mottl had a very impressive outing and we expected a tough outing. I am proud of the way my club played. We made one defensive mistake, it was huge because it changed it from a two run game to a three run game. The best playing team won this ball game.

“The crowd is a great tribute to Clemson. Our team will remember this experience playing in front of a packing house and in front of a great college tradition.”

Clemson Head Coach Jack Leggett

“I thought it was a very well played game from both sides. I thought Middle Tennessee played exceptionally well and they played excellent defense. I thought that the equalizer was Ryan Mottl on the mound. He pitched extremely well and he threw strikes. I thought he had his breaking ball and his fast ball going and he was extremely aggressive. I thought we got big hits. Brian Ellis had a big hit to start us off one inning and Jeff Baker really came through a couple of times. Overall, I thought it was an extremely well played college baseball game by both teams.

“We had a couple of tough first games last year in both the regional and super regional so this was very big. I’m always concerned about a first game of a tournament whether it is the ACC Tournament or the regional or the super regional. You just want to stay in the winner’s bracket and go home that night with a good feeling, wake up tomorrow knowing what you have to do and not be scrambling the rest of the tournament.”