Clemson-Oklahoma State Quotes

May 31, 2009

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2009 Clemson Regional Game 6 Quotes May 31, 2009 Clemson vs. Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State Head Coach Frank Anderson

On Game “Obviously we got off to a rough start. It’s tough to play from behind. They came out and swung the bats well and squared it up. When we got behind it was tough to play like that.”

On Pitching tomorrow “I have some ideas but I haven’t finalized anything yet.

On Pitcher “Well at that point I didn’t think it had gotten out of hand yet. Plus I wanted to get him in the game. He had not pitched in a regional game yet in his career, so I wanted to get him out there and give him a chance and that is why I took him out quickly.”

On playing two games “Not really, I think it really depends on the guy that goes out on the mound at the game. Regardless of the situation that guy is going to give you courage or he is going to shut the other team down or not. Tyler wasn’t backing off, he was throwing pretty hard and they were squaring it up pretty good. That is good on their part.”

On message to team after loss “There are no bonus points for a 14 run win.”

On available pitchers “Well after the fourth or fifth inning it became like a little league deal where we tried to get some guys in there to say they pitched the regional and get them out there to see which guys are not going to be overwhelmed and which guys can handle it. Here is the thing, you might see Oliver throwing an inning because you are going to do what you have to do. That is why it is a big deal for Dwyer to go out there and stay like he did. Plus that kid is really good; he’s got some great stuff. That is a pretty good fourth game guy.”

On tougher if had lost a close game “I think so, but that what I have to say. If we had lost that thing and they had left us on the field it would have been a lot tougher to handle.”

On juggling lineup “It will depend on whether it is a left or right-handed pitcher. For a right-handed guy that is a tough lineup to face, you have six good quality guys standing in there.

Oklahoma State INF Tyrone Hambly

“He looked good. He had good stuff and threw it well. He threw a good game. I just went up there with the approach to try and square something up. I think I got a couple of pitches he left over the plate and I made the most of them.”

“I think we can. At the moment we both stand in the same position, we both have to win tomorrow so we know that and they know that. We are going to come out and give it everything we got.”

Clemson Head Coach Jack Leggett

On Game “This was a good ball game for us; we played well right from the start. Offensively, I thought we did a really sharp job the first three innings and then throughout the game we swung the bat well. Chris Dwyer went out and pitched a heck of a ball game for us. He was outstanding from the start to the finish. We played very well defensively, and just put together a perfect game. We have to get some rest tonight, and come back and be ready to play a good Oklahoma State team tomorrow. We can’t take anything from today into tomorrow, except maybe some confidence. It starts out 0-0 tomorrow so we have to start all over again.”

On Day “It was a long day, we’re tired, and it is very warm out there. We didn’t play very well in the first ball game against Tennessee Tech, so this ball game was a good one for us because we had things under control. We started out so well that we were able to do what we needed to do on bases. I thought we ran the bases very aggressively today too, so it was kind of a perfect storm for us, but at the same time we have to realize that tomorrow’s a different game and we have to play the same tomorrow.”

On the importance of Dwyer’s play and the early lead “They were equally important because we didn’t score many runs the first couple of ball games in the tournament so it’s nice to get in that track and feel good about our offense. That was important when we started. But it was also very important to make a statement; our 2 freshman, Scott Wiseman and Chris Dwyer went out there and did a heck of a job for us today. It’s tough to find 2 freshmen who can go out there and pitch like that in a pressure situation. We’re proud of both those guys, and there’s more to come hopefully.”

On DH Chris Epps “He’s been giving us some life at the beginning of the lineup. We put him there about the middle of the season and he gives us life up there, is a tough out, runs the bases well, has laid out a couple of nice bunts the past couple of days, he hustles all the time and keeps his head in the game. I couldn’t be happier with how he’s playing right now.”

On Clemson being ready for tomorrow’s game “They’ll be ready to play tomorrow. I know my team, and we’re highly motivated. It was hard for us to be in the loser’s bracket, we knew what we had to do ahead of time. We got together and talked about it, and knew we had to win three ball games. We’ve taken care of two of them, and it’s going to be a tough game tomorrow. We’re playing against a tough baseball team, but there won’t be any question of whether we’re ready to play or not. “

Clemson DH Chris Epps on game “It was important for us to start out early. These past 2 games we were starting a little slow, and hadn’t been getting on lead-off wise. Today we jumped on them from the get-go and took some pressure off of our pitchers and got things going early, so starting off early was a good situation for us.”

Clemson second-baseman Mike Freeman on strategy “It was the kind of game plan you have against a right-hand pitcher. We knew he had good velocity and we were trying to keep our swings short and see the ball all the way in and not get too big with our swings. We knew he was going to come after us so we were trying to stay aggressive and stay on the ball and we’ve had a lot of success going the other way so it just kind of worked out.” “Getting off to a good start really helped us. We had a lot of chances to hit with guys on base today. Hitting is just contagious. Once Chris started hitting I started hitting and then it went down the lineup with everyone hitting. It’s a lot of fun to play with guys on base and a lot of fun to watch Chris pitch.”

Clemson Pitcher Chris Dwyer “Anytime the offense gets going early it’s easier to go up there and throw. Our mentality is that we’re always pitching with our backs against the wall. I always try to pitch the same. I was trying to keep them off balance and throw some curve balls and work on my fast balls.”