Game 4: Quotes and Audio

June 4, 2006

Clemson Regional Post-GamePress Conferences Media PlayerEvent Download the Free Real Player.MississippiState(7:04) Download the Free Real Player.Elon(9:29)

Elon Head Coach Mike KennedyOpening statement “First and foremost, I just want to say that we had a great year. To end it like this is a little disappointing. Certainly we wish we had played a little better. I think we won 45 ballgames this year. That’s never been done at our place. We took a step in the right direction, as far as post-season play. We’re not satisfied; we’re disappointed obviously. But, our kids need to keep their heads up. We had a great year.”

“We have to give Mississippi State credit. They came out of the losers bracket, and won the game.”

On pitchers “We’ve struggled on the mound that last two or three weeks. We knew that and we were concerned about that coming in.”

On getting back in the game after scoring 3 runs “Our kids have battled back all year. We’ve had a few games that we won late and rallied. I thought we would get back in the game. Unfortunately, pitching wise, we didn’t give ourselves a chance to do that. We cut (Mississippi State’s) lead to 7-3, but then they went out and put up five runs. So, any momentum you have went right out the window.”

On pitching Hensley “The last month of the season, he’s been outstanding. He’s been our best guy. Last night, he didn’t catch a couple breaks, so we took him out. He was fresh, and he was great in the bullpen before the game.”

Grant Rembert, catcherOn the end of the season “We played extremely hard all season. We fought all year long. I don’t we can really regret anything. Things just didn’t work out for us.”

Chris Vasami, first basemanOn the end of the season “I think those last couple innings, it starts to set in. Then you start celebrating the seniors, and start celebrating your teammates and all the hard work that you’ve put in since the first day you get back on campus in the fall. I think that what most of the end of the season is all about: celebrating the season up to that point.”

Mississippi State Head Coach Ron PolkOpening Comments “We got two-out hits, which we haven’t had in a long time. We probably had more two-out hits today than we did the whole second half of the season. We found some holes. I thought Justin (Pigott) was a great pitcher to throw against Elon because they’re a very aggressive hitting ballclub. If we had made a play in the first game we would’ve beaten a very good team twice. We’ve had two one-run games so far, so it was nice to play a game where you felt good about it. We got a big home run from (Brian) LaNinfa again; he’s kind of been our hot hitter.”

On the performance of starting pitcher Justin Pigott “Justin did a great job of throwing strikes and changing speeds. They’re an aggressive ballclub, but a kid like Justin can neutralize them. He’s probably thrown 130 pitches in two days and he’s not a big kid. So we’re a little concerned about him. We may need him tomorrow, so he’s going to have to get ready.”

Mississippi State Starting Pitcher Justin PigottOn his win this afternoon“I definitely felt yesterday (pitching relief on Saturday). It was kind of similar to earlier this year against South Carolina when I threw a lot in the bullpen the day before. Basically you just have to grind it out. The first three innings, I didn’t feel real well. I didn’t have a whole lot of command on some things. They had a few hits that were bouncing doubles, but there wasn’t much we could do about those. It was one of those days when you have to grind it out and get it done.”