Game 5: Post-Game Quotes

June 5, 2005

NCAA Regional (Clemson, SC) Game 5: #2 College of Charleston vs. #3 Oral Roberts Post-Game Quotes

Oral Roberts Head Coach Rob Walton “Nick Jones really dominated on the mound today, giving up only three hits. That was a special, special performance on the mound. It was really nice to see us start to hit the ball again the past few days. We have had a little bit of hard luck lately with guys on base were seemed to ground out but we really started to square the ball up todayp. We have had a couple of good wins over good ball clubs the past two days and I’ve very proud of our guys and what they have accomplished. Starting pitching is always the key and the bullpen is key whenever you are in a tournament like this. I am very proud of our boys and the way they played today.”

Oral Roberts Pitcher Nick Jones “I was battling most of the day, I did have my slider working for me. I was having some command issues early on in the game but the slider pitch was really the go to pitch for me. I was happy for the opportunity to pitch in a game like this, I told myself I was going to give it everything I had and I turned out to be on the good side of this. I came into the game knowing they were a good ball club and I knew if I hit my spots and pitched smart I knew I would have a successful day.”

College of Charleston Head Coach John Pawlowski I’m really proud of what these kids have accomplished all year. I told them we walked off the field 48 times winning some ball games, and I’m proud of each and every one of them. We’re obviously disappointed with what happened today. We didn’t swing the bats real well yesterday or today and that’s a credit to another great pitching performance today. It’s always tough when the season comes to an end, but I’m proud of these guys. We just couldn’t piece anything together. We couldn’t get any kind of momentum today.

On the level of pitching in the regionals I don’t necessarily know if the level was any different. Hitting is really contagious and we caught a cold here the last few days. That’s a tribute to the guys that went out and pitched. Our guys competed and did the things that they’ve done all year, except that it just didn’t work out. I can’t fault the effort of our kids. It just didn’t work out for us.

On changing the lineup for today’s game Yesterday was a dominating pitching performance and I just thought we didn’t have a lot of quality at bats. Today I figured we’d change it up a little bit, move some guys around, give some guys a little different look, slide some guys down in the order, a couple guys up. Anytime you go into a little spell when you’re not swinging the bats well, you try to do different things. When you’re at this point in the season, you try all the moves you can. You get desperate for moves. I tried to shake up the lineup. It didn’t work today, but we had a great effort.

College of Charleston’s Brett GardnerOn the level of pitching in the regionals Last night and today we faced two really good pitchers. They both threw the ball really well. The level may have been a little higher, but it wasn’t anything unhittable or that we couldn’t handle as a team. The good at bats that we did have the last couple days, we seemed to hit it right at guys. We just couldn’t get anything going. The ball just didn’t seem to roll our way. We faced two pretty good pitchers this weekend and we didn’t have good approaches at the plate. When you put those two things together, it’s not going to work out for you.

On the performance of ORU pitcher Nick Jones He had two good breaking balls, a slider and a curve ball. He threw a good game. He mixed it up, in and out. He threw stikes and didn’t walk many guys. He hit his spots and kept us off balance. We didn’t have too many quality at bats. You just have to give him credit; he pitched a great game today.