June 10, 2007

Recap |  Box Score |  Notes

South Carolina 8, North Carolina 6
Chapel Hill Super Regional
Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Ray Tanner
Opening Statement:
³Obviously I am delighted we were able to win this game and force a game three. We battled after the tough loss on Friday night and force a third game, which is certainly never easy against a team as good as the Tar Heels. We hung in there and now we get to play a game three.²

On winning game two after the lengthy rain delay:
³That is what baseball players do, you deal with the elements and it was the same for both teams. There is not much you can do, you try to stay loose and let your guys know what the agenda is for the game. Great decision last night not to play and it was a beautiful afternoon to play today. You just have to deal with the elements in baseball.²

On forcing a game three:
³We have been in this situation before and they have been in this situation before. I think game three is not really hard to figure out; the game is going to be won by whoever plays the best. You have to pitch well, play defense and get some timely hits.²

On game three Tar Heel starter Luke Putkonen:
³I think a lot of him. He is very very good and he is a power guy. There is no question we are facing a power arm and when you win as many games as they win, you know they have some arms. We are going to try to do the best we can to figure him out and get some hits.²

On momentum of winning game two:
³I don¹t know if it will be a factor or not, we are coming off a win and they are coming off a loss. With maturity on both clubs, I don¹t know if it will be a factor. We¹ll both regroup and try to be at our best tonight.²

On game three Gamecock starter Mike Cisco:
³Mike Cisco is a poor man¹s Greg Maddux. He has to have it working for him. He has to use both sides of the plate well. He has to have everything working against a line-up as good as the Tar Heels. He¹s been in this position before. He pitched in a regional last year and a super regional last year. He has to give us a quality start.²

North Carolina Head Coach Mike Fox

Opening Statement:
³We have a little bit of time to regroup here and play Game 3. I think it¹s fitting two programs that have had great years. We didn¹t get it done today so we¹ll crank it back up tonight at 7 and see what happens. It¹ll be fun.²

On the loss in Game 2:
³We didn¹t get off to a good start obviously yesterday- didn¹t pitch well. I thought their starter pitched better than ours and that¹s the key. You have to make plays against them, you open the door for them there. They¹re a really good team and they¹re going to hurt you. Make mistakes with them, they¹re going to hurt you. Looking back, I think only three or four times all year long has South Carolina not scored at least five runs, so you have to score runs to beat them. We¹ll see if that¹s the case tonight. They¹re a good team, they¹re a good offensive team and you have to pitch well against them to have a chance.²

On the keys for Luke Putkonen to pitch well in Game 3:
³As any pitcher, first pitch strike, throw both sides of the plate, throw your breaking ball over for strikes. You can¹t let them sit on certain pitches. You get them in fastball counts, 2-0 or 3-1, you have to rely on two-seamers and changeups. We want him to throw his best pitches when he can and it¹s the same for any pitcher out there. We have pitching plans against them that we think will work, but you have to throw the ball in the right place and you have to get it in when you pitch in. It¹s the same for any pitcher. The good thing about Luke is I don¹t know if Luke has a heart rate.

He¹s going to stay the same. I don¹t think he¹ll stress out over tonight. I haven¹t seen him stress out over anything. I think he¹ll be even-keel tonight.²

On having Game 3 at home:
³It¹s where you want it. If somebody would have told us in August or in January that we had a chance to play at home for the right to go to Omaha for the World Series, we would have taken it. We can¹t be in a better position. We¹ve got to go out and play our best and see who wins.²

On having to delay the game and losing momentum:
³I try not to play that game. It¹s fruitless because there wasn¹t anything we could do about it. I¹m glad we came back and showed a little spunk in these innings. Whether or not that helps us or not, I don¹t know. I think Ray and I made the right call to start this one early. He and I both thought it was extremely important if there was a Game 3 that our kids had some rest, be able to eat, and have our kids at their best to play in such a big game. I thought that was important. It may not have been if we had played at 4, 4:30. We were trying to predict how long this game might go. It could go an hour and a half and you have to turn back around and play again. We didn¹t think that was in the best interest of both of our teams for tonight, so I hope we made the right call.²