June 11, 2006

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University of Alabama

Head Coach Jim Wells

"I was real proud of my team, the way we fought back there. I feel badly because I thought I mis-managed the game late. I should have done an inside move again. I thought the guy was going to bunt and we had called a breaking ball and he hit one out. But, the guys, what a great comeback and then that happens. You've got a guy 0-2 and then you don't get him and then Flack comes up and you miss with the pitch and he hits it. But I told the club, I said I don't know if I've had a better experience with a group ever. So it's been incredible. It was tough tonight. It should have been a different ending if I'd have done a better job at the end.

#26 Matt Downs, 3rd Baseman:

On emotions throughout the game: "It was a rollercoaster. I guess everybody saw it. They went up big. Then when we went up our emotions got high and then coming back up again and the emotions let down. You've got to stay level the whole time. You can't get too high, can't get too low. It was a classic example tonight. We just got too high and it fell out for us."

# 2 Emeel Salem, Centerfielder:

On North Carolina's game-winning homerun: "That guy swung the bat well all night. You have to give him credit. It was a good pitch on the outer half of the plate, maybe even off the plate, and he just stayed with it and did exactly what you're supposed to do with it."

"Me, personally, they completely shut me down this weekend and that's part of the reason why we lost and I take a lot of this on me. I left guys on base and really wasn't very productive this weekend and it showed."

On the season: "I wouldn't trade it with anybody. We won the SEC. You couldn't ask for anything bigger your senior season than to win the SEC and get a ring out of it and a trophy. I wouldn't trade anybody in the nation right now."

# 33 Tommy Hunter, Pitcher:

On three-run homerun against him on the mound: "It was nothing different than any other game. I was throwing inside at will. So, I mean, that was the big thing about tonight. There are not a lot of guys who are able to throw in and I was busting them in pretty consistently and then of course, you leave a ball up and over the middle and it's going to go over the trees. So, it was disappointing, very disappointing. But it happens in baseball. It's something that you've got to live with but it's hard to."

On if he talked his way into an extra inning: "No. To be honest with you, I don't even remember. It wasn't anything about me coming out. I guess they thought I could do it. A mistake, and there goes the ball."

University of North Carolina

Head Coach Mike Fox

"I have felt like there was something special about this group all year long. Chad Flack is about as clutch of a player as I have ever coached. I've never seen anything like that."

"There is a huge wave of emotions. I feel for Alabama because I've been in their shoes before. It's a tough deal when you get to this point of the year. I'm so elated for our players who have given their heart and soul all year. We've been rewarded for a lot of hard work."

On his team's attitude following Avila's 9th inning home run: "This is why people love the game of baseball; it isn't over until the other team gets you out 27 times. Our motto all year long has been `Nothing will break our spirit'. We've said that a number of times this year and if that doesn't break it then nothing will."

#34 Chad Flack

"I'm just glad I could do it for our coaches because they deserve it. The whole team deserves it, especially our seniors. I can't think of anything better to get them to Omaha."

"I was just thinking about making good contact, getting a hit and keeping the inning going. I ended up getting a better piece of the ball than I thought I would."

"I turned to Coach Forbes right before my at bat and told him that we weren't losing this game. We knew, even after (Alabama) hit the home run, that we weren't going to lose and that we were going to battle until the end."