June 22, 2008

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Fresno State Head Coach Mike Batesole
(opening statement): "That was a gutsy performance when we needed it the most. It was a mental battle for (Clayton) Allison, and he won it. The infielders made smart decisions and all three pitchers were locked in and located their pitches."

(on pitching staff's performance): "They had outstanding plate discipline. To have the focus they did on the mound is what I'm most proud of. These guys are worn down and they found a way to focus all nine innings."

Fresno State pitcher Clayton Allison
(about tonight's performance): "It was another must win situation. We came out with our backs against the wall and had to make some pitches. It was a lot easier to with the solid defense."

Fresno State pitcher Brandon Burke
(about the reality of the win): "The win is even sweeter knowing we were facing elimination. Now we're one of two teams fighting for the national championship. It's inconceivable."

(on when it started to set in): "When Allison came out in the zone and was so focused. It's one of the most gutsy performances I've ever seen on a baseball field."

Fresno State third baseman Tommy Mendonca
(about his at-bat in the third inning): "It was a pretty big at-bat. We knew we had to get something in or they would have gotten the momentum. But we have a good two-strike plan and it worked out."

North Carolina Head Coach Mike Fox
(opening statement): "It's not ever fun. Actually worse no matter where you are, but especially here. We'll choose to focus on the seniors and what they've done. We didn't have a lot of things go right for us. Fresno State did, and they had a lot to do with it."

(about Fresno State): "Wow. They'd made every play defensively against us - all three games. We looked at the statistics and they've made some errors throughout the year. If you ask what is the one thing that stood out, they played terrific defensively."

(about North Carolina making it to the CWS three straight times): "There's a lot of parity in college baseball, as you've heard us say. It's difficult getting here. We're not patting ourselves on the back. Our league prepared us for this level of competition. It's hard to get here."

(on his pitchers being tired): "I think we probably asked a little too much out of those guys. You wanna run the guys out there that had impact on us getting here. I struggled with that today. My hat is off to them that they wanted to go out there tonight."

(about CWS crowd): "This is still the greatest place ever to play. It doesn't get any better than this."

North Carolina third baseman Chad Flack
(about whether he felt UNC had another comeback tonight): "I thought toward the end of the game we were hitting the ball pretty hard. They played well on defense and took a couple of hits from us."