Virginia/Georgia Tech Postgame Quotes
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May 24, 2007
VIRGINIA HEAD COACH Brian O’Connor
Overall thoughts on the game…
“It feels very good to be 2-0 in this tournament and it was nice to beat a very good Georgia Tech ball club today. I am just so proud of our team as they have hung in there in both of these ball games. Maybe things didn’t go our way in the first five innings of the last two games, but we have continued to battle and found ways to score runs.”
On what it takes to win a championship…
“There are a lot of things that went our way today. To win at championship time, not only do you have to be good, but things also have to go your way.”
On Sean Doolittle’s performance…
“Fortunately, this guy to my left (Sean Doolittle) had one of his best outings in a long time. I know that he is going to have to pitch like that for the rest of the year in order for us to advance on. I thought that his ability to come out and get us off to a good start was one of the most important parts of this ballgame. Fortunately, we were also able to tack on some runs at the end.”
VIRGINIA STARTING LEFT-HANDED PITCHER Sean Doolittle
On getting into a groove to start the game…
“I felt really good today, but I think that the most important part of today was that I was able to stay in the game mentally against such a good team. Against NC State (earlier this season), I got off to a pretty good start and then in the fourth inning, the wheels somehow came off. I knew that if we were going to have a chance to win today against a team like that, then I would have to not allow that to happen again. Fortunately, I was able to hold them to just one before the rain came, but then like Coach O’Connor said the guys stepped up to score some runs for us.”
On the rain delays…
“At first, I thought that it was going to be a five minute shower, which would give me a good break. As it turns out, I think it was a great chance for some of our relievers to get ready to go. So when (Jake) Rule got his name called, he came out and did a great job.”
GEORGIA TECH HEAD COACH DANNY HALL
Overall thoughts on the game…
“For the most part I was pleased with the way we played. I thought that Eddie Burns pitched well, really battled and pitched out of some tough jams to keep us in the game. We had a hard time hitting Doolittle early on, but it seemed like we were getting to him before we had that rain delay. But give (UVA relief pitcher Jake Rule) Rule credit, he came in and got a double play in a key situation with the bases loaded. We had some other chances to get a hit and get the lead or make it a lot closer than it appeared, but couldn’t do it.”
On Virginia’s performance in the game…
“Give them credit because they got some hits late in the game to get ahead of us. They can really pitch well and that’s why they are moving on.”