Postgame Quotes
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NCAA Men’s College World Series
Game 5: Cal State Fullerton vs. Virginia Post-Game Press Conference Quotes
Hall of Fame Room, Rosenblatt Stadium
Monday, June 15, 2009
Cal State Fullerton head coach Dave Serrano:
(opening statement): “First of all I’d like to start off by thanking the city of Omaha, ESPN and all you media for making this event the greatest in college athletics. It is unfortunate for the people who saw us this weekend. I’m not taking anything away from Virginia or Arkansas, but we didn’t play very well. We didn’t stay very true to ourselves and got out of character, we’ll have to go back to the drawing board and see what happened. If we’d have played better ball, we wouldn’t be here right now. We think with what we have coming back next year, we’ll be back.”
(on the offensive performance): “We got 13 hits and five runs, that’s not very good offense for us. We got good at-bats when it didn’t matter and bad at-bats when it did matter.”
(on the pitching performance): “I think a little bit was mechanical and that happens when you are a little excited. Falling behind in the count was also a factor, we haven’t done that all year and that is why we have been successful.”
Cal State Fullerton starting pitcher Daniel Renken:
(on expectations entering the CWS): “Pressing-wise, I think that we pressed ourselves a little too hard during both games. I can’t speak for the offense, but it looks like they were pressing themselves as well.”
(on Virginia’s four-run second inning): “Today I was falling behind in the count and letting the hitters get comfortable in the box. I didn’t execute my game plan. As the leader of this pitching staff, which I consider myself [to be], it was inexcusable to fall behind. It lost momentum [for our team] in the field and at the plate. Virginia is a good team, but I made them look a lot better today.”
Cal State Fullerton catcher Dustin Garneau:
(on living up to high pre-tournament expectations): “I thought we were pressing a little bit that first game, especially with Noe [Ramirez] on the mound. We definitely came here expecting to win it all, and we didn’t really play good baseball both games.”
(on his career at Cal State Fullerton): “For me, it would have been a little nicer to go out on a win, but my college career has been great. I love Fullerton, and there’s nothing better than playing college baseball.”
Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor:
(opening statement): “I’m very proud of our club. I spoke Saturday about how this team shows resiliency and they’ve been that way all year long. They’ve bounced back from defeat and come back fighting. It was a difficult loss on Saturday and we played great today. It took a mixture of pitches to put this thing together. We had some good individual performances. (Keith) Werman is a gunny player and he’s winning hearts here in Omaha. We’re happy to have the chance to play again.”
(on changing up the lineup): “I wrote six different lineups last night and the one we had today wasn’t one of them. I wanted to mix it up a bit. We moved (Matt) Packer down. I wanted a good righty-lefty combo. The right things worked for us.”
(on being home and winning his first CWS game as a coach): “I know where we’re at and how big this is. I’m happy for these guys. It is better to win one of these games as a player, to be able to wear the uniform of your school in competition. They’ve handled the situation with maturity and bounced back today. It’s really special.”
Virginia second baseman Keith Werman:
(about whether he might move to cleanup): “I feel it does not matter where he puts me in the lineup. I’ll do whatever I can to help the team.”
Virginia relief pitcher Andrew Carraway:
(about his team’s first CWS win): “This is a very big win for our program. No one wants to come here and go two and out. We have a lot of young guys on our team. The energy level is high.”
Virginia first baseman Danny Hultzen:
(about preparing for pitchers): “I think a guy like (San Diego State pitcher and No. 1 draft pick) Stephen Strasburg is a different case. We prepare for each starting pitcher the same. You can’t take any pitcher for granted.”