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Postgame Quotes - Game 6: St. John's vs. Virginia
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Charlottesville Regional
No. 3 St. John’s 6, No. 1 Virginia 5
June 6, 2010
St. John’s Quotes
Head Coach Ed Blankmeyer
Opening statement:
“It was a great baseball game – long day at the ball yard, but certainly a fruitful day. When you win a game like this it comes down to players stepping up and making opportunities. What can you say about Jeremy (Baltz)? What a great at bat, fighting off some pitches – guy runs the fast ball in, he fouls it off then leaves a slider out over the plate and he deposits it over the left field wall. What can you say about Kevin Kilpatrick? He came in here and he shut them down. When you play a club like Virginia, a well-coached club, a talented club, – players have to step up to win a game like that.”
On his pitching for Monday:
“All hands on deck – I actually have to check it out. Every one of those kids will want to take the ball. We have a bunch of kids who are gamers, who are winners. In our (BIG EAST) tournament the past couple weeks, beating Louisville, they are starting to believe and we are young. We will be young and stupid sometimes. Sometimes that naïve nature is a little scary because it takes you a long way.”
Freshman Jeremy Baltz
On his eventual game-winning two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth:
“He kept shaking off the first pitch and he threw me about four sliders in that at bat, then he snuck a fastball by me and I fouled it off down the right side. I was kind of sitting fastball and luckily I sat back on the slider and put a good swing on it.”
Sophomore Kevin Kilpatrick
On his five innings of shutout relief work:
“I have just been told all year to just go out there and compete and finish what I started each inning. That is what I tried to do – I tried to low in the zone and basically throw strikes and let them hit it.”
Virginia Quotes
Head Coach Brian O’Connor
Opening statement:
“We knew when we came into this regional that it wasn’t going to be easy. I’m very familiar with St. John’s and how tough they are after coaching in the BIG EAST for nine years. VCU and Ole Miss have very good teams also. It was a difficult loss obviously. We had our opportunities to win and didn’t do it but this is why you go 2-0 in the tournament. We have another opportunity tomorrow to win the championship. As I told the team after the game, this team has bounced back all year. They haven’t let losses affect them so I imagine that we will come out tomorrow and give it everything we have. We’ll play a good ball game and hopefully we’ll have a chance to win.”
On St. John’s offense:
“It doesn’t surprise me. When I watched their game against Ole Miss, they had seven or eight hits off of Drew Pomerantz. They looked they had a good game plan. St. John’s has some really talented hitters in their lineup. If you don’t make your pitches and give them opportunities with the walk, it can come back to hurt you. I like their offense. They are going to be tough to beat tomorrow. We’re going to have to pitch a little better and really swing the bats.”
On Kevin Kilpatrick pitching five-plus innings in relief:
“He did a great job. It was frustrating to have him go five and a third innings at a critical point in the game. It was frustrating that we couldn’t scratch off a couple of hits because I think the end result would have been a little bit different. The problem was that we let him hang around. We had a chance to put him away but we didn’t do it.”
On morale going into tomorrow’s elimination game:
“I don’t think it is a problem. I know my players. They are resilient and I have complete confidence that they are going to come out tomorrow with everything we have. I have no reason to think differently than that. Is there pressure? Sure. I would be lying if I told you that there isn’t. We’re a national seed hosting a regional so everybody assumes that you are supposed to walk through it and win three games – that is just not the way it works. We’re playing a great opponent but we’re going to come out ready to play tomorrow and give it our best shot.”
Junior Tyler Wilson:
On Baltz’s homerun in the eighth to take the lead:
“He is their guy. I tip my hat to the guy. That’s all I can really say.”
On Virginia’s ability to bounce back:
“Obviously it’s a tough loss but we have bounced back all year. We are going to come together tomorrow more than we ever had. We have some great arms and I know I’ll definitely be ready to go. We are going to go out in full force.”
Junior Robert Morey
On how he felt going out to the mound:
“I felt great out there. I was amped up by the crowd. They were giving us great support all night. I got behind in the count sometimes and left some balls up high and St. John’s was able to take advantage of that.”
On pitching six and two thirds innings:
“We were able to save some guys tonight. It’s not something you think about when you’re out there but it’s a good thing. We are going to have a fair amount of fresh arms tomorrow.”