Postgame Quotes - Super Regional Game 1

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Charlottesville Super Regional
Virginia 3, Oklahoma 2
June 12, 2010

Postgame Quotes
Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor
Opening statement:
“Well yesterday when Coach Golloway and I were both up here, we both commented that we have very similar, evenly matched ball clubs. I think that showed today. We were one run better and I think we probably had the same amount of hits. It was a good defensive game for the most part. Danny Hultzen gave us a tremendous start. Everybody out there was wondering when we were going to see the ‘old Danny’ back even though he had won those games. He was back tonight. It was great to see him in command of the game. We couldn’t have won this game without that effort. Kevin Arico came in and did a great job in the ninth inning. I have to give a lot of credit to Oklahoma. They are a tough ballclub. Their pitching is really good. They keep you off stride. They did a nice job but fortunately we were able to hit a couple of balls out and hang on there at the end. We are looking forward tomorrow.”

On Oklahoma:
“We knew Oklahoma would be a very aggressive club. They put the offense in motion and you have to be able to defend against the bunt. You have to be able to handle it and you have to be able to make the pitches.”

On taking the first game of the series:
“It is great to win the first game. You obviously want to start off on the right foot but if we don’t win tomorrow we’re back to square one and it’s winner-take-all on Monday. It only pays in if we win tomorrow. The only thing that it could affect is what I do with some pitching for the if-necessary game on Monday. I can tell you though, we’ll be ready and we’ll see what happens.”

On Danny Hultzen:
“I’ll say this: Danny Hultzen has been a bulldog for us all year long. He has been a bulldog for us for two years. The kid has tremendous stuff and he is a fierce competitor. He is the ACC Pitcher of the Year, an All-American and 11-1 for a reason. You don’t do that just by having good stuff. You do that by being a bulldog and having a lot of poise. The homerun by Grovatt was big. It obviously gave us the win – but from Danny’s standpoint, now he’s pitching ahead rather than pitching behind.”

Virginia Pitcher Danny Hultzen
On the difference between this game and his past five starts:
“I have felt good the past five starts but I guess I just got ahead of the hitters in the count today. I threw a lot more strikes. I think that was the main difference.”

On throwing 130 pitches:
“I don’t think that I have ever thrown 130 pitches – and I had no idea it was 130 pitches. I thought it was around 100. Someone outside just told me it was 130 and I was surprised. I felt great.”

On the rain delay’s effect on the team:
“You know, guys can lose focus and just lounge around in the locker room when there is a rain delay but I could tell that we were focused. The rain delay didn’t affect anyone. I went through my normal routine and I was about to throw my first pitch in the bullpen to warm up but I just came back in and redid everything.”

Virginia outfielder Dan Grovatt
On the home run he hit in the sixth:
“First of all, I think you have to give a lot of credit to their pitcher. He was throwing great all night with a lot of breaking balls and a hard fastball. He gave us trouble the whole time. He threw a fastball and I put a big swing on it though. Danny did awesome tonight and kept us in this game.”

On hitting with Keith Werman on third:
“When he got to third, my thought was just to get the ball in play. That is what I was thinking there – ‘we’ve got a guy on third with less than two outs so I have to get this ball in play.'”

On coming out of his slump:
“You know really, that doesn’t matter at all. We are in a situation right now where we have to win tomorrow and I came to the park today intending to win. What happened today and in the regular season isn’t going to help us win tomorrow so I’ve put that behind me and I am going to keep that up tomorrow.”

Virginia pitcher Kevin Arico
On his strategy pitching the ninth inning:
“Coming into the last inning, I was just looking to find the zone, get ahead in the count and throw good pitches. I threw to the zone as best I could and we came out on top today.”

Oklahoma head coach Sunny Golloway
Opening Statement:
“I thought it was a really good college baseball game – of course that is what you hope and expect to see this time of year. Seven hits apiece – one error on their side and none on ours. They got two balls out of the yard and that clearly ended up being the difference. They scored their runs on home runs and I thought our guy Michael Rocha pitched terrific – he had a couple balls up – seems like we only had four or five pitches up the whole day, but two of them got hit really hard.

“As far as our guys fighting back and having a great opportunity at the end – it’s what we have done all year. A lot of times it’s going to go the other way. We have a game tomorrow and our guys are well aware that in these Super Regional formats you have a great opportunity the next day. As it gets closer for either team it gets a little bit tougher along the way and we just have to stay in there and battle. It has been a long time since we lost a series, I realize that it has been a long time since our opponent has also – but you have to go back to the Texas Tech series for us – that was a long time ago that it seems like it was last year. Our guys will be ready – we will come back tomorrow and give it our Sooner effort like we always do – we like our chances there.”

On his scouting report of Virginia’s Danny Hultzen:
“We had a good report and we saw what was in the report – good velocity – uses his changeup well, stays away, away and then busts you in late and try to elevate. I thought his elevation was the key to his success against one of our best hitters [Garrett] Buechele. We had a good report – sometimes when guys have that kind of stuff the instant you have to make a decision to lay off are very difficult – and Buechele had trouble doing that along with a couple other guys. He [Hultzen] pitched really well today.”

On if Oklahoma’s various missed swings were a result of Hultzen or if OU is a free-swinging club
“That is tipping your cap to your opponent – [Hultzen’s] stuff is very good. He has tremendous deception with his pitches – look at his numbers, he has done that to everybody all year. We don’t have a free-swinging club – we have some discipline in the zone and we create a lot of pressure on the defense. He takes that pressure basically off his defense when he gets a punch.”

Oklahoma pitcher Michael Rocha
On if his balk in the sixth inning rattled him to give up a home run to Dan Grovatt:
“I don’t think the balk had anything to do with that pitch – I thought I made a decent pitch, but he beat me with it, so I have to tip my hat to him on that pitch.”

On what it says about Super Regional play when you make a couple bad pitches:
“You have to come out and give your best effort – you live for these close one-run ballgames and it didn’t go our way today. We will come out and be hot tomorrow.”

Oklahoma centerfielder Chris Ellison
On UVa starting pitcher Danny Hultzen:
“He is a good pitcher. His velocity is up there, his slider is really good. He pitched great today and we were not hitting the ball as well as we usually are.”

On if OU hoped to face a Danny Hultzen that wasn’t sharp:
“We always want to see a pitcher at his best – we want to go out and beat our opponents when they are playing their best. He pitched well tonight and we are going to come out tomorrow and try even harder.”