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Charlottesville Super Regional
Oklahoma 10, Virginia 7
June 13, 2010

Oklahoma head coach Sunny Golloway
Opening Statement:

“It was another good, hard-fought contest I thought. We had a little bit of everything in that ballgame. The biggest key was us answering when they hit the three-run shot in the sixth inning – we come back and Max [White] hits the two-run shot right after we had [stolen] second base – he said he looked at me a couple of times, he knows our game well, thought I might have him bunt the runner to third base. I told him I had been waiting for him to hit another one in the trees and he did it. It was a big one for us – it gave us a cushion. Jeremy [Erben] stayed in there, sealing the deal and keeping our pitching staff really fresh and ready to go. Of course everyone saw what Cody [Reine] did – I just think our team depends on different people at different times and we clearly have talked and given our team the message that baseball will find different players on every-given different day and you need to be able to respond and our guys have done that in grand fashion the last two months of the season. We are looking forward to competing tomorrow – it has been a tremendous series so far and I am sure its going to finish off being that way.”

On whether to have Max White bunt or swing away in the sixth inning:
“Sometimes we like to go and show bunt and see how teams are going to pitch it. A lot of times when a team thinks its going to be a bunt situation they are going to feed you some fastballs and try and get the out you are giving them – it is just part of how we do things.”

On his freshmen:
“Our guys are very unselfish, they play for one another, and they do what we ask of them. They have been a lot of fun to coach – they are young. I tell my coaching staff ‘they just don’t know any better’ – but they have been like a sponge all year and they continue to be that way and they play hard.”

Oklahoma outfielder Cody Reine
On if he did anything different in his approach at the plate:

“I really can’t say anything has changed in my game. I just went out there and prepared every day to the best of my abilities. When an occasion has arisen, I have been able to come through – sometimes you are able to and sometimes you are not. When you’re not there and don’t rise to the occasion, you need to keep your head up and go on and I have been able to come through and it has just been great.”

On getting into the UVa bullpen early:
“It is always a great feeling to be able to get into a team’s bullpen early. He [Robert Morey] is a great pitcher and we knew that as long as he was on the mound, we would have a tough challenge in front of us and getting him out quickly helped us in the long run.”

Oklahoma outfielder Max White
On what Cody Reine has brought to the lineup:

“Cody coming in production-wise has given the team confidence throughout the lineup. It has helped a lot.”

Oklahoma pitcher Jeremy Erben
On his performance out of the ‘pen:

“The same thing has been going on all season, coming on in relief, doing what I can to get out of innings when I need to pick up a starting pitcher or another reliever. We are just doing the things we have been doing all season, pitching down, forcing contact and letting our defense do the job for us.”

Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor
Opening Statement:
“It was a tough loss. Oklahoma deserved to win. They swung the bats aggressively and took advantage of their opportunities. We absolutely competed and battled tooth-and-nail, all the way to the end, but this is why it’s a three-game series. We won the first and Oklahoma won the second and we have a chance tomorrow night to advance.”

On Oklahoma’s offense:
“I think if Robert Morey – and he would tell you -if he threw like he was capable of, it obviously gives us a much better chance to win. But listen, Oklahoma’s got almost 100 home runs, 100 stolen bases. They’re a very, very good offensive ball club.

“So it’s unrealistic that we’re just going to shut them down for three games. They’re a very talented offensive ball club, and what we have to do, though, is limit their opportunities. You can’t walk hitters. Robert has three walks. You can’t hit batters, things like that. You can’t give them extra chances, because they’re too good of an offensive club to do that, and eventually they’re going to capitalize.”

On confidence level heading into Game 3:
“I feel really good about going into tomorrow. I really do. How can you not? Every time we’ve needed to get a win, this team has responded like champions. They won’t hang their heads, they’ll keep their heads up, they’ll be ready to play. So if we go down tomorrow, it won’t be for the players having a lack of confidence or belief in themselves. We’ll be ready to play, and hopefully we get it done.”

Virginia pitcher Robert Morey
On his performance:
“I didn’t settle in like I should have. I felt great coming in. I prepared all week. I had the right mindset but I just couldn’t settle in. I may have had too much adrenaline, been too pumped up.”

On pitching against such a strong Oklahoma lineup:
“We look at same game film and try to find some of their weak points. For the most part we just try to pitch our game. We don’t necessarily go after one hitter. We just try to pitch our game.”

On what he will work on for his next appearance:
“When the ball is up or the ball is down, that’s something that I can control with my release point. I’ll try to find that because I left some balls up and some balls down; it wasn’t anything in particular. I’ll try and fix that.”

Virginia outfielder Phil Gosselin
On how it feels to lose such an important game:
“It’s tough. A loss is tough no matter when it is, especially when it leads to an elimination game. Both this loss and the loss to St. John’s last week were tough losses but hopefully we can rebound just like we did last week. Hopefully we can put tonight’s game behind us.”

Virginia infielder John Hicks
On batting against Jeremy Erben:
“Really, I think it’s all their guys. They keep you off balance really well. When you are thinking breaking ball, they throw a fastball. It’s all about making adjustments to guys like that. We need to pick that one pitch and stick with it and I think we will be able to do that tomorrow.”

On the team’s mindset going into an elimination game:
“I think we’re going to play with a lot of confidence tomorrow because we’ve been good all year responding to losses. Oklahoma is going to be tough. They are not going to just come out and give it to us, we are going to have to take it.”

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