/
.
Postgame Quotes - Super Regional Game 3
Story Links
Charlottesville Super Regional
Oklahoma 11, Virginia 0
June 14, 2010
Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor
Opening Statement:
“I’d first like to congratulate Oklahoma for winning the series this weekend and going to Omaha. They’ve got a very good ballclub and they were the better club this weekend. They’ve got good players who are very well coached; obviously they got hot at the right time, which is what it takes to get to Omaha. Secondly, the people I feel for the most in this situation are our seniors and our draft eligible players, who, depending on what they decide to do, won’t have the chance to wear this uniform again. I know that’s difficult for them. It’s difficult for me seeing some of them go because they’ve made so many great contributions to our program. It was a tough ballgame. Obviously, they beat us pretty good. Their pitching was very good. They swung the bats offensively and took advantage of our missed opportunities. They deserved to win.”
On lack of national seeds advancing to Omaha:
“What it says about college baseball is that there are a lot of teams that can really compete for the national championship. Even though you might be ranked No. 1 at times during the year like we were and Texas was, it doesn’t mean that you’re going to make it to Omaha. The teams that make it to Omaha are the teams that play hot right at the end of the year and that have some breaks go their way.”
On how he’ll remember this team:
“I’ll always remember this team as the team that handled the pressure really well. You might say that we didn’t handle it this weekend, but I don’t look at it that way. It’s one weekend, and we didn’t get the job done and they beat us two games in a row. It wasn’t because our players choked or our players couldn’t handle the pressure. We ran into a hot team that had our number. I’ll remember a team that continued to change this place.
“There’s some reason all these fans come out here, and I don’t think it’s because we won 51 games. I think a big part of it is that our fans can identify with our players. They respect our players and the way they play the game and the way they go about their business. I’ll remember a team that never backed down, a team that handled the pressure of being one of the top ranked teams in the country. We didn’t make it to Omaha, but there are a lot of great teams that didn’t make it to Omaha either.”
Virginia infielder Tyler Cannon
On how he’ll remember the season:
“Even though we didn’t make it to Omaha, we won 51 games and set record crowds throughout the season. We had to extend the bleachers out because people wanted to come see us play. Even though we didn’t get to Omaha, we still did some things really well, and those are the things you have to take. Oklahoma was playing really well. That was really special that our fans stuck around until the end, and that tells you something about them.”
On his Virginia career:
“I don’t regret anything. I wouldn’t change anything. If I could do it all over again, I would. If I could come back one more year, I would.”
Virginia pitcher Branden Kline
On the full count home run:
“You can’t really live in the past. It’s all in the moment. I had to go out there and make quality pitches after that, and unfortunately, I missed my spot. You never want to have men on base when you’re facing a hot hitter, but at the same time, you still want to make pitches that you usually have to make. That was a fast ball right down the middle, and he took advantage of it.”
Virginia pitcher Tyler Wilson
On Cavaliers’ offensive slump:
“That’s just the way the momentum went. You can’t take anything away from Oklahoma and the way they played today. We were a pitch away from getting some momentum on our side. It happens. That’s baseball. You never know what to expect and what’s going to happen. You can’t think about the past, and we have so much faith in our offense. They’ve done some really special things all season long. They’ve bailed our pitching staff out sometimes, but today, it just didn’t work out.”
On teammates leaving after this year:
“There are guys you play this game with that really leave a mark on you, and this season, a lot of us have really grown. Since I’ve been here at UVa, we’ve grown together. You’ve seen the program change in time, and we’ve all done that together. We’ve all had a piece in it, and sometimes, it’s tough to know that it could be a guy’s last time playing in a Virginia uniform.”
Oklahoma head coach Sunny Golloway
Opening Statement:
“Well I’m going to start by congratulating the University of Virginia, coach Brian O’Connor and his student-athletes that represent this fine institution. They did a marvelous job and finished 51-14 and it’s not an easy road to get to Omaha. They were terrific and the score today is not indicative of the team that we had to compete against. I thought the people of Charlottesville are outstanding. I’m not sure that we want to come in here again, as tough as a place it is to win.
“As for the Oklahoma Sooners, it’s hard sometimes because you want something so bad for your student-athletes. I’ve been to Omaha, I got to coach there and be a part of a national championship. You want it for the student-athletes that you coach and your coaching staff. It’s surreal. We’re going to Omaha, the last year at Rosenblatt Stadium.”
On gaining momentum towards the end of the year:
“I think our conference prepares us. We played UCLA earlier in the year, we play a very tough non-conference schedule to prepare us. And then the Big 12 prepares student-athletes. The student-athletes are well-trained and they compete the right way.”
On what is important at this time of year:
“Sometimes you coach young athletes and they don’t really know how good they are. Our starting pitching has done it for us. What pitching and defense does for teams this time of year heading into the College World Series is that it allows hitters to do some great things. Let’s remember how tight these first two contests were.”
Oklahoma outfielder Cody Reine
On being in the zone at the plate:
“I really can’t explain it. It’s one of those things that finds a player every now and then. It happened to be me this weekend, it could be anyone else next weekend.”
On being in a dog-pile of a team headed to Omaha:
“It’s an awesome feeling. It’s a goal that this team has wanted all season. Being in that dog-pile is a surreal feeling.”
Oklahoma pitcher Bobby Shore
On tonight’s outing:
“I was in a groove, I was throwing strikes. I wanted to keep the ball at the knees and make them hit the ball weak. It felt good.”
On having a three-run lead headed to the mound:
“In this type of circumstances, yes, it’s great to have that type of offense behind me to make plays for me.”
On the hitting performance of Cody Reine:
“Cody’s a great player. He can hit and he didn’t start the season for us but he came on strong. He is clutch and has come up clutch in big games. This is the biggest series we’ve had all year and he came up big.”