Post Game Quotes - East Carolina vs Bryant

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June 4, 2016

Post-Game Quotes

2016 NCAA CHARLOTTESVILLE BASEBALL REGIONAL
Davenport Field – Charlottesville, Va.

2016 NCAA Division I Baseball Regional – Game 2
June 3, 2016 – 6 p.m.
East Carolina (35-21-1) vs. Bryant (47-11)

Bryant University Quotes

Bryant Coach Steve Owens
Opening Statement:

“I’m disappointed with the final score because I don’t think it told the story of the game, but it doesn’t matter because a loss is a loss. We felt pretty prepared coming in. Both starting pitchers were outstanding and gave great efforts for their teams. Their starter made a lot of big pitches in key situations where we were a little over-aggressive, swinging at some balls in the dirt. We didn’t get in really good counts and he made some good pitches and didn’t give up runs in the critical situations in the game. I think that pretty much sums it up. I thought we did a pretty good job of getting some quality at bats going on him, but when it came time to score some runs, we weren’t able to do that. He controls the running game very well and makes pitches when he needs to. We had some very good at bats, but we failed to execute a sacrifice bunt in a key situation and when we did square the ball up with runners in scoring position, ECU played really good defense. I thought our defense was good today too, but they made some plays in the outfield that could have changed the game and a couple plays in the infield as well. We didn’t get it done in the key spots.”

On James Karinchak:

“I thought James was awesome today and gave us a lot of energy. Arguably he was the best player on the field today, and I thought he was throwing pretty hard with a very good breaking ball and good command. He threw some good changeups and for the most part was ahead in the count but got into one rocky point and he made the pitches to get out of it like good pitchers do.”

On taking James Karinchack out: “It wasn’t a difficult decision. I thought James was starting to tire on the fourth time through the lineup, and since he is a high-effort pitcher, there is a lot of movement in his delivery and when he gets tired he gets the ball up. I thought that was the most critical point in the game and we’ve had a couple of guys do really well for us out of the bullpen so I have no regrets with the decision I made at that time.”

Cole Fabio
On facing Evan Kruczynski: “All week we knew what we were going to be facing with his changeup, slider, and fastball. We knew he stayed away from righties and also came in, and early in the account he was throwing changeups and we really got out of our approach and didn’t make any adjustments and couldn’t get anything going.”

On the quick turnaround:
“This was disappointing but we know we have to rally to face William and Mary in the morning. We feel like we are a stronger team than them, so we just have to come out and change our approach to get back to hitting balls consistently so we can put some runs up.”

James Karinchak
On his approach:
“I was just trying to get ahead of everyone with my fastballs, and if I got ahead I would throw a breaking ball to the righties and a changeup to the lefties.”

On leaving the game:
“I never want to come out of the game, but we had a good matchup with our lefty and he gave us a better opportunity to get out of that jam than I did.”

East Carolina University Quotes

East Carolina Coach Cliff Godwin
Opening Statement:
“I’m really proud of our guys. Since we have played in the conference tournament we have been talking all week about playing with passion and the guys played hard. Their guy was unbelievable on the mound, and he was really tough. We are lucky to have Evan Kruczynski to match him pitch for pitch. I’m really proud of our guys and proud for East Carolina University.”

On starting tomorrow and comparing this to the series against Virginia in February:
“It was a long time ago. Virginia is a much different team. They have played much better at the end of the year, they are well coached offensively, defensively, on the mound, and we will go watch some video of Connor Jones’ recent starts. He’s one of the best pitchers in the country and will be drafted in the first round, so we will have our work cut out for us tomorrow.”

On playing with some fire and intensity:
“This team has been a bit of an enigma where we play with energy sometimes and sometimes we wouldn’t, but this is a really close-knit group. Last night at our team meeting we talked about family, and how much they care for each other. We actually had them come up to the front and talk about what this team meant for every single player on our team. The guys talked about the brotherhood and family. I think that made a big difference today because everyone was pulling for one another and we really focused on energy. We worried about energy, and I thought the guys played with a ton of energy tonight.”

On Harman’s at bat and getting the first run:
“It was huge. Bryce has had a tough year and this game is tough. He is a competitor and I challenged him to get up there, compete, and not let the guy beat him. I thought he put together as good of at bats as he has had all year. I’m really proud of the way he has played defensively in that first double play ball. I don’t know if there is another player that can catch it and then have the awareness to go back and tag the guy. That was a huge play.”

Evan Kruczynski
On confidence level and knowing that Bryant was going to have a tough time:
“I wasn’t really sure. I had to battle through the start, and they are a really good hitting ball club. I don’t think I had one clean inning all game. Every single inning they were battling pretty hard, but credit to our defense and Travis Watkins for keeping runners where they were. Like I said we just battled the whole time and came out with a win.”

On getting out of the jam and keeping momentum going:
“I think it was big for the team because it brought momentum to our side. That is really what I try to do. I try to get momentum shifted our way. Bryant was tough and they put me in some situations, but the defense got me out of those for sure. I’m not going to be a guy that is going to overpower you, but I’m going to be a fierce competitor out there and that’s what I’m going to stick to.”

Bryce Harman
On hitting for the first run:
“Coach Godwin told me before to just think, see the ball, and hit it to left center. So I didn’t try to do too much, but let my hands work and hit a fly ball.”

Garrett Brooks
On making a big catch:
“Kruczynski was battling all day and I knew we needed to make plays behind him. I was at the right place at the right time, and I got a good jump on it, and I was able to make the play.”

On the last game of last season and how that impacted today’s game:
“I think after our conference tournament we were so eager to get back on the field, and we were just focusing on this year. We needed to get back on the field and play our baseball, and that’s what we did here today.”