May 31, 2008
Eastern Illinois Postgame Quotes
NCAA Lincoln Regional
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Head Coach Jim Schmitz
Opening Statement
"This is a hard one. I'm just proud of my guys. We talked about it a little bit yesterday. We don't really talk about wins and losses; we talk about playing the game right. We talked this morning about not quitting.
This is an elimination game, and it's called that for a reason. The way we started off wasn't good, and we got them together, and I didn't say too many nice things to them in about the fourth inning. I'm really happy how they responded, and I'm proud of these guys for the way we played the last two days."
On the ninth inning
"In the (Ohio Valley Conference) Tournament, I didn't bunt very much, and people said we were lucky. So I was going over that a little bit in my mind of what I was going to do. (Jordan) Tokarz is the worst bunter we have. But we had to tie it again and get lucky, and to go into extra innings would make it pretty draining for them. That's what I was thinking. Obviously, they made the error on Tokarz. I really wish with that one pitch to (Zach) Skidmore, we took the bunt off to hit, and it was a changeup. I was thinking, 'That's what I wanted.' You always want to try to tie it just because it would have been a heart break for Oral Roberts, but it says a lot about their program and how they went out and scored the next two innings there."
On EIU's pitching
"TK (Tyler Kehrer) was not sharp. We then had to script it out not only to win this game. When Foley was in there, he couldn't be in there too long.
We had to win this game. We're not here to win one and go home. So we scripted it out, and the guys did a great job. You can talk about the walks that hurt us, but we just came up short. I'm really proud of how the guys battled this year."
Outfielder Brett Nommensen
On the atmosphere of the dugout
"There was a little frustration. Since we've been here all week, we haven't really been able to stop the other teams on offense. There was a little frustration because we were down by so many runs. But once we got a couple of hits going, we knew we were going to start stringing the hits together just like we've been doing. The last eight games we've been able to do a lot of damage with two outs and keep on rolling."
On scoring on a wild pitch in the ninth inning "Sean (Lyons), our third base coach, was telling me he'd probably be throwing all sliders and to be aggressive if the ball was in the dirt. I just saw a kick go out, and I saw it go to the backstop, and I just took off."
Outfielder Ryan Lindquist
On what turned the game around
"I'd say once we came in and were down by so much, once we got hits going, it just took that one little hit to really get us going."
Pitcher Ross Jeske
On the experience of playing in an NCAA regional
"I've been here for four years. The past three years prior to this year, we hadn't experienced a whole lot of success. This year, we had very low expectations going into the year. We just caught on at the right time at the (Ohio Valley Conference) Tournament and the regional. It says a lot about our leadership skills from the upperclassmen, and we've definitely left a footprint for future Eastern Illinois baseball players."
Oral Roberts Postgame Quotes
NCAA Lincoln Regional
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Head Coach Rob Walton
On the game
"Wow. Eastern Illinois had a special club in their ability to compete under any circumstance. They deserve a lot of credit today. I enjoyed the competition. It was a heck of a ballgame and both teams were getting after it. We're very fortunate to come out on top."
On Oral Roberts' 18 runners left on base and pitching struggles
"Not too much (concern with runners left on base). I'm more concerned with how we're pitching right now. We have some good arms, but we're struggling with focus a little bit and executing in quality pitches in the zone. Early on, (starter) Jerry (Schmidt) was very good, but then he was leaving the ball up and couldn't make the adjustment. It's really been our Achilles' heel all year, but when they're on, they're very good, but we just haven't been able to click yet. Give Eastern Illinois a lot of credit, because we made mistakes and they capitalized on them. That's what good teams will do to you. As far as leaving runners on base, all year long, eventually we've been able to scratch some runs across the board."
On infielder David Genao
"He made some good plays today. He stayed with some balls at third base.
He laid out for a ball. We put our best defense on the field with the winning run (for Eastern Illinois on base). He's a heck of a player and a heck of a kid. I'm really proud of David and what he's been able to accomplish so far and we have a lot of baseball left. He's our No. 2 catcher, so he's been playing out of position all year, but he's shown great athleticism and ability to compete. His makeup, his ability to compete and his toughness was what made that play (the diving stop in the
ninth) happen."
On the line drive that hit second-base umpire David Savage in the top of the fourth inning
"I haven't ever seen anything like that. These are the best umpires in the league. The crew chief here, I think very highly of and he had a great game at the plate in our loss, but that call wasn't right. They missed that call. The best of umpires miss calls. Basically, the way I understand the rules, if the infielders have an opportunity to make a play on that ball, then you kill it and you send the runners back. If they don't have that opportunity, they move up one base. That ball was scalded up the middle. I was more concerned about his health more than anything else because that ball was just scalded, but like I said, the best of guys are going to miss calls and you have to overcome it and move forward."
Infielder David Genao
On his diving stop in the bottom of the ninth "It was special. It kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win. I just laid down and it just fell into the glove."
Outfielder Brendan Duffy
On his game-winning hit
"It was kind of a rollercoaster ride there. I was watching him (Richie Derbak work) to previous batters, and I knew that he was throwing a lot of change-ups. He threw me one the pitch before and I was out in front, so I knew he was going to come back with it, so I kept telling myself, 'sit back, see it up and drive it up the middle', and that's what I did."
On Oral Roberts leaving runners on
"We knew we were going to score. That's baseball. Runners are going to be left on base. There was one Dave (Genao) hit that almost went out, so it wasn't like they were getting left on without good at-bats, so I wasn't too worried about it."
On driving in six runs with two outs
"Coach harps that, when there's two outs, there's still a third of the inning left. There's obviously a lot of inning left and that's a hard out to get. Just keep the innings going, and they can snowball and turn into big innings."
