Post-Game Quotes: Game 6 of NCAA Austin Regional
June 4, 2007
UC Irvine Head Coach Dave Serrano
General comments: There are not enough words to describe how I feel about these young men. Nothing is bigger than the heart of this team.
On the change in momentum when Texas scored the two runs in the 6th: Last night when Texas got those two runs, the crowd was behind them and you could feel the momentum of the game change. It's easy for teams in our situation then to think it won't work out for us, but this team didn't do that. They gave the greatest punch-back in program history.
On coming to this regional: You have to play in these kinds of atmospheres to be successful and learn how to deal with the atmosphere to win big.
On playing against Coach Augie Garrido: I tip my hat to Coach Garrido. Whether he knows it or not, I'm modeling this program after his when he was at Cal State Fullerton. I'm hoping he can look across the field and be proud of what he sees developing at UC Irvine. I think it's exactly what he had developed 30 years ago at Cal State Fullerton, when he built that program from scratch and made it the national power it is today.
UC Irvine RHP Scott Gorgen
On his experience: Last season during my freshman year, I went to my first regional. I thought that was the biggest experience of my life, and then we dropped the first two games. This win shows this team never gives up, and we're going after it till the end.
UC Irvine 1B Taylor Holiday
On his experience here: This was an unbelievable experience and one that we've worked on for so long. Now it's just a step for us and it's on to the next thing.
On playing at this regional: Coach (Serrano) did a good job getting us excited to play Texas instead of us worrying about playing them. We were excited to play at the highest level of college baseball against a team with so much history.
UC Irvine 2B Cody Cipriano
On being at this regional: We worked so hard to get to this point, so to finally win a regional and move on is what we're looking toward.
On not hosting a regional: We play our best baseball when we have a chip on our shoulder, because we don't get as much media attention or respect as other programs. We weren't really disappointed when we found out we were coming to this regional, because in order to be the best you've got to beat the best.
Texas Head Coach Augie Garrido
General comments: I think it's hard to get into a place you didn't think you would be. UC Irvine played the best baseball in this tournament and deserved to win. Our hats are off to them for some brilliant baseball. They were extremely well coached, highly competitive, very talented, disciplined and really on top of their game through the weekend.
I felt good about our team and their attitude from the beginning, and I still feel that way. Championship play is about doing the right thing at the right time, and they (UC Irvine) did the right thing at the right time a lot more often than we did.
There are three major points of view as I see it. The point of view from the fan, the passionate Longhorn fans, and their criteria for success is Omaha and a national championship, so this is disappointing. There's another level at The University where it becomes a balance between their performances academically and athletically, and the national championship satisfies that group as well, but it's less demanding in the balance of it all. I'm not trying to make excuses, but it's just the reality of it all. The third level is the one we care the most about, and that's our own team and staff. That's the level at which winning the national championship is certainly a goal, but we don't have to achieve perfection to get to what we are trying to accomplish with life skills.
On why the team didn't play as well as they have the rest of the year: I didn't have that sense of them losing their momentum. I thought they played a really great game with not much to gain in that last game of the Big 12 Tournament. I thought we never got the edge that you're talking about that makes this game look easy. It's about doing the right thing at the right time and we're capable, but we didn't do the right thing at the right time often enough. The fundamentals of the game got away from us. It all came from the same spirit, and that was us trying too hard.
On if the team was playing out of desperation: You didn't see the players quit. The mistakes or errors you saw were out of tension and trying too hard. They were getting out of rhythm. There's a lot on the line for these players and they want it very badly. Sometimes when you want something, you overreact to get it instead of staying in a balanced position to make a good decision.
Texas 3B Bradley Suttle
On if there was too much pressure on the team: I don't think we put too much pressure on ourselves. Obviously we wanted it really bad and we battled really hard. I'm so proud of everyone on this team. I have no regrets.
Texas 1B Chance Wheeless
On the emotions of the team: I really felt like this team had it in us to go all the way. We weren't peaking at the right time and this weekend we didn't play up to our full capabilities.
Texas RHP Randy Boone
On how he feels about not going on any further: It's frustrating. We didn't stop playing, right up there until the 9th inning. Irvine played as well as they could all weekend long, but at the same time, I don't think we played up to our full
