June 8, 2001
Head Coach Mark Marquess
(opening statement)
"We've had some long days - 24 hours getting here (to Omaha), a long day today. It was a real different game. I was very impressed with the way Tulane swung the bat. They got about six or seven hits to chase (Jeremy) Guthrie. When he left the ball up, they tattooed it. I was very impressed with their team offensively. All we tried to do was to take as many pitches as we could, try to get a couple of walks or a big hit - do whatever we could to stay in the game. It didn't work very much until the big two innings. We did get some two-out hits, some walks and an error or two. I'm very proud of the way we came back. It was very discouraging to have our best pitcher chased so early, but we hung in there. Our relievers did a good job of keeping us in the game. Then, we asked Jeff Bruksch to do what he did last year, which is to come out of the bullpen to save the game for us. He did a good job in that big spot to come up with the pitches that he did.
(on Jeff Bruksch)
"Jeff was used to this role. Because the CWS format is different, we were able to do that (use Bruksch in a relief role). We asked him that if we got back into the game, could he go. He got down to the bullpen and he was used to it. It's not like we were asking him to do something he hasn't done."
(on formats of the NCAA Baseball Championships)
"The thing that's great about trying to win a national championship is that it's three different setups. You have a four-team regional in three days where you have to watch your pitching, conserve your pitching, and you're always looking at it especially if you lose one of the first two games. Then you go to the Super Regional and you have a regular three-game series that you're used to all year. Then, you come to the College World Series, and it's totally different because you have a lot more rest. In one format, you need a ton of pitching. In another format, you are used to it, and then in the CWS you can win a national championship with two pitchers."
(on how fatigued are you and your team)
"Like I tell my players - 18, 19, 20, 21 (years old) - you don't get fatigued. I get fatigued. I'm tired. They're not tired. When you're that age, you don't get tired. All they did was sleep all day (during the bus ride from Chicago). They're rested. I need to go home and go to bed."
(on winning a slugfest)
"Normally, our type of team focuses on pitching and defense. Normally, we don't come out on the positive end of a slugfest, but today we did.
(on Stanford's starting pitcher for Sunday's second game of the CWS)
"We'll pitch (Mike) Gosling on Sunday. As I tell our pitchers, when we warm up on Sunday, the pitchers will come and tell me who's hot. This is tournament time and national championship time. This is the one time during the year that a couple of guys may tell me they have one inning or two in them."
(on coming back from an eight-run deficit)
"It says a lot (about our team). It's not surprising to me or anybody that's watched our team all year. We played tight games in the Regionals, but this was something special being down eight runs to a quality team at the College World Series - that's tough to do. We needed help and got some. We got some bases on balls, an error or two and we needed to get some hits with guys on base. We were able to do that. When we got a little bit of help, we took advantage of it."
Jonny Ash
(on coming back from an eight-run deficit)
"Like coach Marquess said, they jumped on us early, but it was still early in the game. He just reminded us to stay calm, to stay focused and just start chipping away. We were able to string together a couple of pretty good innings and then pull out the game."
(on butterflies before his first CWS game?)
"I don't know if they were butterflies, but I when I was taking infield, my heart was beating pretty fast. I didn't want to be the first one to make an error when we were warming up. After that, the hoopla came and went pretty quickly, and it was game time. I knew I had to bear down and focus on the task at the hand."
Jeff Bruksch
(on pitching in a relief role)
"It was kind of like tapping back into last year. I didn't really expect to pitch, but when we started using a lot of pitchers early, I thought there might be a chance. My arm recovers pretty well and is usually ready. Once I got back out there (in a relief role), it felt pretty natural. I like being in those types of games. It's fun."
(on winning the hard way)
"I don't know if we don't like doing things the easy, but we've kind of gotten good at it. I guess it makes it a little more fun for everyone. I think it just says a lot about the character of our team. We've been through a lot of games like that where we've had to come back and scratch and claw. It's a tribute to our whole team. We're not going to give up. It doesn't matter if we're down 8-0 in the fifth inning. We're going to try to come back and win every game."
Ryan Garko
(on his day, which included catching President Bush's first pitch and driving in the go-ahead run)
"It was an exciting day and a long day. Catching the first pitch from Mr. Bush was an honor - something very nice that I'll never forget. It was a long day with Tulane getting some runs early, but once we started battling back, you stop thinking about that kind of stuff. Your adrenaline gets pumping. Once we got back into the game, that sort of all went to the side. I was just happy to come through in a spot. I was just trying to drive the ball to the off field and ending up getting the ball up the middle."
(on President Bush's comment that he threw a perfect strike and what Bush said to him)
"He actually did throw a great pitch. It was a strike. I just told him that it was an honor to have him out and nice to meet him. He said the same. He wished us all good luck and said that Stanford had a great program, and that he was wishing us all the best. He said that we worked well together as a battery."
(on what President Bush will say when he finds out that Stanford came back from an 8-0 deficit to win)
"He'll probably be surprised. Maybe he'll wish he would have stayed, but I don't know if he has that kind of times on his hands."