June 17, 2002
at Omaha, NE
2002 College World Series
June 18, 2002 - Game 8
Texas 8, Stanford 7
MARK MARQUESS (HEAD COACH)
(Opening Statement)
"This was a tough game. It's tough to beat a quality team like Texas. We gave them way too much, too many base on balls, a couple of hit batsmen. A credit to them that they got timely hits when we gave them those runners. That was the difference in the game. They also did a good job of pitching. They won some big spots, and we didn't. They just beat us in all phases of the game. They got timely hitting. I was very impressed with them. We got behind and battled back, I was pleased with that. We hung in there and left the tying run on base in the ninth, but again they came up with the big pitch. It was a good game. You just can't give Texas that many free baserunners. It came back to hurt us as it would with any team. We just gave them too much, and they took advantage of it."
(on Texas)
"I felt that Texas would be one of the stronger teams in the College World Series. They have been playing very well all year. You need a break but good teams can take advantage of that break and follow it with something positive, and they did that tonight and the other night to beat Rice. That's the quality of a good team. They're in a good position."
(on his team's chances to fight back through the loser's bracket)
"We've got a lot more problems than just Texas. We've got to get by Notre Dame. We'll have our hands full tomorrow. Notre Dame is playing very well. Hopefully, we can bounce back and get a chance to win tomorrow and play Texas again."
(on his pitching for the rest of the CWS)
"Tomorrow, we'll start John Hudgins and we won't save anybody for Thursday because there is a day off on Wednesday. I'll throw everybody I have to tomorrow and then count noses on Thursday."
TIM CUNNINGHAM (LOSING PITCHER)
(On his outing)
"I wasn't really nervous. I just walked guys and tried to be too fine with my pitches. Then, I gave up some big hits after I walked or hit a guy."
(On the two home runs hit by Texas' Jeff Ontiveros and J.D. Reininger)
"Reininger hit a fastball. Ontiveros hit a changeup. I thought it was a decent pitch."
(On his balk in the fourth inning)
"The umpire said that my foot crossed the rubber. When you do that you have to throw to the plate or they will call a balk. It did not affect anything that happened the rest of the inning."
RYAN GARKO (JUNIOR CATCHER)
(on his two hits and his final at bat to end the game)
"I won a couple of big spots today, but obviously I didn't win one at the end. It's tough to be down to strikes in every at bat. Fortunately, I was able to get a couple of big hits early in the game. In the last at bat, he (Huston Street) got ahead with a couple of good pitches with a slider and a fastball. When you get down 0-2 to a guy with that kind of stuff, it's tough to get a hit.
CHRIS O'RIORDAN (SENIOR SECOND BASEMAN)
(on Stanford's experienced ballclub)
"Our advantage lies in our maturity as a team. We're going to bounce back after this. We've been down before in situations this year and last year. Our advantage lies in our team chemistry. We have a real strong team that bounces back really well. If we get play to Texas again, it's going to be a couple of good games."