June 19, 2002
Recap|Box Score|Notes|Photo Gallery
at Omaha, NE
2002 College World Series
MARK MARQUESS (HEAD COACH)
(Opening Statement)
"It was another great college baseball game, there's been so many great games in the College World Series this year, and we seem to play in a lot of close ones. It was tighter than Saturday's game (versus Notre Dame) and Saturday was pretty tight. We did a good job on the mound with John Hudgins and Dan Rich, and got off to a great start with the two-run homer by Sam Fuld in the first inning. The big time in the game was when Notre Dame had the bases loaded with no outs in the fifth, and we got out of that situation with only one run being scored. That was the big turning point. It was a game filled with great plays and great defense. It was good to get that insurance run in the ninth to have a two-run lead instead of a one-run lead. Notre Dame is obviously a great team and played very well. We had two great games with them and they had a great win yesterday against an unbelievable Rice team. The other side of the bracket is good, but this side is unbelievable. There are four great teams."
(on playing Texas for the 11th time in the last two years)
"It makes for great baseball and what better place to play Texas than at the College World Series in Omaha. It's special when you play somebody you respect, and we respect them. It's a great tradition and should be a great game. The two teams have a lot of respect for each other and know each other fairly well. There's a healthy rivalry. They played extremely well in the Regional at Stanford last year, and we were very fortunate to beat them. They have built their team from that Regional. Now, they're in the drivers seat (at the CWS)."
(on his feelings at the end of the game)
"There's not much I can do but be nervous. In that situation, it's fairly easy because I'm going to stay with Dan (Rich). I thought he had a great fastball tonight. It had a lot of life, and he got a lot of strikeouts with the fastball. He took care of it. I was nervous, and he pitched. That's the way we like it. I'm not nervous any more because he's done."
SAM FULD (SOPHOMORE CENTERFIELDER)
(On the upcoming game(s) with Texas)
"We don't really get tired of Texas. They provide great competition for us. Obviously, we're really familiar with them. There is not much we don't know about them and not much they don't know about us. At this point, there isn't too much more knowledge to gain about each other."
JOHN HUDGINS (WINNING PITCHER)
(On the fifth inning)
"A couple of little things went wrong. I felt like I had an 0-2 situation where I threw a bad pitch and then I didn't execute the play we had on during the bunt situation. I felt like I got us into it, so I really had to get us out of it. I threw some pretty good pitches, hit my spots, got in on a few guys' hands and really tried to limit the damage."
DAN RICH (CLOSING PITCHER)
(on pitching well in Omaha)
"It was a good feeling to come back here and be able to pitch well today. I knew if we worked hard as a team we could get back here. Coach Marquess showed a lot of confidence in me. When he gave me the ball today, I just tried to go out there and throw lots of strikes. It worked out for us."
(on pitching late in close games)
"I wasn't out there thinking that one pitch could cost us the season or that this was the last game that our seniors play. I was thinking pitch-to-pitch, trying to make a good quality pitch and get batters out. Looking back it was a big game, and it could've been our last, but we had some big hits and Andy (Topham) got the great squeeze bunt down in the ninth inning to give us a cushion and everything worked out."
ANDY TOPHAM (SENIOR SHORTSTOP)
(on the suicide squeeze play)
"I was actually expecting it. I haven't swung the bat too well since we've been here in Omaha. It was a count where I was most likely going to get a pitch around the plate. We were work on it all the time in practice. Coach Marquess tells us it's going to win a game one time. It took quite a few games this year. This is the first time we've done it. Luckily, I got it down. It's a good feeling."