May 30, 2003
Recap|Box Score|Notes|Photo Gallery
NCAA BASEBALL REGIONAL (at Stanford, CA)
Game 2 - UC Riverside 10, Richmond 8
Richmond
Head Coach Ron Atkins Opening Statement
"Tim pitched pretty well today, and we got down to the last inning and had chances to tie it up. We fought hard at the end to get back in the ballgame, but we just didn't quite have enough. We had opportunities throughout the entire game that we didn't take full advantage of. But we did a great job fighting back at the end, getting the tying runs in scoring position."
Coach Atkins on Tim Stauffer's performance:
"I thought that Tim pitched very well. He had a lot of strikeouts, and was making good out pitches. He probably got a little tired towards the end and hung a few pitches that the other team made good swings on. Overall though I thought he gave us a solid performance. We are going to have to come back now and just win each game as it comes. Tim won't be available to pitch for the rest of the regional, but we'll see how things go from game to game and just take it one at a time."
Pitcher Tim Stauffer on his opinion on the game
"I thought that I was pretty sharp for most of the game, and I just made mistakes on those homerun pitches and they made me pay for it. Really, my breaking ball was having trouble all day long. I have had a blister on my throwing hand, and I have had to make some adjustments on throwing my curve ball, and that was a factor today. I hung that one on the three-run homer, and that really put us in a hole. The guys really fought back at the end, but we just got down by too many too late."
First Baseman Jim Fasano on leaving runners on base
"I don't think that it has to do anything to do with being in the post season. We had guys on base and just didn't bring them all in when we need to. That is baseball sometimes. You win some, you lose some. Towards the end we gave it a good run. We scored a bunch of runs and never let down. We got the tying runs in scoring position, but just couldn't get that last big hit. Even though this is a loss, we can take some positive things away from it, especially knowing that we put up some runs in the last inning. We have the fighting spirit and ability to battle back, and we will need all of that as we go into our games tomorrow."
UC Riverside
Head Coach Jack Smitheran opening statement:
"Wow. That was a great ball game. I was really proud of the team and how they kept their heads in the game when down by four runs. We didn't roll over, and we kept picking away during the middle innings, and then we had the great eighth and ninth to give us a great shot at holding on. We are excited."
Coach Smitheran on tomorrow's game:
"We will have A.J. Shappi on the hill, and we feel really confident about that. We really didn't want to come back tomorrow morning at 8AM to take batting practice, and we are eager to take on whoever wins this evening's game. The first game is always the most important one, no matter what the tournament is, so this afternoon was a critical win, and has set us up very nicely going into tomorrow and the rest of the weekend."
Pitcher Chad Decker on his performance:
"My job was to go out there and hold the other team. I had to give our offense a chance to get back into the game, and they did that, especially at the end. I got a bit tired at the end, and I think it showed. I had trouble with locating some pitches, and they made me pay for it. Those runs late in the game were huge, and we were able to hold on. I guess that my endurance is not really strong right now because of the foot injury that I had early in the season. But I felt good out there, and just got a bit tired at the end."
Outfielder Brian Wahlbrink on Richmond pitcher Tim Stauffer:
"Their pitcher started out the game really strong. He went through our lineup and struck out a lot of guys, but we hung in there. He is a great pitcher and they were probably looking for him to go deep into the ballgame, maybe go all nine. I think that he was a little tired and his stuff wasn't as sharp in the late innings, and he hung that breaking ball to me that I hit out. When he struck me out earlier, his curveball was much sharper, so I think that he was a bit fatigued. He had a great outing though, and we were fortunate to get as many runs off of him as we did."
Pitcher A.J. Shappi on starting on the hill in tomorrow's game:
"I am going to prepare for this game just like any other. I'll go to bed, get up in the morning, and be ready to play a game. So I am really excited to play either team tomorrow. My last start was two weeks ago, but I won't be rusty. I had two starts in the middle of the season that came two weeks apart, and I felt really good after the long break. I am going to stick with my game plan and do what I have done well all year long. If we score some runs and I just let my defense play behind me tomorrow, we should have a pretty good chance at winning."