June 2, 2012
Stanford 5
Pepperdine 4
June 2, 2012
Stanford Regional
Klein Field at Sunken Diamond
STANFORD HEAD COACH Mark Marquess
On relief pitching
"It was an unbelievable job by A.J. Obviously he was just fantastic, won some big spots, great stuff. He had seven or eight strikeouts, they had some opportunities, some big strikeouts, their three hitter is a great hitter, great player, struck him out twice, you got good stuff if you strike him out twice. He is a fantastic hitter, one of the better hitters you see all year. He had great stuff and won big spots, three or four big spots all evening."
SECOND BASEMAN Kenny Diekroeger
Opening Statement
"This is why we came to Stanford honestly, to play in front of a packed house. There was a lot of electricity tonight, and it was a really exciting game. It was fun for us and it was fun for the fans and that is why we do it."
FIRST BASEMAN Brian Ragira
On the wild pitch
"From what I heard from the dugout I didn't see too much of it, ball in the dirt to the back stop, I'm busting to try and get home, try and get a run for us, next thing I know ball is rolling around and the pitch is around me and we ended up with three runs. It was good for us. We were hustling and the ball rolled our way."
RELIEF PITCHER A.J. Vanegas
On pitching
"You just gotta attack the zone. We try to pitch to contact here. When you're pitching to contact you are attacking the zone and that's the goal every pitch no matter what happens the pitch before you just always trying to attack the zone and they swing through it or ground outs hopefully, and pop outs. You want to put the ball in play. Just trying to get outs."
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Pepperdine Head coach Steve Rodriguez
"It was a good college baseball game. I think it's really hard on our guys when [Stanford scores] three runs on a wild pitch and a fluke play. It's easy to tolerate losses, I guess, if you just get beat flat-out, you know, if they're just banging balls all over the yard. It's a hard pill to swallow on that, but what's great is this is probably one of the best teams for us in regards to pitching depth and in regards to our own team, so I feel very comfortable with where we are right now."
On the controversial situation in the sixth inning:
"I think the call was correct in regards to the logistics of the rules. My only problem was the crowd control around the dugout. When their whole team is out there and the pitcher goes out there for the ball--that was probably the only thing I could say was an issue, but the call in regards to the officiating was correct."
On Pepperdine starter Scott Frazier's performance
"To be honest, that's why he was a high draft year a couple years ago and that's why I think he's going to be a high draft pick next year. He has the ability to do that. He's a tough competitor. He's a big old donkey who wants to get out there and wants to compete and get after it. He just had a curveball bounce over our catcher's head. It just comes with bad luck, but I'll tell you what: I'll go to war with that young man."
On Pepperdine shortstop Zach Vincej's defense
"There's a reason he's at shortstop. He's probably the best hands we got. We call him 'Wizard' for a reason. It's because when the ball goes over there it just disappears. He does a phenomenal job. He and [second baseman] Joe Sever up the middle-very, very impressive tandem defensively. They're one of the best I've ever had at Pepperdine, and that's saying quite a bit."
On what tonight's performance means for tomorrow
"It was very simple. You just tell them you have to get rid of this as quick as possible. Like I said, I don't feel like we flat-out got beat. We lost the game. To be honest, it was an outstanding college baseball game. If people paid money to come and see this, they got to watch a really good game, and that's my opinion. But I just told them they need to erase it because they have nothing to be ashamed of. And if they keep that same competitive nature, I like our chances, I really do.
Left fielder Bryan Langlois
On Stanford reliever A.J. Vanegas
"He did a good job. You gotta tip your cap to a guy who's going to throw that well. We put pressure on him a couple innings in a row. The play at the plate just didn't go our way."