May 22, 2000
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Q. How do you feel about this #8 national seed?
Coach Marquess: It's very difficult for me to evaluate. The thing that concerns me is that in the West, we don't fair well on our RPI, and I think when everything is all said and done, the RPI plays a major part in where they seed. I think this Regional is very difficult. Then I look down to Fullerton and you have USC, Fullerton and Loyola along with Virginia Tech as a four-seed, and I think SC, Fullerton and Loyola are in my mind three of the top-20 teams in the country, but at the same time on the RPI, the West Coast teams aren't going to measure up, and I think that's why you do it, why there's not much movement. What happens is you end up beating each other up. That's happened to us over the years and that's unfortunate, but we haven't been able to rectify that.
Q. Dick Rockwell, the Chairman of the committee, said that the out-of-conference schedule played a big part in who got in and who didn't and how they are seeded. You've been talking all year about how strong your out-of-conference schedule was. Is it kind of disappointing to see such a tough Regional for yourself, such a tough test to Omaha, as well as the eight-seed?
Coach Marquess: Well, there's two sides to it. I think not only Stanford but a lot the West Coast teams are underrated the way that the system is. Yet at the same time, it doesn't make any difference, you're going to have to beat a good team to go on. All the teams that get to this stage are good teams or they wouldn't be there. I don't want to bad-mouth it because you're going to have to beat a good team to win this four-team Regional, and it's true anywhere. I do feel that with the strength of schedule that we play, and a lot of people play, that our RPI should reflect that more and for whatever reason it doesn't. You're going to have to be a good team to go on. There's no easy way, but that RPI thing is still kind of a mystery to me.
Q. Was four Pac-10 teams enough or should the conference have gotten more?
Coach Marquess: I think in fairness to the committee, we weren't deserving of another team from our conference. I think California finished fifth and they were a solid team, I think one of the best 64. In fairness to the committee, they were under .500 overall and they're just not going to do that. I can understand that. I thought Oregon State had an outside chance, but they lost five of their last six. I think we were only deserving of four this year.
Q. Do you think the team has gotten a little momentum burst after the UCLA series?
Coach Marquess: I think we're playing well. The things I'm pleased with is we're playing solid defense and we've started hitting the ball lately, but at the same time a dominant pitcher having a good night can shut any hitters down. That's what always concerns me as a coach. As I always tell my team, this is like a second season. What you've done during the regular season doesn't really mean anything. It's a very short series and if you have a bad game or get a great pitching performance or a ball bounces or you walk a couple guys and a guy hits a home run-you can lose. So, all these teams in our Regional are capable of doing that. They don't have to have an exceptionally great game to beat us. We're all capable of beating each other with normal performances. We're all good, solid teams.
Q. How do you think this year's team has improved over last year's?
Coach Marquess: I think this team is very similar, similar group of guys. We didn't lose many. There were high expectations of this team and I think they've lived up to them. We played a very difficult schedule and we only lost two series all year. We lost two out of three at Florida State and we lost two out of three at Arizona State and we won every other series. So, I'm very pleased with this team. I think we lived up to the expectations and went a little further than I thought with the schedule we played. I'm very pleased with us and hopefully we'll play well this weekend.
Q. If you should get to the next round, do they base home sites on seeds?
Coach Marquess: Yes. The way it's set up I think we're paired up with the Regional in Minnesota, and I think we'd be the highest seed, so I think we would get the Super Regional, as I understand it.
Q. How's the health?
Coach Marquess: Everybody is fine. A couple have colds, it's hard to believe that it's a hundred degrees and they have colds.
Q. And Sager?
Coach Marquess: He's fine. He felt good yesterday, he had a sore shoulder and that was his first start in the league, but he felt good during the game. I thought he was throwing hard. I checked with him today and he's feeling good, and that's a good sign. We should have him available. That will help us, it gives us another arm. We're in good shape physically.
Q. Would he be your number-three starter?
Coach Marquess: He or Cunningham. It depends because Cunningham is left-handed and Sager is right-handed, so it may come down to a match thing.
Q. With all the seniors, what do you think their sense of desire is at this point?
Coach Marquess: Their desire is great. The great thing about having a veteran team, a team that has been to the College World Series, and has won the Pac-10 before is that they're not just happy to be here. If we don't win this Regional, they'll be very disappointed. The first time you go to a Regional, they're all excited to have just gotten that far. It won't be lack of motivation on our players now. They won't be satisfied unless they win the Regional and the Super Regional and go to the World Series. That will be very difficult to do, but it as far as being motivated, that won't be a problem.
Q. Pitchers got knocked around this weekend. Last year pitchers were on a roll going into the Regional. Are there any concerns in that regard?
Coach Marquess: I'm more concerned about walks and that had more to do with our bullpen than our starters. I think Young didn't walk any and Wayne walked two and yesterday Sager walked a few. He was wild, but most of his walks were on a 3-2 count. I was disappointed in our bullpen. Bruksch has been so consistent, but he doesn't normally walk people, so I hope that was just a bad weekend. As far as our starters are concerned, I think we're still in pretty good shape. With Young and Wayne, they usually give us a good chance to win.
Q. Who would be your opening starter against Fresno?
Coach Marquess: I would think we'd still go Young and Wayne. We'll talk to the staff and see if there's any reason to change that order, but I would imagine those two gentlemen would be pitching our first two games. Fresno State's too quality an opponent you can't play games and pitch a third starter. The field is too strong and they're too good a team that you've got to go with your best to try and beat them.
Q. In regards to the number-eight seed, how is that going to be a disadvantage down the road?
Coach Marquess: I don't think it makes a heck of a lot of difference because it comes into play when you get to the College World Series. When you get eight teams back, they're all capable of winning the thing because they've gone through two Regionals playing well. So I don't think it makes a heck of a lot of difference to be honest with you. The problem with the seeding is that it doesn't correlate to the national rankings that people see all year. Again, if you ask the committee members, I think it just comes down to RPI, and no one really understands the RPI. It's difficult because teams don't play each other, they're in different parts of the country. It's a little confusing that way. Why are you a number eight-seed team if you've been ranked 3 or 4 or 5 all year? But I don't think it's a big disadvantage to be seeded eight.
Q. Are you surprised by the make-up of the field, specifically about the speculation that San Jose State would be sent here if they made it?
Coach Marquess: A lot of times they do that because it's local, a good draw. That surprised me a little bit. I thought maybe they'd send San Jose here and move Reno because they were here last year. I thought that might be a natural fit. I thought if San Jose got in they would send them here, show's you how much I know.