May 24, 2001
2001 NCAA DIVISION I BASEBALL REGIONAL
PRE-TOURNAMENT PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES
LONG BEACH STATE
Head Coach Dave Snow
(opening statement) Three teams in this regional have frequented Omaha in the last few years. It is a very tough field with a lot of good competition. Our club is not coming into this regional with a lot of momentum, but we have a lot of experience. We've played a very good schedule. We've had more than a regional atmosphere in the last three games playing Cal State Fullerton and USC, the tournament's number one and three national seeds. We've got to hope that we can fire here a little bit. We need some people to step up.
(on the team's experience in winning a regional at Stanford in 1998) Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of players on this team that played here in 1998. One key guy that did play here in 1998 was Bryam Kennedy. I don't think we have any advantage or disadvantage because we played here (in 1998). We have a new team and there is a new arena of teams at this regional. It's all about getting out here and performing in the here and now.
Senior catcher Bryan Kennedy
(on the team's experience at the regional at Stanford in 1998) It was a great experience. I remember losing the first game, coming back and battling our way through the loser's bracket.
Junior shortstop Bobby Crosby
(on his current hot hitting stretch) The time to do it is right now. I've changed my approach a little bit, but nothing drastic. You get hot streaks and cold streaks, that's the way it works.
MARIST
Head Coach John Szefc
(opening statement) We're just really happy to be in California with the nice weather. This is going to be a pretty competitive regional, probably one of the more competitive ones of the 16 regionals. We feel that with the experience we have coming back from having won a regional game last year and been five of six outs from the regional final, that we can be pretty competitive in this regional. We've come back from quite a bit of adversity this year, coming out of our conference tournament as the third seed. We swept through that tournament, winning three games by pretty good scores. We really are playing our best baseball of the season right now. Our pitching has been productive, our defense is playing extremely well, and we hit .385 in our conference tournament. We feel pretty good coming in here. We're extremely happy being back in the NCAA Tournament with this being our third appearance in five years.
(on the club's recent play) I don't think we really turned it around in our conference tournament. We just picked the right time to peak. The key to our play in that tournament were that our pitchers threw 15.0 scoreless innings and our infielders didn't make an error. In the post-season, usually pitching and good defense is going to get you over the hump.
(on Anthony Bocchino) He's good. He's very talented. The thing about Anthony is that when he really gets locked in to hitting pitches in a zone, he's tough to get out. He can go the other way really well, and he's also developed into being more of a power hitter than he used to be. From a talent standpoint, I would run him out there against just about anybody that I've ever coached or recruited.
(on impressions of Stanford) Stanford is an impressive place. The facilities are great. The reputation is great. It's the type of place that should host and represent a regional. They've obviously done a great job here in past year, and I'm sure they will continue to do so. Being a student of college baseball over the years, it is probably one of the top five college baseball places in the country. When you see it in person, you can see why it is that way.
Junior pitcher Tim Bittner
(on the underdog role) It's always fun coming into the tournament being the underdog. Nobody expects you to win, but we are going to go out and play our game. That's how we got here, and that's what we're going to do.
Junior outfielder Anthony Bocchino
(on last year's experience in the regional) We saw that an underdog can win. We want to be competitive and you never know what can happen
(on national recognition) It would be nice if I could get some national recognition if I have a good tournament, but that's not our main goal. Individual recognition is great, but we're looking more for team recognition.
STANFORD
Head Coach Mark Marquess
(opening statement) We're excited because this is our second season. It's always exciting to play at home. This is a good regional with a strong field in Texas, Long Beach and Marist. I wish we knew more about Marist. It's tough to get any scouting reports on them, because we don't play any common opponents. They're statistics, in particular pitching, look very strong. We know what Texas is capable of because we play them almost every year. Long Beach State always has a very well respected program and has had a great season. It should be a great regional.
(on Stanford's pitching staff) It's always difficult when you try to compare because we have such great pitchers. But, in fairness to the three starters that we have had this year, their numbers compare favorably to anyone we've had before, and we've had great pitchers.
(on Stanford's team) I was very nervous that we would be a .500 team when you lose as many players as we did. We lost all three of our starting pitchers, had only one full-time position player starter returning and no seniors on our team. It makes you nervous when you play in our conference and then you add in the non-conference schedule that we have. This team has really exceeded any expectations I might have had prior to this season. If you had told me in January that this team would have been 42-14 and finish one game behind USC and be seeded fourth in the post-season tournament, I wouldn't have believed you. The credit goes to the coaching staff and the players. Their work ethic has been great. They didn't set any limits on what they could achieve. It's really proven to everyone's benefit. They've surprised not only me but also everybody else.
Junior pitcher Jeremy Guthrie
(on his first post-season appearance) It will be exciting for me. It is the first time that I've ever had a post-season opportunity in baseball. This is what I hoped to be a part of when I came to Stanford, and it has come true.
(on his improvement throughout the season) I have learned a lot this year from coach (Tom) Kunis and the other members of the coaching staff. The way that I look at the game is different. I think I have changed. I've picked up some things that have helped me, and I hope to continue to learn. There's always things we can do to improve.
(on starting the first game of the NCAA Regional) I want to set the town and help the team win. I'm very excited to go out there and be a part of the first game.
Junior second baseman Chris O'Riordan
(on the team's offense) We don't have the big bashers like we had last year, but what we do have is a lot of team speed. We do have some guys who can put the ball out of the year. Jason Cooper hits the long ball almost as impressive as anyone I've seen, as does Carlos Quentin. We do have some guys that can put it out, but I think our mindset is more "get on base and limit our strikeouts". We want to be able to get on base, bunt guys over and generate offense a little differently than last year when we could count on a long ball to come back in a game or get a big lead.
TEXAS
Head Coach Augie Garrido
(opening statement) We were thrilled to be invited to the Stanford regional. We've been here several times before. Many of the players have played in this facility when we played here last year during the regular season, and we also played Stanford in Austin this year. We think it's a good place for us to be. That doesn't necessarily translate into meaning that it's easier to win here. It just means that it's a good environment for college baseball. It's a great facility, it's a level playing field and all things connected to the tournament will be first class.
(on the Texas team) Our team is a team that during the regular season has depended on quality pitching to be the cornerstone of the team, backed up by consistency on defense. Offensively, our way of scoring runs most often requires getting on base, getting the leadoff hitter on, advancing the runner, and then sustaining the rallies and getting timely hits. A two-word explanation of that is that we play "little ball" most of the time. Our big innings come as we sustain rallies, and not with homeruns. That is kind of a description of our team offensively and defensively. Our leadership comes from players that have experience in the College World Series and that won the regional championship at Arizona State last year. So we are thrilled to have this opportunity and I feel confident that our players have earned this opportunity, and we haven't been given a second chance. We have fought hard for it all through the year, and we are happy to be here.
(on the team's pitching staff) The pitching is the cornerstone of our team. It is the dominating part of our team. Everyone knows that. That has given us the ability to win games.
Senior catcher Sam Anderson
(on the Texas team) The guys from last year's team really wanted to come in here and show the young guys and the new guys what it's all about and what it takes to get there, the work ethic that we all need to achieve that one main goal. We need to rally around each other, because that is what we did last year. We rallied around each other and played hard as a team, and it worked out for us. I felt that this year we really tried to focus on playing as a team and coming together as a group to try to reach that one main goal of getting to Omaha and winning a national championship.
Junior pitcher Gerrit Simpson
(on the Texas team) I definitely think that we have confidence. It's been an up and down season, but we have a lot of good players, and have beaten a lot of good teams. Then again, we have suffered against some team that may not have been the best.