Oral Roberts University
Head Coach Rob Walton
Opening Statement:
“These two guys right next to me (Rothford and Kahaulelio) were special
individuals for two years and really helped us move our program in the
right direction. I know its difficult on them, but they are great
competitors and I wish they were coming back. I hope our players that
do return remember them and their effort. We just weren't sharp for two
days. We felt like we were in good shape pitching-wise because we just
didn't have a lot of innings with anybody. They had been pitching well.
But, when you are pitching well for a long time, you are due to kind of
scuffle a little bit. It is just unfortunate that they scuffled here.
But, we wouldn't have gotten here if it wasn't for them. It is just bad
timing and it happens. That's the game of baseball. I am proud of our
guys and what they have done for our program.”
On his decision to start Jerry Sullivan:
“We are going to throw our best guys today no matter what. He had
success, if he was cruising like the first few times against Wichita
then we were going to throw Hefner the next game. If he struggled, I
wasn't going to wait too long and go to Hef. Once we gave up two runs
to start and they were moving on Jerry, then we got out of a bases
loaded jam So we felt good about it and put up a couple zeros, then
scored two. So, its 2-2 and we got our guy on the mound. The zone was a
little tight and we struggled to pitch to it. A couple of turf bounces
here or there and then they started getting a rally and that's what
might have cost us.”
On Sullivan's balk:
“He has a tendency to roll through it sometimes. He has been reminded
to not do it and it is something he has done in the past. Maybe the
motions of it or trying to keep the runners close is when he rolls
through it.”
On the momentum:
“Its tough, this game can be funny sometimes. Anything can happen in
this game and its unfortunate. If I could take this same club and do it
all over again, I'd do it. These two guys on the right side of the
infield, I wouldn't trade them for nobody. I think Jake is as good as
anybody at second base and I think Chad is the best big man in the
country at his size. We just didn't execute and play well. Sometimes it
just doesn't fall your way.”
Second Baseman Jake Kahaulelio
On Wichita State's starting pitching:
“It was just kind of the same story as yesterday. He was throwing balls
down and we were moving on them. He just stuck with his game plan. He
got command with his fastball when he threw it away and then he would
just dump his changeup out. He brought out his curveball later in the
game and a lot of guys were moving on it. That was our problem today.”
On chasing balls down in the zone:
“We lacked discipline today. We are better than that. We struck out a
lot this weekend and we were too aggressive which showed a lot of
impatience. If we would have just stuck to our game plan to get balls
up then I think we would have came out on top.”
On his diving near miss in the seventh:
“I thought I was going to get it, to be honest. Baseball is a game of
inches. If I had been a couple inches over, I would have got it, double
play. We might have gotten out of there with just one run. But he hit
it in the at perfect spot. “
Relief Pitcher Jeremy Hefner
On his outing:
“I just didn't have my good stuff. I just didn't come out and do what I
usually do. These guys are laying out behind me and I'm doing all I can
to keep us in the ballgame. That's a credit to Wichita and their
hitters. They just got the best of me today.”
On trying to regain the momentum after Kahaulelio's diving stop:
“I thought the momentum turned to us but its just tough. But the game
will throw you a curveball sometimes and you just have to learn from it
and go on.”
First Baseman Chad Rothford
On his career at ORU:
“I was given a tremendous opportunity by Coach Walton to come in here.
These last two years have been a blast. Jake has been my roommate and
we have a great friendship. He will be one of my friends I will keep in
touch with. The team we had this year was tremendous and so was last
year. The season's tough and this is a tough way to go out.”
On coming into today's game after yesterday's loss:
“What happened yesterday, happened yesterday. We don't take the game
that happened before to the game that's happened now. Wichita is a
great team and we know their tendencies and what they have done.
The pitcher we saw today, we hadn't seen before and he was really good
on the mound. He just made us chase some balls. It just didn't work out
for us today. Wichita is scrappy and they are always ready to
play. They came out strong, just a little bit more strong than we
did.”
On coming to Wichita for the NCAA Regional:
“I was comfortable. I was glad we got the Wichita Regional. Its close
to home and we had a good fan base here and felt comfortable playing
here. We didn't care who the other teams were, if we were playing our
baseball we would have done better. The thing is we just didn't play
the baseball we are capable of.”
Wichita State University
Head Coach Gene Stephenson
Opening Statement:
“Long afternoon, long game, hot on the field, and a lot of tough guys
on our side. We had some great at-bats in critical situations and some
poor ones at times, but overall I thought we did a great job of
competing.
Rob Musgrave, at the top of that list, competed and did a
great job. We are looking forward to tomorrow.”
Starting Pitcher Rob Musgrave
On his outing against ORU:
“The first couple innings, I was a little tentative with my pitches and
leaving a lot of stuff up. At the end of the second inning when Brent
(Kemnitz) came out and jumped me a little bit I started being a little
bit aggressive with my pitches in the zone. They were starting to roll
over them a little bit and not hitting them as squarely as they had
been.”
On ORU's tendencies:
“I watched their game a little bit yesterday and noticed they were
chasing the balls in the dirt. But, I didn't really change my game
plan. I didn't change the way I pitch, and I was able to get them to
swing at some pitches that weren't strikes.”
On going deep into the game:
“Every time I go out, I try to go as deep as I can. I go until Gene
comes out and gets me or until they say I'm done in between innings. I
didn't really change my approach at all today, I just went out and
threw.”
Catcher Tyler Weber
On facing Oral Roberts:
“We kind of had a chip on our shoulder going into the game today
knowing they had our number the last couple times. That was just
something on our mind that we wanted to come in and play well against
them.”
On not going two-and-out:
“That shows a lot about our team, that we aren't going to just give up
because we are down one game. We are going to come out every day and
play it like its our last game. That's what we did and we just have to
keep it going.”
On the seventh-inning rally:
“I just think its real contagious if we get a couple guys going. It
just gives more confidence to every body else. We started pulling for
everybody else. It worked out all the way through.”
First Baseman Derek Schermerhorn:
On forgetting about the UNO loss:
“Last night we had a rough game, but we have been in that situation
before. We looked back at Missouri State where we were in the same
position and we battled back and played well. Personally for me, I
didn't want today's game to be my last game as a Shocker. That's in the
back of my mind.”
On facing Sullivan again:
“They changed to him just before the game and probably because he had
done well against us. But, its hard to come out and face a team three
times. I think the advantage goes to the hitter the third time.”
Center Fielder Andy Dirks
On the Shocker offense:
“We did a good job of getting some two-out RBI singles and getting the
leadoff men on. We got quite a few leadoff men on today and that was a
big part of our success was those two things.”
On the tournament field:
“You just have to take Oral Roberts like any other opponent. Everybody
that is in this tournament is a good opponent. There are no slouches,
they wouldn't be here if they were. I think we just have to take every
game one at a time. Our pitching was amazing today, hats off to Rob.
But, we just have to take everything one day at a time.”
