June 6, 2009
Post-Game Quotes: Game 1 of NCAA Baseball Austin Super Regional
Texas 10, TCU 4
Saturday, June 6 o UFCU Disch-Falk Field
Texas
Head Coach Augie Garrido
Opening statement: First of all congratulations to TCU, they really have a competitive ball club. The pitcher really has a great arm and he threw well and they were really responsive. A lot of their outs in the early innings were hit hard and we did a good job of defending that. I think from the defensive side, hats off to Chance Ruffin who completes a game where we needed a complete game to give our bullpen another day's rest. A super performance by him. I think it could be overlooked or misunderstood, at least from my point of view, because when you give up home runs like that and you come back and pitch aggressively, it shows the right kind of character and the competitor in Chance and the confidence he has in himself. And that's not that easy to do. Many times with players in college, once they give up a home run, they get rattled and then they come apart and start walking guys and throwing balls all over. He was a little over pumped in the beginning, which is a part of what makes him great. However, this is a game where if you're not over pumped to get it started, then you probably don't belong in the game in the first place. My hat is off to Chance for facing the adversities they put on him with the long ball and continuing to pitch at an extremely high level.
Secondly the offensive part of it, we responded instinctively and it shows the character that we like to talk about and the spirit of the team. We responded. When they got one, we got two, and those kinds of responses only belong to quality teams. Only quality teams respond instinctively like that. We showed good poise, great pitch selection throughout the game, and of course we got the leadoff hitter on and we bunted him over. That, in it of itself, doesn't get it done. It sets it up, but then again, the single and the hits that followed were productive consistently throughout the game. I thought it was a well played game by both teams, the difference ended up being we picked up runs off of the small ball that we play and we also matched the long ball that they play. So that gave us a little bit of an edge tonight.
On Michael Torres' home run hitting ability: He hits the ball in practice like that. Tonight was the best weather for power hitting we've had in this ballpark the entire year. The wind was blowing straight out and so if you got the ball out above the stadium, it was going to carry. He hit the ball well out of the upper part of the strike zone where he hits it out of the ballpark in batting practice out of that same zone that they pitched him today. That is not out of nowhere.
On TCU: I already knew they were a really good team. Honestly, we just happened to have one of those games that was pretty much perfect offensively and that wasn't TCU's fault. That was just the way baseball goes sometimes. I have tremendous respect for the job that's been done there and the players that they have on the team and I know they are capable of winning. They still are.
P Chance Ruffin
On settling down in the second inning: I needed to settle down and get back in the zone. I couldn't be too wild for the rest of the game, so I guess that was a turning point how in the first inning I was up and in and couldn't find the zone and I started pounding it a lot more at that point.
On having his teammates' support: It was huge to go out there and feel like I'm letting them back in the game. Especially after the sixth inning where they responded to TCU's two runs, it told me that they were still fighting and competing with me. That gave me a lot of confidence to go out there and keep pounding the zone knowing that they have my back.
3B Michael Torres
On hitting two home runs tonight: I got a lot of pitches up in the zone today and that's where I like the ball-middle and in. Early on in the game they were throwing me a lot of balls away and I was able to get the ball up the middle. And then they started throwing me the breaking ball and I hit the first home run off the breaking ball. My next at-bat, with a guy on third base, they were coming in with fast balls and then they threw me a change up late. So when I went up there my last at-bat, I talked to Preston [Clark] before and he told me to stay on the ball and drive one when they come in. And so I went up there looking, waiting for a ball inside and I moved up in the box, which is something I don't do too often, and he elevated the fastball and I was able to get one through.
On bunting: Bunting is a part of my game that I'm more used to doing than the long ball. It's the way I play baseball and it's the way we're coached here.
CF Connor Rowe
On putting pressure on TCU's defense with the bunt: You can tell from the beginning, when the third baseman came across and made that mistake, we definitely could read it from there that bunting from then on would put a lot more pressure on them.
On driving in the go-ahead run: Earlier in the year when we played them on Tuesday night, [Erik Miller] just fed me curve ball after curve ball. After he threw that first one above my head, I knew he was going to come back with it so I just set on that. And playing with him in high school, I knew that he trusted his fastball but not as much as his off-speed so I was sitting on off-speed pitches.
TCU
Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle
Opening statement: At this point for us, it felt like we were battling there to tie the sixth inning but solo homers don't usually win you games. Even though we had the one two-run homer, I thought [Chance] Ruffin did a really good job. Our game plan going in to play Texas is you have to get the lead off hitter out. You have to do that and we didn't do that in the innings. I may be wrong but I think every inning in which we didn't get the leadoff hitter out, they scored and in the innings in which we did get them out, I believe they didn't score for the exception of the solo homer by [Michael] Torres. They outplayed us but the good thing is we're in the exact same situation we were this time yesterday, we have to win two games. Fortunately, we have two to play and have a chance to come back and fight these guys a little bit.
On Texas' bunting strategy: You know what you're getting into. We played Cal State Fullerton opening the season and you get the same stuff. It's the same brand of baseball we've played. It's no pressure. We had the one error. If there's anybody on our team I want the ball in their hands it's Matt Carpenter. The safety squeezes, that's a play that's indefensible. The only thing you can do is completely sell out and maybe crash your first baseman but that's just a big gamble to take. If we had a lead, you would have seen us do the same kind of thing. There's no pressure. They just executed. Except for the one error, we got an out every time. People forget that they get the bunt over but than somebody gets a hit, a clutch hit and than a two-out hit. I think the bunt is a big part of it but the clutch hitting is just as big.
On Texas' offense: All I heard going in was how Texas wasn't suppose to be a good offensive club. They swung the bat well against us twice. I think they're an underrated offensive team. I really believe their team really feeds of f of the leadoff hitter getting on, getting the bunt over and then it snowballs after that.
3B Matt Carpenter
On Texas' offense: They just did a really good job executing their offense, getting lead off hitters on base, bunting guys over, scoring runs and squeezing guys in. Today was just their day from the offensive side. That's exactly the kind of way they play. They executed when they needed to execute and that makes it tough on us when they do that. I thought we did a pretty good job getting outs when we needed to get outs. They just did a good job playing their style of baseball.
1B Matt Vern
On preparing for tomorrow's game: I think the first thing to do is go home, get something to eat and we're going to completely forget about today. We still have two games to play and we're in the same position as when we came in the first game. We have to win two games and we still have two games to play. As soon as we can forget about this, get this off our shoulders and not think about it at all, the better prepared we'll be tomorrow. That's what we have to do.
P Kyle Winkler
On his pitching: I don't think anybody wants to be out there and not be pitching. I don't think the base runners or anything bothered me.
On Michael Torres' home runs: I thought it was a pretty good pitch and it's usually a pretty big hole for left-handed hitters down in the end. He got a hold of it. He might have been sitting on it but he hit it well. There's nothing you can do about it.
