NCAA REGION 5: Southern Miss vs. JSU NOTES and QUOTES
6/4/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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2006 NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional |
POST-GAME NOTES and QUOTES
University of Southern Mississippi
Head Coach Corky Palmer
“I thought we played a complete game, finished well. Russum gave us a great start. Timely hit and didn’t make any errors. It was the best game we’ve played in a while. It was a complete game, pitched it well, got big hits and caught the ball and got the win.”
On difference in play in 1st round game vs. USM’s play Saturday: “I don’t know, just pitching. It all starts on the mound. Our fifth year senior (Russum) is a big leader for us. He just gave us that shot in the arm and even after they got the lead he held it tight there until we could get our offense going.”
# 27 Drew Carson, Leftfielder
On his home run: “It was a three-two count, I believe. It was a fast ball up and away, and the way the wind was blowing today it was blowing out to right. I caught a good piece of the bat on the ball and it went out of the park for me. The whole dug out kind of gave me some problems because I was telling the ball to get out as I was running down the first base and I almost fell down but it was a great deal.”
On conditions today vs. Friday’s rain delays: “It was miserable out here yesterday. We were out here for eight to 10 hours and anytime you do that you always have to come back and try to play a good game, and it’s tough, sitting around for three or four hours and play a game. But we can’t make any excuses. The other team had to do the same thing. They just wanted it a little more than us yesterday.”
On having to win two Sunday to advance: “We’ve got to win the first one. That’s what we’ve got to focus on right now. And then when the second one gets here, we’ll focus on that one.”
# 12 Brian Dozier, Short Stop:
On his home run: “To be honest with you, I’m not a real power hitter at all. But the guy was throwing fast balls down the middle and he made a mistake and I caught the sweet part of the bat.”
Did that home run give team momentum? “I know it was the go-ahead homerun but I give, really, all the credit to the pitching staff. Cliff Russum did an amazing job. You couldn’t ask anything better than what he gave us. He kept us in the ball game, only gave up one run and that’s what you’ve got to do in regional play.”
# 38 Cliff Russum, Pitcher:
On being a senior & how important win was to stay alive in regional: “I really had to sit around all morning and think about how this could be my last career start and that hopefully it’s not. I really knew we had to come out here and do something for all the seniors, not just me, and, luckily, we came out on top.”
On difference weather conditions made Saturday compared to Friday’s rain-delays: “The biggest difference I could tell was we played with a little fire with us today. We came out early and really set the tone. I could tell a little different step in our bodies last night and I think that played a big difference in the game.”
Southern Miss Notes:
?? Today’s game marks the first meeting with Jacksonville State.
?? Today’s win over Jacksonville State snapped a five-game NCAA Tournament losing streak dating back to the first game of the Baton Rouge Regional when Southern Miss defeated College of Charleston on June 1, 2004, 6-5.
?? The win today gave Southern Miss its 39th win of the season for the fourth-straight season and needs one more win to break 40 for the fourth-straight year.
?? The save by Best gives Southern Miss 16 for the season, which ties the 1999 team for third base in the school’s history.
?? Southern Miss hit three home runs in today’s game, which is the most since the Golden Eagles hit three homers in a game since Marshall on April 29 ... They have hit five in the tournament, giving them 81 for the season, which is fifth best in the school’s history.
?? The win today also gave Cliff Russum his eighth win of the season, tying him with Ryan Belanger for tops on the team .... He currently has 23 for his career, which ties him with Damon Pollard, 1989-90, for second place on the all-time list ... He threw seven complete innings, giving him 289, passing Damon Pollard for third place on the school’s list ... He had four strikeouts today which give him 232 for his career, moving him into sixth place, passing Chuck Shive (1987-89), who had 231 ... He now has 65 career appearances, which tie Jason Fortenberry (1995-98) for eighth place.
?? Brian Dozier, who tied his career high in hits with three today, did this for the ninth time this season ... He hit his third home run of the season today and second in as many days ... For the tournament, he has hit 5-8 with four runs scored and drove in four runs.
?? Drew Carson hit his fifth of the season today
?? Jody Blount hit his 10th homer of the season today ... His 10 home runs are the most he has hit in a season.
?? Marc Maddox tied Brad Willcutt for most games played in a career with 243 and he will break the record tomorrow ... He had a walk in today’s game, giving him 120 for his career, tying him with Ive Burnett (1983-86) for fourth place all-time on Southern Miss’ list.
?? Daniel Best tied Tony Phillips (1991) for most saves in a single season with 13 ... He also now has 25 in his career, already the school record.
Jacksonville State University
Head Coach Jim Case
“The difference in the game was their offense and we just had a hard time shutting them down. They were able to hit several solo homers and we just had a hard time keeping it in the ballpark. I thought our kids battled really hard. We had some opportunities and even at the end had a chance to get the tying run to the plate. A lot of credit goes to Southern Miss. I thought their kid pitched really good and limited us to the number of opportunities that we had.”
“Our main goal was trying to get the tying run to the plate. If we were going to do it was going to be in the shape of one of our guys hitting the ball out of the park. Certainly though, down five runs in the ninth against a pretty good pitcher your opportunities are going to be limited. We were able to get something started but just wasn’t able to finish.”
#23 Garrett Bass
“In the first at-bat I was looking for a good pitch and he threw me a curveball but didn’t get it over the plate. In the second at-bat I just got a little over-aggressive and it wasn’t a good at-bat on my part.”
#2 Jason Horn
On 9th inning: “I thought we had a chance of putting together a rally, especially after the conference tournament. Our confidence was pretty high. Baseball is a funny game and anyone can beat anyone on any given day. Unfortunately its us that that came up short today.”
Jacksonville State University Notes:
?? Junior Garrett Bass hit his seventh home run to give JSU a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. It was his second homer of the post-season.
?? The three home runs allowed by the JSU pitching staff was the most since Samford hit four homers on April 1st.
?? Jax State dropped to 0-4 in NCAA Division I Regional games.
?? The Gamecocks fell to 0-13 on the season when scoring 0-2 runs.
