NCAA Region 4: Game 5 Notes & Quotes
6/4/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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POST-GAME NOTES and QUOTES
Troy University
Head Coach Bobby Pierce
“The story of the game for us was this guy right here (Ryan Ellison) who pitched excellent. Back to back outings, the third game of the conference tournament he performed great and he did as well again today even behind some shaky defense. I think all four runs were probably unearned. I haven’t looked at the stats but I think they probably were. And he would have probably been able to go the distance had we not made those defensive miscues that allowed Southern Miss to score. Ryan was excellent today. He’s a sophomore that’s really coming into his own and the game was about him.
“The rest of the ballgame was again, pretty much what our ball club has been able to do all year. Coming from behind is not an uncommon thing for this team. We have been able to fight back and battle back in ball games for most of the season. Elimination games in tournament play, a lot of times a lot of people play out of position but Jared Keels’ probably second inning at second base, Brett Henry’s second or third inning at third base, and Mike Felix’s first inning at first base??so you just do what you’ve got to do. I’m just proud of our ball club for doing the things necessary to win an elimination game.”
#12 Ryan Ellison, Pitcher:
“I never lost confidence in myself. I had a few bad outings earlier in the season and had some time when some guys stepped up and stepped into the role that I wanted to be in. But I kept my confidence and just stayed upbeat about things. When I got my time I just tried to make it the best that it could be.”
“Hopefully just keep the ball in the strike zone, keep the hitters off balance, let our defense work. We do have a really good defense. We were a little shaky in the second but we’ve got a lot of guys who are really good. I never really thought that our bats were going to be quiet the whole game. I just kept pitching.”
Troy Notes:
?? Edgar Ramirez hit in the leadoff spot in the order for Troy for the first time this season. The junior entered today’s game with three hits in seven at bats (.429) with three RBI in the regional.
?? Sophomore right-hander Ryan Ellison made just his fourth start of the season, but his second in as many weeks. Ellison worked seven innings against Florida International in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament on May 26, allowing four runs on six hits with five strikeouts to earn the victory. His other starts this year were against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Feb. 12) and Birmingham-Southern (April 26). He lasted four innings, allowing six runs on eight hits to the Islanders and lasted just three innings, allowing four runs on four hits, against the Panthers.
?? The three errors committed by Troy in the second inning, allowing four unearned runs, were the most in an inning for the Trojans this year. The errors were committed by Edgar Ramirez (13), Jared Keel (15) and Beau Brooks (5). Troy’s season high for errors in a game is six against Georgia Southern on March 14. The Trojans were charged with two errors in an inning on multiple occasions.
?? The Trojans hit into three double plays in the first five innings against USM. It is the second time this year Troy has hit into three double plays in a game. The first time came on March 11 at Memphis in a 21-3 victory.
?? Troy’s Josh Dew and Ian Craze both delivered bases-loaded RBI singles in the Trojans’ four-run sixth inning. Dew is now 5-9 (.556) on the year with the bases loaded while Craze improved to 2-12 (.167).
?? Troy improved to 40-0 on the season when leading after seven innings.
?? After second baseman Edgar Ramirez was ejected for arguing a called third strike in the top of the ninth, third baseman Jared Keel was forced to play second in the bottom of the inning and freshman Brett Henry came in to play third. Keel made one start at second base this season, on March 8 against Kennesaw State.
?? Junior Mike Felix moved over to play first base in the ninth inning when Josh Dew came in to pitch. It was the first time this season that Felix has played first.
University of Southern Mississippi
Head Coach Corky Palmer
“I thought we fought hard today. These were two evenly matched teams. I felt like we were in good shape when we put up the four-spot in the second but we couldn’t extend the lead.”
On senior class: “When this group came in is when we turned around the program, starting beating teams and getting into the regionals. Anytime you get your program to four straight regionals your program is in good shape.”
“We wanted a little more this year but we had some limitations. We need to fix some areas to really help us get to the next level, but I feel like this team really overachieved at times this year. When we came back from Rice I really didn’t give us a chance to make the post-season, but then we swept Mississippi State and East Carolina to get things going in the right direction.”
#17 Marc Maddox, 3b
“This was a long road that passed quickly. Only one team can end the season with a win and, unfortunately, it won’t be us. This hurts and I’m sure it won’t all sink in for a few days that I won’t be playing with a lot of these guys again.”
#6 Ryan Belanger, SP
“Troy is a great hitting team. I felt good early but I just didn’t make the pitches that I needed to make and they got to me a bit.”
Southern Miss Notes:
?? Southern Miss’ season ends at 39-23, giving the Golden Eagles four-straight years of 39 or more wins and four-straight trips to the NCAA Regional.
?? Marc Maddox played in his 244th career game today, giving him the school record for most games played in a Southern Miss career ... With his two hits today, he has 298 in his career, also a school record.
?? Southern Miss turned three double plays, the most since turning four against UCF in game one on May 18.
?? Brian Dozier hit .545 (6/11) for the tournament, five runs scored, two home runs and five RBIs.
