June 5, 2010
MERCER COACH CRAIG GIBSON
Opening Statement:
“I thought Matt McCall got us off to a great start today. He pitched five great innings. We had some guys step up offensively for us. We were able to get out in front and get away from them a little bit with a couple of runs and hang on for that last out and survive and play tomorrow.”
On Mercer’s pitching situation:
“Justice French will probably get the ball in the first inning. I kind of joke that we have “starting by committee” at the moment. We will send French out there, but will have every one available except McCall and Love.”
On the jumping out to an early lead:
“I think it was important for Billy [Burns] to get on base. He has been our spark plug for us all season. Last night, he gets on, but gets picked off on a great move. He was able to get on today and get to second. The ability to score first helps take the pressure off. Then Matt [McCall] settled in and pitched well for us and we were able to play some pretty good defense.”
THOMAS CARROLL, Jr., OF
On Mercer’s performance after being shutout:
“I didn’t think there was that much to talk about. We squared up the ball well last night. We did it again today. It didn’t fall last night. The ones that didn’t fall fell today for us. [Last night] I thought we played pretty well, but things just didn’t go our way. It was pretty easy to move on from that one.”
On Mercer’s offensive production:
“We didn’t want to change anything we did last night since we did a good job of squaring the ball up. It definitely was a feeling of relief to get those runs across in the first inning. We just relaxed and swung the bat from there. I was pretty relaxed when I hit [the home run]. I haven’t had one in a while. I wasn’t really thinking about it. I just tried to get a good pitch and drive it. I knew they would come inside and jam me in my first at bat so I figured they would probably go back there. I was able to “barrel” that one out.”
On Mercer scoring the first run of the game:
“I think we realized that we can’t square that many balls up like we did last night and have them not fall two days in a row. We knew we were swinging the bats well. It was definitely a relief, but I don’t think we had a whole lot of pressure on us.”
MATT MCCALL, Fr., LHP
On his performance:
“I thought I was pretty sharp at the beginning but started to fade off at the end. I tried to just let the defense do the work because they have been strong all year. I let them just play behind me. My fastball started running a little bit which is hard when you are working with a small zone. I got a little tired out there.”
On the change in rotation:
“Anytime you can get a little extra rest, it is really good for a starting pitcher. I thought it was a good move to have [Brandon] Love, our lefty, to face six of [Georgia Tech’s] lefties. That extra rest is definitely good for a starting pitcher.”
