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POST-GAME QUOTES * GAME 3 * May 31, 2003
#3 East Carolina 10, #1 Georgia Tech 3
Georgia Tech head coach Danny Hall
There’s not a lot to say except we didn’t play good enough to win. East Carolina got some big hits when they needed them and their relief guy (Tucker) put a lot of zeros on the board after we scored three early. We couldn’t mount any offensive threat against him and they beat us * period.
(On possible letdown after ACC Tourney): I would find it hard to believe that our guys weren’t excited about playing and trying to win but that’s something that is hard to judge.
(On injured catcher Andy Harwanick): He lunged at the last second for the ball and his mouth went right into the side of the rail. I know he lost a tooth. He had a lot of bleeding in his mouth.
I thought we played great last weekend. I thought we were ready. We swung the bats good and our pitches pitched great, We just didn’t have it this weekend.
We are going to lose these guys (Bakker and Murton) and we are obviously going to lose some starting pitching. A lot of it depends on what happens in the pro draft, but we have a lot of position returning so we will see what happens after the draft.
Georgia Tech pitcher Kyle Bakker
We’ve been high and low all season. We worked all year for this and we were ready for this. We just didn’t do the thing s that we needed to do
The only time we got in trouble was when we walked people and when you play with fire you are going to get burned
(On the final game at Tech): No, it hasn’t really (sunk in). Matt and I were both just focused on trying to win the regional and the super regional and whatever happens next would happen. You never know what you are going to get in the draft * that is something that you just can’ think about.
Georgia Tech left fielder Mike Murton
(On Tucker): His fastball, he kept it in on right handed hitters and it would sink a little bit and when he threw it away it would elevate. He had some decent off speed pitches and it made it tough on us.
(On being pre-season #1 and ending season in regional): Of course it’s disappointing. When you are pre-season number one, your goal is to make it back to Omaha. We did everything we could to prepare ourselves for this regional but the games didn’t go our way. There are things we might have done differently on the mound or at the plate, but we can’t look back on that.
East Carolina head coach Randy Mazey
That was vintage East Carolina baseball. We get down early and tell our starting pitchers just give us an opportunity to win the game. If they keep us within two or three runs going into the seventh inning, we always have an opportunity to win the game, because we have guys in the lineup, like what Darryl (Lawhorn) did today. We threw a five spot up in the seventh and three in the eighth, and that’s East Carolina baseball.
It’s not at all surprising what Glenn Tucker did today. He’s been that way all year long, having to commit early. We played Southern Miss. Early this year, got down early, and he came in and pitched the final 7.2 innings. So that isn’t uncharted territory for Glenn Tucker.
(On using his bullpen): We didn’t come here to win one game. We came here to win a tournament. With a 7-run lead, I didn’t want to go to the bullpen.
(On keeping Tucker in the game): Tucker is capable of doing what he did. He has done it for us in the past.
You can’t predict three run homers, but our guys don’t give up. In a three run game, our philosophy is the next team that scores is the one that will win. When we got those first two runs, that just energized us and got our bats going.
(On his upcoming pitchers): We are in good shape. We have Jason coming up, and we have some depth.
(On Darryl’s hit): He is the guy we wanted in that situation. It was d?j? vu all over again. It’s the right situation when you can’t pitch around him.
East Carolina pitcher Glenn Tucker
(On coming into the game, down three runs): You just get up there and don’t think about anything except for the next batter. I just tried to keep the team in the game and not allow any more bleeding. I just did it batter by batter, and kept us in the game.
Now that the game is over, it all sinks in. But while I was out there I was just staying with it, getting ahead in the count.
East Carolina shortstop Darryl Lawhorn
(On his grand slam) It was a fastball right over the plate. I didn’t get all of it. I just wanted to get it in the air. I was just trying to put the ball in play and I hit a grand slam, which was nice.
I wasn’t thinking about my at-bat last night (with the bases loaded). I was just thinking of this at-bat, trying to hit the ball hard, especially when guys are on base.