2004 NCAA ATLANTA SUPER REGIONAL
Game One: Georgia 7, Georgia Tech 5
Post Game Quotes
Georgia Tech head coach Danny Hall
“I don’t think we played our best baseball. Give Georgia credit. They got some hits when they needed them, capitalized on a couple of mistakes that we made. I wish Tyler Greene could have held on to [the throw from Nickeas on] that steal attempt (in Georgia’s five-run third inning) because that would have been the third out of the inning. Felmy’s home run was certainly big to give them some momentum.”
“I thought when they brought Dobbs in, and we had the bases loaded with Brandon Boggs at the plate, that was a key out for them. If we could’ve gotten a walk, gotten a hit, made something happen right there, we would’ve gotten the momentum back. But Dobbs got him to ground out, and Szabo made a nice play.” Note: Tech was 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left six runners in scoring position in the game.
“They got a couple of insurance runs, and we came back at them, but (Will) Startup is a great pitcher and a great competitor. He never gave us a chance to get back to tie the game. I told the team afterwards, we haven’t done anything easy all year, and there was no reason to start today. Obviously, we have to win tomorrow to keep the series alive and push it to that third game.”
(On Tech getting a big inning) “You certainly hope that you can. We had opportunities today, but we couldn’t quite get that hit to draw us back in there close. In this first inning, we would like to have snuck another hit in there with a runner in scoring position and already a run in, but we couldn’t quite do it. Give Georgia credit. They made some pitches and plays when they had to, and maybe tomorrow, those balls will fall our way.
Georgia Tech pitcher/DH Micah Owings
“A couple of them (pitches) were mistakes, one was a changeup they made a nice swing on, then a couple of fastballs inside. That was going to be my approach today, go inside. They got the barrel on the ball and stayed inside it. A couple of them were (mistakes), but I thought a couple were good pitches and they capitalized on them.”
(on Felmy’s home run) “That was a fastball I was trying to elevate away, and it cut back across. I don’t think it was quite as high as I wanted it. He just threw hit hands at it and got it up in that jet [stream].”
Georgia Tech second baseman Eric Patterson
“You hate to lose, especially at home in a situation like this. But it’s best-of-three, and something we can’t dwell on. We’ve got to come out tomorrow, and we’ve got a job to do. We had a couple of situations we didn’t capitalize on, and if we make a couple of plays here and there, it may be a different ball game. We’ll just move on, and tomorrow’s a new day.”
“He (Will Startup) comes right at you. He has a tendency to be wild every now and then, but you just have to be patient and hit your pitch. He did a good job today, and we couldn’t get a bead on him. That’s just the way it goes. We’ve got to be ready to go tomorrow.”
“Thye plate is the same no matter who is throwing. You just have to stick to your approach and do what got us here. I think we got away from that a little today.”
Georgia Head Coach David Perno
“Obviously that said a lot about this team’s identity. That’s how we play; we pick each other up. Johnny Dobbs picked up Michael Hyles, and Bobby Felmy picked us up with two outs. It was a collective effort by everybody in our lineup. We kept the pressure on them most of the time, and the Magic Man (Will Startup) did his thing.
He (Hyles) wasn’t as sharp as he has been, and that’s expected because he skipped a week. He just couldn’t quite get a feel. The arm strength was there, velocity was there and his stuff was there, but his location was little rusty.
[Tempted to bring Startup in earlier?] “No, I think Johnny (Dobbs) made that easy on us Sunday. He’s asserted himself as a guy who can come in and give us some quality innings. He did exactly what he was supposed to do today. Today’s a little different because it wasn’t the last game, so there’s no way I was going to shoot Will before the sixth or seventh … That’s how you draw it up. He’s got four or five on Sunday, if needed, and maybe one or two tomorrow if needed. He didnt’ get that name Magic Man for nothing.
“We preach the big inning. Even though we don’t hit a ton of homeruns, we want to score three or more a couple of frames a game. We feel like with our pitching and our bullpen, if we do that a couple of times a game, we’re going to be in good shape. We talk about clutch hitting, extending innings. We knew that we had to get to Micah early because if he settles in, he’s as good as there is.
“There’s a lot of baseball left, but if history repeats itself . . . With this club, every time we win on Friday, we at least get one more if not all three in our conference series. That’s been our approach, that this is like a conference series.
Georgia Left Fielder Bobby Felmy
“The last time (Tech and Georgia played), I had a couple of errors, but that’s in the past. We’re out here to get to Omaha. [HR?] I just put a good swing on and just tried to put the ball in play. I had a two-strike approach, and I was just trying to put the ball in play.
Marshall Szabo, Georgia Second Baseman
[Boggs groundout with bases loaded] “The infield played hard today so I was treating it as a high hop. My first step was back. I knew he’s a good runner, so I just had to do my best to get it there as quick as I could.
