Georgia Tech Head Coach Danny Hall:
I think it was a great win for us. Any time you can beat a pitcher like (Kyle) Sleeth, you have to feel pretty good about your ball club. I thought it was important that we got a run in the first inning – it was critical. I also think that (Jeremy) Slayden’s home run really gave us a lift. Micah battled, but he just got a little tired. His pitch count got up a little after six. We kind of gave them some extra opportunities late in the game with a couple of defensive mistakes that gave them some extra outs and they capitalized on them and made the end of the game interesting. It’s a great win for us to get started in the Tournament.
Georgia Tech Rightfielder Jeremy Slayden on beating Kyle Sleeth:
It feels great. When you know you’re going to face a guy like (Kyle) Sleeth, everyone comes ready to hit the ball. Everyone uses an aggressive approach because we know he’s got a good fast pitch and good off-speed stuff. You have to go to the plate ready to hit and that’s what a lot of guys did. We got a few breaks today, but we capitalized on them.
Georgia Tech Pitcher Micah Owings on pitching against Kyle Sleeth:
I try to just pitch my game like it’s any other game and trust that the guys behind me will pick me up like they did today.
Wake Forest Head Coach George Greer:
I want to commend the ground keepers and staff here for getting the field ready and playable. Under the conditions they did a great job and should be commended. My hat is off to them. We made some mistakes and some errors today and Georgia Tech really capitalized on those errors. If we don’t make errors, we have a better chance to come out on top. You don’t make errors on great teams and Georgia Tech is a great team.
(On keeping Sleeth in for 9 innings)
He has always told us how he feels. He trusts us and we trust him. If he says he can go another inning then we keep him out there, if he says he can’t then we take him out. It was inning by inning after the 6th inning and he just told us how he felt.
Wake Forest Pitcher Kyle Sleeth (On his pitching today)
I felt like after the third inning I was able to locate my fastball pretty well. I was able to get the runs and hits down. I was able to work off of my slider after that. I had good control of my change-up today and I used that a lot more than I have in the past.
Wake Forest First Baseman Jeff Ruzicki (On momentum of the game)
We have been trying to hit the starter all year. We have a lot of confidence where we have been trying to get to the relief pitchers. It would be nice to get ahead and do that but when you make little mistakes they come back to haunt you.
Wake Forest Rightfielder Ryan Johnson (On losing the first game of the tournament)
I haven’t been in a situation when we have lost the first game of the ACC Tournament. Usually in tournaments team come out and play better. Right now we have our backs against the wall. I expect us to come out with a lot more intensity and hopefully we can carry it throughout the remainder of the tournament. You definitely don’t count yourself out just because you lose the first one.
