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FOX, EMANUEL, STALLINGS & BUNTING
Listen to Audio (11:24)
Fox
Opening statement:
"Well, sensational performance is an understatement probably by
Kent Emanuel here. What a performance. A
complete game shutout which I don't think you see
too many of them out here. Somebody just told
me the last one was Robert Woodard on our staff
in 2006. So I've been privileged to see the last two
out here.
"Didn't really surprise us. Maybe that Kent
went all nine innings, but he's been on the big
stage for us. Down the stretch he's really been
throwing well for us. We thought it was going to be
a game just like it was. That's typical of a lot of
games we've won this year. Not so much
complete game shutouts, but just trying to scratch
and claw and get a runner or two here and there
and trying to hold the other team down and make
some good defense and make plays.
"So it's a big win for us. We're excited just to get
a win out here and extend our stay a little longer."
Coach have you had a
chance to check Kent for a pulse? Because it
seems like for a freshman going into a situation
like this and really settling in early, it seems
pretty characteristic for him the whole season.
"Very characteristic. Other
than his left arm, that is his best trait is his
demeanor. Very first time I met him, just exactly
the way he's always been. I've never seen Kent
any different. You just don't see a lot of emotion
out of him. That's what you want when you get on
the mound especially at this stage.
"But he's under control. I said it before
many, many times that he's very mature for his
age. And he's been able to handle just the rigors
of college baseball and coming in the fall. He's
worked. He's very, very committed, and he's had
some pretty good examples as well to follow. I
think he'll be the first one to tell you that Robert Woodard helped him and all our upper-class
pitchers have given him some advice. He's taken
it to heart. He was pretty good before he got to
North Carolina, and we're happy to have him."
Coach, I saw you have a moment
with Roy Williams after the game. Can you
share what he said to you after this game?
"I’ll be back Wednesday.
Just congratulations. Tell the left-hander that was
a pretty awesome performance. Reminded me of
Robert Woodard, and great job, and I'll be back
Wednesday. He's a great supporter of our
program."
A lot of times you see guys who
don't have a pitcher go to a complete game just
to get a pitcher on that mound. Do you have
any thoughts in the ninth just to get them on
the mound or change your thinking as far as
having Kent go back out for the ninth?
"No, because Coach Forbes said as soon as he walked off in the 8th inning that
he's going back out there in the ninth. And I'm
scared of Coach Forbes, so I told him okay. That
was pretty much it. I let him make almost all of the
decisions. We've seen Kent do that before, so I
mean, he's thrown complete games before. We
can tell when he's feeling it and he's throwing a lot
of strikes. We wanted him to go back out there.
"That is a thought to get some other guys
on the mound in the College World Series because
they're probably going to be out there again at
some point. But right now you've got to go with the
guy that got you to that point in the game. Kent
would have probably tried to strangle me anyway if
I tried to take him out. But I think he deserved to finish that game."
Emanuel
Kent, I think you had seven infield
pop-ups and good fastball velocity. Where did
the pop-ups come from? Was that from getting
inside, getting guys off balance? How do you
think you got some of those weak contacts like
that?
"It's definitely from my
changeup today. I threw inside less today than I
ever have all year. So today is definitely the
changeup, just getting them out in front."
Can you talk about how much
of a lift you got when you got out of those two
innings with double-plays?
"Any time we can end the inning on double-play and get two for one is
always big. That's just credit to our outfielders
today. Those are two uncommon double-plays,
and I was fortunate to have two of them today."
GARRIDO & PLAYERS
Listen to Audio (10:31)
Garrido
On Emanuel:
"It was a brilliantly pitched game by their pitcher. He was terrific. He got three pitches over. He used them in different count spots where he would lead guys off of changeups. He'd lead guys off with breaking balls. He'd lead guys off with fastballs and he had command throughout the game from beginning to end."
Shortstop Brandon Loy
On the loss and the end of Texas’s seasons:
"We didn't come here to be the first team to leave. You’re never going to be satisfied, I don't think, unless you come out of here with a national championship. We did some amazing things with this team. It's tough to leave now."
Starting Pitcher Cole Green
On his rough start:
“I think I was leaving the ball up early in the game. Just excited, the nerves were going. They were a good team. Any time I made a mistake, they took advantage of it. They put the ball in play and they saw it well. So we’ve got to tip our hats to them, but we were just trying to compete.”