TCU vs. NC State Postgame Quotes
5/31/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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TCU Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle
Opening Statement
"Obviously, a good day for the Frogs. It was fun to be in our dugout all day long. It's a neat group of kids. I know NC State and Coach Avent feels the same about his team. I thought that we had some things go our way early. Once Tyler [Alexander] found the strike zone with his pitches, you know he's always going to throw strikes. It was good to get that lead and Dane Steinhagen's triple was huge and took some pressure off. Plus, our crowd has been amazing. They've been a part of this thing more so than any of my 12 years here at TCU. We just need them to be back out here tomorrow because it's going to be a dogfight."
On his pitching lineup today
"I thought Brian [Howard] did a great job. I thought the pitcher of the day other than Tyler was Preston Guillory. The biggest thing for us is that other than not pitching [Alex] Young, we haven't pitched Trey Teakell yet. I know they have really good pitching left too, but it was really good for us to get through two games today without pitching Trey Teakell."
On Alexander's performance
"It's big in every possible way. These older guys in 2012 came out of a loser's bracket to win a regional. The big performance of that regional was Stefan Crichton throwing a complete game beating Texas A&M on their field 10-1. The only difference is we don't have to bring Preston Morrison back for the night game, we have a fresh guy available. I like our chances, but NC State has a really good team. They're an impressive bunch. They lead the nation in opponent's batting average and have some good pitchers, so it should be a fun night."
Pitcher Tyler Alexander
On if he thought he could keep the perfect game
"Well, I'm not the type of pitcher who will blow you away. I pitch to contact and throw a lot of strikes and they're going to put balls in play. So, I'm just going to execute pitches and if they get low in the zone and gets hits then they get hits and if they don't then they don't."
On if his slider tonight was as good as it's been all year
"It felt really good tonight. Coach said that it took me awhile to find the bottom of the strike zone at the beginning of the game. It felt like I was just getting the tip in and then as the game went on I was really able to get it in there. My breaking ball helped a lot, I was able to keep it low and it was a big pitch for me tonight."
Third Baseman Derek Odell
On his play in the field
"Before the regional even started, we all went around the room and said something that we would vow to spend the extra time that we had after the conference tournament that if there was one thing that we could sharpen up on, what would it be and I said routine plays. I think my extra work before and after practice has allowed me to be more prepared right now with my glove than I think I ever have been and I think the great plays just come with playing the game."
On how resilient the team is
"That's kind of been our motto this year. Being as elderly as we are, we have a lot of experience in a lot of different ways. The guys who are young, just fall right behind us, and sometimes they lead and we follow. You can never count us out and that's something we all take pride in. Focusing pitch after pitch until the last pitch, that's something we've really put a lot of focus on year after year."
NC State Head Coach Elliot Avent
Opening Statement
"I just thought [Tyler] Alexander pitched very well tonight. Scouting report said he fills the strike zone up, and he did. He just pitched a complete game on 110 pitches. He was outstanding. TCU found some holes early, put us in a hole and we gave it an effort and tried to battle back, but he was too good tonight. He had three pitches that he commanded for strikes. He pitched a lot away in and out, but he had three pitches that he threw for strikes and anytime you can change the speeds like that and control the baseball the way he did, then you're going to be effective and he was just outstanding."
On Cory Wilder's performance on the mound
"I thought Cory was outstanding. He's pitched so much for us more than he's ever pitched in his life. He's a little tired this time of year and we thought he was better than we expected tonight. He just got tired down the stretch. Ryan Williamson had his slider but didn't have his fastball. He was making some mistakes with it and they were finding some holes with it. So, we just decided to give it to Cory and he had some better stuff than we expected and kept us there. We just couldn't get anything off of Alexander."
On if he was frustrated about getting behind early against Alexander
"When a guy fills up the zone as much as he does with pitches that he can throw for strikes, if you take, you're just going to get in a hole and he's going to throw what he wants to throw. That can be really tough, because he can be really good. So, we had some options, we knew that he was going to try to save their bullpen too. With a complete game and 100 pitches, it still does the trick. We talked about at the sixth inning maybe taking some pitches, but the damage had already been done. He was so effective tonight, and we did hit some balls hard tonight like Logan said, but we also hit too many fly balls. But give the credit to him, he was outstanding."
Shortstop Logan Ratledge
On what caused the flyouts at the plate
"Early in the game, there were a lot of hard-hit balls. They were more lineouts. That's just how it goes sometimes in baseball. You go up there and try to hit the ball hard and tonight we didn't get to fall the way we wanted to. Tomorrow is a new day and we're ready to roll."
On if his homerun gave them a spark for tomorrow
"I told all of the guys the last inning to try to take their last at-bat, not necessarily for tonight, but to get ready for tomorrow. We had some pretty good at-bats in that last inning, and I'm not saying that is going to spark us, but I think everybody in that last inning had the right mindset moving forward to tomorrow."
Catcher Andrew Knizner
On facing the speed of TCU on the base path
"Obviously, they're a pretty good running team. They have close to or more than 100 stolen bases, but we're used to it and we've faced teams like Louisville who run a lot. Our pitchers do a really good job of holding runners close, which helps me out and gives me a chance to throw guys out."
On the attempted steal at home
"This is my first year of catching and there are a couple new things like stealing home that I've never seen before. Cory did a good job of throwing the pitch and getting there as quick as possible and giving me a chance to get a tag. Plays at the plate, you just have to stand there, catch the ball first and make the play."
