Arizona State, Gonzaga Press Conference Quotes
6/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | General
Arizona State Head Coach Tracy Smith
Opening Statement
"When you get to this point in the season when you are in tournament play, things become magnified whether its making pitches or not making pitches and I think today it got us a little bit. We didn't execute really offensively. (Brandon) Bailey for them did a really good job of pitching out of some jams. We felt like even with the start we had, Seth (Martinez) wasn't sharp. I will say this first and foremost, Seth Martinez is one of the reasons we were able to be in this regional. He just picked a bad time for him to have not a quality start. In spite of all that, we still had a chance to make that baseball game and even win that baseball game. I am disappointed that didn't happen, but I feel like we still have a lot of baseball left to play."
On Eli Lingos
"This is the beauty of baseball. He has had a rough couple of starts the last few weekends, but I still had the confidence to put him in there. Like he said, hold us in there, which he did exactly what he was supposed to do. He threw up some zeros the rest of the way, but we were just not able to get going offensively. Phenomenal effort and it goes back to our ability to survive in this thing because we didn't have to go to more guys after that. Even in the loss, it is pretty much a positive from our standpoint that we didn't have to expend a bunch of guys because we are now in the losers bracket. You are going to have to play some baseball games and pitching so phenomenal job by him not only holding us in there but also saving some arms.
Arizona Pitcher Eli Lingos
On coming into the game
"It went pretty well. I knew we just had to hold them if we wanted a chance to win that ball game. We had to keep them where they were for as long as possible. I just tried to focus on throwing strikes and making them get themselves out."
Thoughts on moving forward
"We got a lot of pitching left and I know there are a lot of games that we have to win, but we got enough pitching right now to move and make our way back into this. I trust in our arms that we have left and we can find a way to do this."
Arizona State Catcher Brian Serven
Thoughts on moving forward
"Eli (Lingos) came up huge today. He gave us extra innings that we didn't have to use a bunch of guys like Skip (Head Coach Tracy Smith) said. I think we are a good enough team and I think we have a good enough chance to win some games and I think we just have to have everyone together for it to be good."
Gonzaga Head Coach Mark Machtolf
Opening Statement
"That was a good win for our team. I thought we came out ready to play. We did a good job against a very good pitcher, and obviously Brandon [Bailey] set the tone, and [Taylor Jones] had a good hit. I'm just proud of my guys."
On the atmosphere of the game
"I think there was a comfort zone of having been here before."
On hitting well against Seth Martinez
"It was huge [to knock him out of the game early] because we have a ton of confidence in Brandon [Bailey]. We didn't really take advantage of it since Eli Lingos came in and did a good job. We weren't able to extend [the lead], but anytime you can get to their starter knowing you have your guy on the mound, it's comforting."
On how he feels about the upcoming games
"Pretty good. Sam Hellinger has been very good all year. We have Hunter Wells, who was up in the bullpen but didn't throw in the game. And we have Eli Morgan who is fresh, so I think we're ready to go."
Gonzaga First Baseman Taylor Jones
On the atmosphere of the game
"It was awesome. It's cool playing on a stage like this. Like Coach said, playing on this field again is cool. It kind of felt like we were more comfortable since we've been here before."
Gonzaga Pitcher Brandon Bailey
On Taylor Jones' double
"I wasn't watching. I was getting stretched out in the training room, but I heard the roar of our teammates, so I knew something good happened. I started yelling at one of our pitchers. He was relaying to me what was going on. He was like, `Taylor doubled, Taylor doubled,' and I asked `Did he score?' That was a good way to start the game, and it really set the tone. The position players really swung the bat well against a really good pitcher in Seth Martinez. I thought it was a great way to get the momentum on our side right away."
