Game 1: College of Charleston 12, Appalachian State 11 (11 inn.)
College of Charleston
Head Coach Monte Lee
Opening statement ... “That was a huge win for us. Obviously, Game One in any tournament you’re playing in is the biggest game you can play to carry momentum for the rest of the week. It is really important that we played well in Game One and get a win, because we all know what an uphill battle it is if you don’t win game one in a tournament. I am awfully proud of our guys to play as early as we did and to play for 4:15 to stay in the ball game for 11 innings to battle back against arguably the best reliever in the conference (Patterson). We had some great at-bats. I give our ball club a lot of credit for continuing to compete as hard as they did. I am awfully proud of them today.”
On the Justin Brewer ... "Justin is a senior, a guy that we’ve used over the last couple of years off the bench. He’s had quality at-bats for us. He always gives us a chance with the bat---he has a great eye, can hit the ball to all fields, and he has some power. I think his second at bat today was the biggest at-bat of the whole ballgame, when you’re facing Patterson who has one of the best breaking balls in the league.”
On the offense delivering... “Our offense did deliver today. Our guys really buy into what Coach Morris, our hitting coach teaches. In my opinion, he’s the best hitting coach in the country. Our players buy in and work extremely hard on the offensive side of the game. We really try to do a good job of studying pitchers and seeing what guys are trying to do to us and coming up with a plan before we go up to bat. I give these guys a lot of credit as well. Offensively, we’ve had a good ball club all year.”
Senior Pinch Hitter Justin Brewer
On the offense... “We have swung the bat well all year. The coaches preach to never give in and always have our best swing, and it all came through today. It was big for us.”
On the comeback... “We never think we’re out of a game. We’ve had a lot of comeback wins this year. Whenever we have outs left, we always know there’s a chance we’re going to win. We always stay positive and stay in the game the whole time.”
Sophomore Catcher Rob Kral
On his at-bat with bases loaded... “I was sitting on something over the plate. I didn’t want to get myself in a bad count. I knew I had to get it in the outfield and find a hole because they were playing me in. I was trying to put a big swing on it. Afterwards, I was so relieved. We battled all day and the team played great. Personally, it felt good to get the game winning hit after a pretty poor day at the plate.”
Appalachian State
Head Coach Chris Pollard
“We’re obviously very disappointed in the loss but I couldn’t be prouder of how our guys kept fighting throughout the ballgame.”
“You’re got to tip your cap to Charleston. Like us, every time they got knocked to the mat, they picked themselves up and never stopped fighting. It was a great game between two great clubs but unfortunately for us, they score last.”