Game 3: The Citadel 9, Furman 5
The Citadel
Head Coach Fred Jordan
Opening Statement... “It’s very good to win Game One. It’s very difficult to win a tournament losing game one. Furman played tremendous. Ian Perry just left runner after runner in scoring position-they played extremely well. We were very fortunate. I thought Asher was outstanding. I thought Furman had a great offensive plan against him: they were going to swing early and stay away from two strikes. They had a great game plan on that side of it. We got a couple of timely hits late, and I thought we ran the bases very well to help us from an offensive standpoint.”
On Asher Wojciechowski... “I thought he was very sharp. The first three innings, his slider wasn’t as sharp as it normally is, but after that, it was good. I just have to give the credit to Furman?they just competed extremely well.”
On the offense in the 7th inning... “This team has been pretty resilient all year long. There’s not a whole lot of panic in that dugout. We’re not a great offensive club, but we have the tendency to score runs when people score against us. We just try to win every inning. We don’t look at the game?we just want to win an inning.”
On the importance of tomorrow’s game... “It’s very difficult to win a tournament losing Game One, and Game Two, in my opinion, is normally the most important game of a tournament because you’re either going to go into the winners bracket in great shape or you are going to fall into the losers bracket and have to fight. So, tomorrow is a pressure packed game...always has been, always will be.”
Junior Starting Pitcher Asher Wojciechowski
On his performance... “I felt good. I felt very comfortable out there. Like Coach Jordan said, they had a good plan against me and they were going to swing early. They ran into some balls and scored some runs, but I felt comfortable. I didn’t get shaken out there or anything.”
On the possibility of it being his last game at Riley Park... “Hopefully I can go back out there Sunday in the championship game.”
On pitching under pressure... “I want to be pitching in pressure situations. It’s why I play the game. If I didn’t have pressure on me, it wouldn’t be fun. So I don’t think about the scouts being out there, I just think about the hitter I’m facing and just try to get him out.”
Senior Shortstop Kyle Jordan
On his approach his 7th inning at-bat... “I was just trying not to do too much. I tried to be nice and simple and put a good swing on a pitch. He gave me a good pitch to hit, and I got to it.”
Furman
Ron Smith
"We didn't get off to a good start. We competed well, but there were a couple of defensive plays that we didn't make that cost us. In a game like this against a quality Citadel team, we have to make those plays in order to put ourselves into position to win, and didn't.
Wojciechowski is an outstanding pitcher, and when he had to make a pitch tonight, he did. I thought we battled him pretty well with 11 hits, but he shut the door on us a couple of times when we had chances for more runs."
Furman Notes
Furman's two home runs tonight extended the school season home run record to 69.
Will Muzika's two RBI tonight give him 55 on the season, the third highest season tally in Furman history.
Starting pitcher Ian Parry's four strikeouts give him 278 for his career, good for third all-time in Paladin history.