Game 5: Appalachian State 6, Georgia Southern 2

 

Appalachian State

 

Head Coach Chris Pollard

 

Opening Statement... “When we do a good job of hitting with two outs, we’ve had pretty good success over the course of this year.  Today, some guys stepped up and had really good two out at-bats: Chris Alessandria in the second inning and Jerod Faggart with his two out at-bat later in the game.  Chris had a great ball game.  He really swung the bat well and has swung the bat well for the last two weeks since being reinserted in the lineup.  The job Matt Andress did speaks for itself.  I told our guys a few minutes ago, I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of a player in my thirteen years as a head coach.  Nobody deserves this more than Matt.  For him to step up when we needed him the most, it says it all to me.”

 

On Kyle Blackburn... “He’s had a great career.  He’s been a Mountaineer killer when we’ve played against him.”

 

Starting Pitcher Matt Andress

 

On today’s game... “My arm felt really good coming into the game.  Going into this game after the tough loss yesterday, I was optimistic about it, but I knew there was a chance it could be the last outing of my life.  I wanted to go out there and leave it on the field, and whatever happened, happened.  I’ve put in enough work over the four years that I’m as ready as I’m ever going to be, so I just had to go out there and throw the best I had.”

 

On the complete game... “Every time I go out and pitch, I’m looking to go nine.  It always hurts when I get taken out.  Once I started getting in the middle part of the game and my arm was still feeling strong and I was feeling good, I knew it could be an option if I keep throwing well.”

 

Senior Outfielder Chris Alessandria

 

On his success over the last two weeks... “The past couple of weeks, I’ve made a slight swing adjustment and I’ve been seeing the ball really well.   I haven’t been too overaggressive, which has been a problem for me in the past.”

 

On Matt Andress... “I have to give Matt a lot of credit for today, keeping the game close.  It’s a lot easier to hit when it’s a close game and you’re not getting blown out of the water.  Matt deserves a lot of credit for keeping our offense in the game.”

 

 

Georgia Southern

 

Head Coach Rodney Hennon

 

On defensive errors... “Appalachian State got a good outing from Andress.  He’s their go to guy, their most experienced guy and he went out and gave them a great effort.  We scattered some hits and had some opportunities with two outs and he made some key pitches when he had to and the difference is that they made the plays.  I think we made mistakes defensively in each inning that they scored, the first being with two outs, and they got the big two out hit.  That’s what you have to do when you talk about tournament baseball, and they did a better job than we did today.”

 

On Dexter Bobo... “I thought Dexter gave us all he had today.  We asked a lot of him, changing his role and asking him to go out and start a game.  He gave us everything he had, and unfortunately, we didn’t do enough things to win the ball game.”

 

On the youth of the team...  “We’ve got a good nucleus of young players that were thrown into the fire this year, and obviously those guys should benefit from that experience that they got this season, being able to come over here and play in a tournament atmosphere will help them in their development.  We’ll go back to work and focus on next season.”

 

Senior Starting Pitcher Dexter Bobo

 

On his first career start... “I was kind of shocked when I found out I was going to start, but I wasn’t disappointed about it, I was excited. I took it one pitch at a time just like I have all year, just as hard as I can for as long as I can.  For some reason, I felt a lot more locked in today than most days.  I felt like I pounded the strike zone pretty well, but I kind of got a little tired later on.”