Game 9: Appalachian State 10, College of Charleston 6
College of Charleston
Head Coach Monte Lee
On the effects of last night on today ... “Well, last night will take a lot out of anybody. I don’t think that had anything to do with how we played today though. Obviously, it’s tough to go to bed at 3 and 4 in the morning. I felt like our spirits and energy level was pretty good, actually today, so I don’t use the excuse of being tired as far as how we played today, because I don’t think that was the case.”
On today’s ending...“There’s a lot of peaks and valleys in the game of baseball over the course of the year?it’s a long season. We haven’t had too many valleys this year. If you look at our record and you look at how we’ve played this year, we haven’t had weeks where we haven’t played well. I don’t think we’ve lost three games in a row all year unless I’m mistaken. I’m disappointed that it ended this way, but on the other side, you’ve got to work at the whole body of work. Our RPI was 22 going into the conference tournament, so for a Southern Conference team that hasn’t been to a regional since 2006, I think it’s awfully tough for us to not be going next weekend, and that’s our goal every year: to get into the field of 64. I’m extremely happy and proud of what our guys have been able to accomplish this year.”
On today’s game... “Last night, our bullpen struggled a little bit, even though we had some bright spots. We couldn’t catch any breaks. We couldn’t come up with a big hit when we needed it from the fourth inning on. I give [Appalachian State’s] guys credit for that. The bottom line is that we didn’t swing the bat well today. We didn’t pitch well today, and we made four errors. We didn’t do very much of anything well.”
On next week’s plans... “The big thing is, over the next couple of days, let’s take a step back and regroup and try to get our energy levels back up, and just focus. Baseball season, even at the college level, is a long season. We’ve got the longest playing and practice season of any Division I sport. Our guys work hard from August to June if you’re lucky. There’s not a lot you can do to prepare your team at this point in the season. The big thing is to be at 100% ready to play.”
Sophomore Outfielder Jose Rodriguez
On fatigue today... “I am definitely drained, but I don’t think it had any bearing on the outcome of the game. We went out there and we competed as hard as we could. We just didn’t get our breaks and any big hits when we needed them. It just didn’t go our way.”
Senior First Baseman Greg Blake
On the postseason... “We had a great season, and it’s not over. We’ll wait until Monday and see where we’re headed. “
Appalachian State
Head Coach Ron Smith
Head Coach Chris Pollard
Opening Statement... “First of all, a ton of credit to The College of Charleston and Coach Lee because they have a great club, and they’ve been really rough on us to this point this year. They’ve got a club that has a great opportunity to represent the Southern Conference really well in an NCAA Regional. From our standpoint, I’m just really proud of our guys. We had a lot of seniors step up and play really big today. The outing we got from Ryan Arrowood was huge. Our club played well, and the biggest thing is that I felt that we competed really well.”
On the balance of the offense... “We were very opportunistic throughout the ball game, which was great. To get two really good at-bats out of our nine hole and have great balance up and down the lineup, that’s something that we’ve really lacked this year, and hopefully that’s a sparkplug for us to continue to have that type of balance for the rest of the tournament.”
Senior First Baseman David Towarnicky
On the balance of the offense... “We’ve got some guys right now that are really playing great baseball right now. Chris Alessandria and Jack Myers are the two guys that come to mind for me. Those are two seniors that have had rough years. Jack has waited patiently for his chance throughout his entire career here. He’s a guy that’s worked extremely hard behind closed doors when nobody’s watching, and it’s really paying off for him now. It’s wonderful to see him succeed. Chris Alessandria has had a really rough year, and he’s picked the right time to get his bat hot. With those two guys and the production that they’re giving us at the bottom of our lineup is something we’ve had on and off all year. Those guys are really driving this offense, I think.”