Game 10: Elon 7, Samford 4
Samford
Head Coach Casey Dunn
Opening Statement... “Elon is a good group, and they’ve been winning for a long time over there, and they’ve been able to find a way to get us in the end more than we have. Their best hitter got a hit off our best guy. It was a good matchup of two good college baseball teams. I’m proud to death of the way our kids competed. They were just able to get the big one at the end.”
On the strength of the Southern Conference... “This is a great baseball league, and we knew that coming in here two years ago, but once you get into this league and you see the depth of the league, the reality is that the teams at the top are as good as anybody. People give us credit for having good depth in the league, but people don’t give enough credit to those teams at the top for how good they are.”
Elon
Head Coach Mike Kennedy
“We’re not real offensive right now and it’s the wrong time not to be able to score runs, but our starting pitching has been phenomenal. All three guys got us into the 7th inning and you’ve got to tip your hat to those guys, but at some point we’ve got to step up and give us a little bit of room.”
On the depth of the league... “There’s not a lot of difference in five or six clubs in this league. It’s good baseball. There’s a lot of good players and good talent in this league. I say it over and over, but we get no respect. The Southern Conference doesn’t get any respect, and the top six or seven clubs in this league can play with anybody.”
On Jim Stokes... “Jimmy, for about three quarters of the year was outstanding for a young freshman, and then he hit a wall and couldn’t throw strikes. He was very good tonight?he had good stuff, he had good life on his fastball, and it goes back to that guys with stuff have a chance to get guys out. It was a great outing for him. We’re proud of him.”
Senior Designated Hitter Mike Melillo
On his day... “I missed a couple pitches today. I tip my hat, Kyle Putkonen made some on me. I thought he threw a great game keeping us off balance. I was definitely trying to finish up on a good note there.”
On his injured thumb... “I hurt it yesterday on the play at the plate. It is much better now that we won.”