USC Regional postgame Notes/Quotes
June 21, 1999 | Baseball
May 30, 1999
Pepperdine Coach Frank Sanchez "It's been a long day for all of us. Im very excited about this team and they way they conducted themselves. It was a difficult game to get excited for, but our guys came to play, stepped up and we got through it.
(On facing USC again tomorrow) "Well do it the way weve done it all year. Well take it pitch by pitch and game by game."
Pepperdine senior third baseman G.J. Raymundo
(On USC pitcher Rik Currier, who will pitch tomorrow for the Trojans) "I
respect him. Hes a good pitcher, but I know well be ready to play
tomorrow. They have to beat us again. We wont be going down without a
fight. Im very confident in our team."
Pepperdine freshman leftfielder Woody Cliffords
(On playing USC tomorrow) "We just need to come out ready to play and go
play two. As long as we play our game, I dont see why we wouldnt win."
VCU Coach Paul Keyes
"That was loser's bracket baseball at its best. We went with Marc Fisher
(at pitcher). He earned it, but he didnt have it today. Pepperdine was
as good as advertised.
"I told our players that we had a great year. The expectations were for this to be a rebuilding year. We played poorly the last 3 weeks after playing well early.
"Pepperdine got on us early and we couldn't do anything. Theyre a quality team. They showed a lot of character coming off a tough loss and coming back right out of the gate. You're got to give USC the edge tomorrow because it's their home field and Pepperdine played twice today.
"We won 41 this year and 47 last year. Theres not a lot of teams with 87 wins the last 2 years. This was a bridge year. We should be pretty good next year. This was a team that overachieved. We just ran out of gas the last few weeks. Being a mid-major school, thats the way it plays out. To get to the regionals in back-to-back years is huge. Playing how we did all year was good, too."
VCU sophomore leftfielder Kevin Elrod
(On the misplayed ball) "I was going to the corner and looking at the
fence, and when I turned around, I lost it in the lights. It was routine
and I should have had it. It was a careless mistake."
VCU senior first baseman Jake Anthony "We started this year with low expectations, but three-quarters of the way we were having a good year. Then we went downhill. I wish we could have been hot at the end. It's tough going out on a loss, but all in all, it was a good year."
Notes:
VCU's Jake Anthony became only the second Ram to hit better than .400 in a season with a .412 average. Eric Sauve did it in 1993 and 1994. Hes only the fourth Ram to have 250+ hits in a career. He is tied for third on VCU's single-season list with 84. He ended the year with 31 multiple-hit games and an 11-game hitting streak.
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