Post Game Quotes From 2003 NCAA Baseball Super Regional – Ohio State Buckeyes
6/8/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
June 8, 2003
Recap| Box Score| Notes
Ohio State Quotes
Bob Todd, head coach
On the team’s run to the NCAA Super Regional:
“I was as proud of this team as I have been of any team I’ve been around. This team faced a lot of adversity. We are a young team and we had a lot of injuries. Halfway through the season, no one gave us a chance to get this far. It’s great that our young team had a chance to experience something like this. We had one heck of a run.”
On Southwest Missouri State:
“Southwest Missouri State is a solid ball club. They love to come to the field and play. They have great pitching. We simply didn’t play well enough to win.”
Kyle Brown, pitcher
On the bullpen’s performance:
“(Relief pitching) has been a strong point for our team this year. We knew we had great starting pitching. We felt we had a good enough bullpen that if our starters pitched well, we could hold a lead. Our hitters did a good job and scored enough runs, we just didn’t get the job done.”
Mike Madsen, pitcher
On starting the game, allowing three runs in the first two innings:
“I had a little nervousness during the first few innings, but the guys put some runs up and that got me fired up. It helped me settle things down.”
Steve Caravati, designated hitter
“I’m very proud of this team. No one gave us much credit coming into the tournament and we showed everyone what we could do.”
SMS Quotes
Head coach Keith Guttin:
On the two-game series:
“You have to give a lot of credit to Ohio State. I congratulate them. They succeeded in both the conference tournament and the regionals missing their All-American pitcher. As for us, we just kept battling and were able to take advantage of a couple big innings.”
On advancing the first College World Series in SMS baseball history:
“You don’t think about what has or has not happened in the past that much. You try to think about the present. We have played on the last day of the Super Regional before have never had the pitching to advance. This team had the pitching and the leadership of eight seniors who know what it is like to compete in the Super Regionals and how to play on the road in front of a crowd as impressive as Ohio State’s.”
SMS catcher Tony Piazza:
On his Grand Slam hit in part of the 8-run sixth inning:
“He kept throwing me inside fastballs and was unable to get his breaking ball over the plate. I just waited for him (Ohio State pitcher Kyle Brown) to make a mistake and jumped on it.”
SMS starting pitcher Brad Zeigler:
On taking the mound after the SMS 8-run rally in the sixth inning:
“I knew I had to go out and put a zero on the board. We have had big rallies all season. I think that is how I got 12 wins. The key is to go out and shut the opposing bats down after those type of rallies.”
On Ohio State hitting:
“They are a very impressive team. I had a hard time missing their bats in the beginning of the game. It seemed like all of their outs went to the warning track. It was a tough game, but I was able to battle and keep us in the game early on.”
