June 3, 2005
Arizona State Quotes
Arizona State senior 1B Jeff Larish
On making adjustments in last couple of games:
"I'm just trying to be relaxed up there and looking to find a pitch I can hit and help the team win. I've been fortunate enough to get a good part of the bat on the ball. In terms of playing against East Carolina, I think it is just a matter of getting into the right mental focus and getting prepared to hit against them."
Arizona State senior RHP Jason Urquidez
On struggling in the first inning:
"The first inning I was a little jacked up and I wasn't thinking one pitch at a time. After the first inning, I got my head back into focus a little bit and thought about what I was doing. I broke it down one pitch at a time and tried concentrating on every pitch. It started to click for me after that. I feel like I can pitch whenever coach needs me. My arm feels fine. I have a rubber arm and I'm ready to put everything on the line for this team."
"I broke it down and started taking it one pitch at a time. I just tried to concentrate on the glove and play catch with Tuffy (Gosewich). The defense was huge, with the contributions from J.J (Sferra) and Colin (Curtis). That just pumped me up even more. They got the bat on the ball and I had my defense behind me."
Arizona State junior 3B/OF Travis Buck
On Coastal Carolina:
"We obviously know they are a very good team. Anybody that makes it this far, obviously is a good team. We have to go out there and do our best and come out there like we did today. We have to bring that intensity tomorrow. We just have to compete and good things will happen."
Arizona State Head Coach Pat Murphy:
On Jason Urquidez:
"I thought he was outstanding. This is playoff baseball. This is a team that's seen him before and seen us four times. They were in the Super Regional last year and they have a lot of returning players. He really held his poise after that first inning. He threw up five zeros after that and that was crucial. He made some huge pitches and threw the ball great. It was a great start. I thought it was a tremendous start."
On taking Urquidez out after six innings:
"I thought he was getting a little tired. He gave us 98 pitches like he does every weekend. He was just sensational. He's one of the most underrated pitchers in the game in college baseball."
On the team's play:
"These guys have made up their mind that they want to play well. That was a phenomenal game for (Jeff) Larish. I think we sent the message right away that we're here to play. We may not win, but we're here to compete and be relentless."
On Coastal Carolina:
"They can score runs and they're confident. Coastal is a good team and they're number one for a reason. They're a bunch of older guys and they're real impressive. They've been winning 45 games a year for I don't know how many years in a row. They beat Georgia Tech and North Carolina back-to-back on the road so they've got to be good."
East Carolina Quotes
East Carolina Head Coach Randy Mazey
On ASU's pitching:
"(Jason Urquidez) really settled in and got in a groove. He is a good pitcher. He's got nine wins this year for a reason. He got his command and kept us off-balance in the middle part of the game. That's why he is as good as he is.
On ECU's offensive struggles:
"We hit three balls right to the fence and they tracked them down. They made a great catches on some of those balls and we sure didn't catch any breaks tonight. Our guys fought hard and scored the last four runs of the ball game and, usually in that situation, the momentum pretty much carries on to the next day. I think we'll come out swinging pretty well tomorrow."
On ECU's starter T.J. Hose:
"He'll be able to come back. He was our closer to start the year so he can go again on a short amount of rest, if need be. We're not going to hurt the kid, but if he feels good and the situation is right, he can always turn it around. It looked like he found the strike zone a little too much. Every time he threw a strike, they seemed to hit it. But when a guy hits your first pitch of the game for a home run, you can't fault (our pitcher). You want him to go right at him.
"T.J. (Hose) is one of those pitchers that gets better as the game progresses, but he just never got the chance to get into the middle innings. If he had gotten through the lineup a couple times, I think he would have been good down the stretch, but they just jumped on him early."