June 12, 2005
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery
GAME 3: Arizona State 9, Cal State Fullerton 8
Arizona State Quotes
Arizona State Head Coach Pat Murphy
Opening statement:
"These guys were unbelievable. They didn't quit.
We talked about it all week. We said when Holyfield fought Tyson, he
shocked the world because he went right at him. Nobody expected
Holyfield to go right at him. We walked in here Friday with an
attitude and we went right at them. We respect Fullerton a great
deal, I'm sure the same why Holyfield respected Tyson. But it was
all about going right at them. This team would not quit. They were
destined."
On having to beat Cal State Fullerton to get to Omaha:
"Well I was
hoping we didn't have to go through them. They're good and they're
well coached. I can't stand him (CSF head coach George Horton)
because they beat us all the time. He does things right and he gets
those kids to play hard. I think they're just a little bit shocked
we came right at them. I think they thought we were going to fold.
George should know better than that. He should look into our history
a little bit. But we didn't fold."
On Jason Urquidez's performance:
"I told the (Arizona) Diamondbacks
the day of the draft that you got something special. I don't care
where you pick him, you got something special. It's as big of a
performance as I've ever been around."
Arizona State Catcher Tuffy Gosewisch
On the team:
"We had a different spirit about us and there was
something special about this team. I knew that no matter how many
runs we got down or what happened to us, we were going to come back
and we weren't going to quit fighting until the end. After two years
of coming here and ending my season on this field, it's some serious
redemption to beat this team on their home field. They're an
unbelievable team."
On the team's mood after Sergio Pedroza's home run:
"After what
happened Friday night, you can't get a whole lot more down than that.
We knew that five runs in a college baseball game can be made up very
quickly. We came out and tried to have good at bats one at a time."
Arizona State Pitcher Jason Urquidez
On coming back on short rest: "Yesterday, I was a little bit sore
but I spent about half hour in the jacuzzi last night and it loosened
me up a little bit. Coach asked me how many (innings) I had in me
today and I told him whatever it takes. I came back just for the
sole reason of going to Omaha and winning. So I was going to do
whatever it takes."
Arizona State Second Baseman Joe Persichina
On his home run: "I knew my time would come. I was helping this
team even by not playing. I was just being there for my team. That
at bat I was just trying to breathe. I was just looking to hit a
hard liner basically."
Cal State Fullerton Quotes
Cal State Fullerton Head Coach George Horton
Opening statement:
"I'd just like to commend Coach Murphy, his staff
and his players. Certainly, in recent times, we've been successful
against them. We've ended their season. What a great job by them,
not only today, but bouncing back from a very tough loss on Friday
night and getting it done in two straight games. There were lots of
things they had to overcome. The way they won this kind of reminds
me of my warriors last year. They did more things in the game of
baseball than we did today and the scoreboard indicated that. I'm as
proud of my young men as I was last year when we won the
championship."
On how difficult it is to get to Omaha:
"It's what we talked about
today. I showed them the sign out there (in the outfield), 1,544
miles and asked them how hard that would be to walk there. I pointed
to my ring and reminded them of how special it is because of what it
takes to go to Omaha three years in a row and to repeat as champions.
All the things that we've had to overcome and fight off and take
blows were there this weekend, they were last weekend and they were
there throughout the year. It's a very difficult thing to play well
four weekends in a row. Whoever ends up winning this championship
certainly will deserve it."
On Wes Roemer's struggles:
"For the first time this year, he looked
a little tentative to me. I don't know why. It was probably from
the exaggerated adrenaline that everybody had today fighting for this
championship. He just didn't have it, but that doesn't make us any
less proud of Wes Roemer's year. I think that's a tribute to him
that you go to a freshman as the first guy up today. He just didn't
have it."
On putting Felipe Garcia in the lineup:
"That was a hunch.
Certainly he's not in great playing shape and he hasn't been taking
at bats. But Felipe is a big reason why we won the championship last
year, he's our team leader and he's got the mentality. We're not
getting a lot of production out of the DH slot with other guys. My
staff and I thought that with Flip being a senior, an elimination
game and last game at Goodwin Field, it was the right time to play
Felipe. It was obvious to me that his timing was off and those were
uncharacteristic at bats for him. It's too bad that he broke his
foot basically because he might have made a difference."
On Tuffy Gosewisch:
"He's a good baseball player. He hit everything
we threw up at him. We pride ourselves on using the whole bat and
using the whole field, putting the ball in play. One of our main
philosophies in hitting is use the middle of the field. They wore
out the middle of the field. They did a better job than us
offensively against just as good of pitching."
Cal State Fullerton Third Baseman Ronnie Prettyman
On his thoughts about the loss:
"It's not something you can prepare
yourself for because we wanted to get past this weekend.
Unfortunately, it didn't work out for us. We got beat. There are a
lot of guys on the team this year that might not be back in a Titan
uniform, myself included. It's always a hard way to end the season
except if you go all the way and win it like we did last year. No
matter what would have happened unless we won it again, it was going
to be tough."
On how Arizona State's bullpen performed better than expected:
"Sometimes bullpens are underrated. Our bullpen last year in Omaha
wasn't supposed to be very good either. Sometimes guys come in in
big spots, make good pitches and that's what they did. They got out
some really good hitters on our team. We weren't able to capitalize
a couple of times when we should have scored."
On ASU's offense:
"They did a nice job at the plate, coming up with
some big hits and really battling back from a five-run deficit. You
got to tip your cap to them."
Cal State Fullerton Second Baseman Justin Turner
On the offense's trouble getting clutch hits:
"Coach Horton was
joking around with us after Friday night and he said 'One way to not
leave runners on base is to not get on base.' Friday and Saturday
night we had a hard time getting things started, getting leadoff
hitters on. But that wasn't the problem today. Today we got guys
on, but we didn't have enough big at bats."