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June 12, 2005

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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."