June 19, 2005
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery
59TH ANNUAL MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Rosenblatt Stadium, Omaha, Neb.
Game Five
Arizona State (40-24) vs. Tennessee (46-21)
Tennessee Head Coach Rod Delmonico
(opening statement): "I can see why Arizona State was able to beat Cal State Fullerton in its own backyard. They don't quit. They find a way to win. In that (8th) inning they changed the direction of the ball and found the holes. They did a good job in that inning and that was the game."
(about leaving starting pitcher James Adkins in the eighth inning): "He was at 105 pitches. He's usually a 125-127 pitcher. It's not that they hit just one ball. They had three big hits. They found the holes. I thought he was still throwing well."
(about the Omaha experience): "This is the best place to play baseball. The city wraps its arms around it. However, for me as a coach, to see these men grow up and see how each has improved has been a blessing to me. This is the best year I've had as a coach - either head coach or assistant coach. What this team has meant to me will be hard to top."
Tennessee Starting Pitcher James Adkins
(about whether he was getting tired in the eighth inning): "I went out with the same mental frame of mind. I was just trying to compete. It just went their way. That's baseball."
(about coming to Omaha as a freshman): "Coming here as a freshman is quite an accomplishment. Our goal is always to get to Omaha."
Tennessee Catcher J.P. Arencibia
(about his home run in the 1st inning): "I thought I had a good piece of it. From the bat, I thought I had a pretty good chance of getting it out."
(about whether he's disappointed about UT's showing in Omaha): "We made it here so that's not disappointing. We didn't bring our A game here. We battled today and had runners in scoring position. We just couldn't get the big hit today."
Arizona State Head Coach Pat Murphy
(opening statement): "It's fun to win. It's great. We haven't played good baseball in two games so this was good. Joey Hooft came up big again for us. Hopefully we're going in the right direction."
(on possibly meeting Nebraska again in a hostile environment): "I tell you what I'd like to do. I'd like to full the newspapers about the game time so the (Nebraska) fans show up about three hours late."
Right fielder Travis Buck
(on the team's resiliency): "Basically it's how close we are as a unit. As a team we really represent that. It starts with our seniors and their leadership."
(on possibly meeting Nebraska again in a hostile environment): "It would be good. But really it doesn't matter who we play. We're just happy to be here. We're still playing and we've got another game in us."
Starting pitcher Erik Averill
(on getting the start in an elimination game): "This is the third elimination game I've started and the second this year. I don't approach it any different than a regular season game. Coach always tell us the philosophy to take is that the hardest guy to beat is the guy who doesn't care if he loses. That's what I tried to take out there."