Cal State Fullerton 4, UCLA 3 - Postgame Quotes
June 12, 2010 | Baseball
June 11, 2010
Cal State Fullerton Head Coach Dave Serrano
(Opening statement): "I don't know if an opening statement is needed. I think it was all said out on the field. I go back to what I said to the team before the game in the bullpen before the game - they control their own destiny, and you kind of saw that tonight. I guess as I look back at tonight's game, it doesn't surprise me that it happened that way. Anyone in this room who has followed us all year realizes that for whatever reason, this team has decided to do everything very difficult, and they've overcome it. After we won the game, I was speechless how the ninth inning went about. The baseball gods allowed us to win this game. We made mistakes but came up with clutch performances. I'm proud of this team because even though they made mistakes, they overcame it, showed toughness and found a way to get it done."
"The turning point in the game was the momentum swing in the sixth and seventh. They had runners in scoring position and didn't score runs. It could have been a backbreaker, and it wasn't. We were allowing them to stick around, and UCLA is a very good baseball team, and we beat very good pitcher tonight. We're just happy to get this done tonight."
(on the pickoff): "I was in the trenches with Coach Vanderhook for eight years. I know he likes to be aggressive, and I knew he was going to try to get a base. That's why you saw us pitch out so much tonight. I was sending a message; I'm not afraid to do that. I just had a feeling they were going to try to create something right there, and I was kind of getting the rhythm of Nick (Ramirez). He was picking once, we were pitching, and I decided to go twice. Lucky for us, we picked the right time to do that."
(on what was going through his mind at the end of the game): "My heart was pumping through my jacket. To tell you the truth, what I told my coaches, was I looked up to the sky. I lost my mom eight years ago. She was my biggest fan, and I said I need her right now. She's my angel over my shoulder, and I owe a lot of my success to her, and she helped me get through it, along with Nick (Ramirez), Christian (Colon) and the rest of the Titans."
Cal State Fullerton pitcher Noe Ramirez
"I didn't have good command of my fast ball in the first inning. Coach told me that I needed that to be successful in this game. In the second inning, I had more control and felt more comfortable. The changeup felt great off my hands. It was definitely my pitch tonight."
Cal State Fullerton first baseman/reliever Nick Ramirez (on pickoff play at end of game)
"Coach calls all the picks, so he maybe had something they were tipping off. We just kept picking over there, and the one time that we did, we came up with the big play."
Cal State Fullerton shortstop Christian Colon
(on the line drive he caught with the bases loaded to end the 7th inning): "He (Blair Dunlap) hit the ball pretty hard. Luckily enough, I got up and was able to catch it. I take pride in my defense. That line drive I caught was at a really big time in the ball game."
UCLA head coach John Savage
"It's a championship game, and you saw two teams that went after each other pretty good. We've bounced back all sesason, we've played a ton of three-game series, and it's far from over. We'll come out tomorrow and compete. It's a tough loss, but our guys will bounce back. We're here for a reason. We feel very confident that we can come back tomorrow and get back even in the series. We saw two good pitchers in Ramirez and (Gerrit) Cole, two potential first-rounders down the road. That's what happens in Super Regionals. You see that type of caliber arms this time of year, and they came out on top. We'll bounce back. We believe in each other. We believe in the program, and we're not going to change a whole lot. We'll come out tomorrow with Trevor (Bauer), and get after the first pitch."
(on the pick in the 9th inning) "It was a straight steal. It was supposed to be a jab-and-go. He (Blair Dunlap) could have waited a split second, I guess you could say, but it was more of a guess that we were running on that count, and they guessed right on that pick. That's baseball. We gambled, and we lost."
(on Noe Ramirez): "He's as good as there is out there. With a guy like that you can get punched early but then he tends to settle down, and that's what he did. We had plenty of opportunities but left 10 on base and struck out too many times. But give credit to Fullerton for making good pitches with two strikes. We knew Ramirez was going to be in there for the long haul, and he wasn't going anywhere, and Cole wasn't going anywhere. Noe got stronger as the game went on. We had an opportunity in the seventh with the bases loaded and nobody out, and we couldn't make contact with the bases loaded. Blair (Dunlap) hit the line drive, but Christian (Colon) made a nice leaping catch. That would have probably cleared them, but that's baseball."
UCLA pitcher Gerrit Cole
"I came out pretty strong. We had situations in the fourth, I think it was, with the bases loaded and too many pitches to get out of it. I had some opportunities but didn't cash in. I squeaked my way out of some other jams later in the game and didn't jump ahead of them like I should have. I made a pitch to (Nick) Ramirez that wasn't good enough, obviously, and hung a changeup to Colon. Good hitters are going to punish you."
UCLA second baseman Tyler Rahmatulla
"(Noe) Ramirez came out throwing pretty good, kept us off-balance pretty good. Well, he kept me off-balance pretty good. He made some really good pitches, and I just didn't stay disciplined enough. I give him a lot of credit."
