Postgame Quotes: UCLA 1, Maryland 4 (Los Angeles Regional Game Four)
May 31, 2015 | Baseball
2015 NCAA DIVISION I BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Los Angeles Regional · Game Four · #1 UCLA vs. #3 Maryland
Final Score: Maryland 4, UCLA 1
Jackie Robinson Stadium · Los Angeles, Calif. / Saturday, May 30
GAME QUOTES – UCLA
John Savage, UCLA Head Coach:
Opening Statement
“You have to give Maryland a lot of credit. They came out and did a good job against Watty (Grant Watson). They hit the ball down the left field and scored two runs and then scored two in the third and to Watty's credit, I thought he competed. He's competed his whole career. That did not surprise us that he came back and threw a bunch of zeroes. Their lefthander (Robert Galligan) out of the bullpen really was the difference. He made pitches that we didn't do much with and he basically handled us. That closer (Kevin Mooney) is plenty good enough. It's one loss. It's a double elimination tournament. We can't be down too long because we are going to be in another ballgame tomorrow. They did a good job of outplaying us and winning a ballgame. We'll bounce back.”
On managing his pitching staff needing to win three games to advance
“Well that's the nice thing about it, we do have depth. We don't have Griffin (Canning), which right now, unfortunately, stings a little bit, but we knew that coming in. We'll make those decisions. Our bullpen is in good shape. They'll be extended a little bit. We have to get good quality starts tomorrow. I'm not worried about that. We just have to get back on our feet and play Bruin baseball and that's what we're focused on.”
On the challenge of winning a regional in five games
“It's challenging. This is a big game. We've won this game quite a bit. So when you do lose this game, you have to retrain your thoughts in terms of getting everybody on board. You just have to go pitch by pitch and inning by inning and game to game. It's like trying to hit a five-run homerun, it's been proven you can't do that. We can't get into that mode. We can't win the tournament tomorrow. We need to play Bruin baseball. You better be able to respond this time of year. It's not the easiest path or the path we wanted to go down. It will be challenging but our guys are up for it and our bullpen is rested.”
Grant Watson, UCLA LHP
On not having his best stuff in the second and third innings today
“I think I just settled down when it came to the third and the fourth inning. My stuff was there, all four of my pitches, I believe. But they were putting quality at-bats together and they have a good offense. They were getting key hits when they need to. I think I just settled down and went back to making pitches.”
Kevin Kramer, UCLA SS
On making adjustments to the four different pitchers Maryland used
“I don't think we made the adjustments we need to. Baseball is a game of adjustments. Their lefty out of the bullpen (Robert Galligan) was very good. We didn't make the adjustments we needed to and didn't have enough quality at-bats. We didn't hit many balls hard and the ones we did, they caught. We didn't support Grant (Watson) nearly enough. He threw a great game and kept us in it the whole time. We came up short supporting him, but we'll bounce back strongly tomorrow.”
GAME QUOTES – Maryland
Jim Belanger, Maryland Associate Head Coach
Opening Statement
“Today when you look at the game, I think there are two really big things – our defense was tremendous; we took a big run off the board in the second inning, and then Rob Galligan, what he did today was very special. Coming in with (Brian) Shaffer getting dinged and not being able to go in the third, he settled us down and gave us some big outs to really give us a chance there.”
On the bullpen
“They're strength throwers. You trust those guys to go in and throw strikes all the time and throw multiple pitches for strikes. Whenever you're in situations when you're getting some guys in early in those middle innings, that's what you need.”
On the reason for their success in the postseason:
“I just think we prepare all year for postseason, from the way we do our scouting reports to the way we practice. Everything we do is to prepare for postseason, and once we get to the postseason nothing changes. Every day we prepare, from the time they show up on campus for practice, we're preparing to have success in the postseason. I think that's a big part of it.”
On having an advantage being in the winner's bracket:
“It's huge. When you lose a game, you have to win five games. You have to play five games to win it all. Having a chance to only play one tomorrow and to finish it in three is big. But I've been on the other side of it as a player where you lose early and have to come back, and sometimes the team that wins the first game of the doubleheader gets a little bit of momentum going into the second game. But at the end of the day, we've just got to do our job and get a good start tomorrow.”
Robert Galligan, Maryland LHP
On the team's feeling throughout the game
“I think everyone was fired up, and as the game started getting to end, we started believing it and feeling it. From the get-go, everyone had no doubt in their mind that this would be a fight all the way through. We just needed to battle it out and give them 27 tough outs.”
