Wake Forest Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Wake Forest vs. West Virginia
6/3/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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NCAA Winston-Salem Regional
Postgame Quotes
Game 4
Wake Forest 4, West Virginia 3
Wake Forest Head Coach Tom Walter
Opening Statement:
"What a great college baseball game that was. Two really good teams going toe to toe, neither team backing, neither team giving in. Just really proud of our guys to fight their way back, down 3-0, against a really good pitching staff. Finding a way to get it tied up, just clutch at bats and clutch plays and clutch pitching on both sides, and the fans were electric. Just a great college baseball environment and that game right there was what college baseball is all about. It was just really fun to be a small part of that.
On keeping Gavin Sheets calm:
"We talk all the time about staying on your branch and just doing what you do. These are kids, we have to remember that. They can get caught up in the moment, they're not professionals. So, yeah that's been the message really all weekend for us, is just kind of stay within yourself and do what you've been doing all year."
Junior Infielder Gavin Sheets
On wanting another shot with the bases loaded:
"Definitely. I looked at the scoreboard and saw that I thought I had one more shot in the bottom of the ninth. I kept telling myself to stay in it and not get too down. Obviously, it was a big situation and I wanted to do something there, and for that strikeout there (in the seventh), I just wanted another shot at it. Griff (Griffin Roberts) did a great job of keeping us in the game there, and keeping it tied, so I got another shot in the ninth."
On the walk-off hit:
"That was an unbelievable feeling. Earlier in the game I hit two balls well that were foul, so the biggest thing there I was thinking was just stay behind the ball, and get it in right center. I knew I had a chance to get the fastball there, and I got the fastball and I stayed behind it. Just a really exciting game, the fans were unbelievable, that's why you play college baseball right there, so just an unbelievable night."
Wake Forest Senior Pitcher Parker Dunshee
On the atmosphere tonight:
"That's what you play for, you want to play in games like this, having our home crowd, but having some West Virginia fans here made it fun, so kind of going back and forth with them was a really cool thing."
On the adjustments he made:
Yeah, I just didn't locate very well in that first inning with my fastball. A guy jumped me and took me out of the yard on an 0-0 pitch. That wasn't a very good pitch, so I just need to come out better in the first inning going forward, because in the past month or so it hasn't been as good as I'd like it to be. So, I had to make a couple adjustments and realize that they are a pretty free-swinging team, so if I made pitches just out of the zone or on the edge of the zone, without nibbling and giving them free bases, then I would be alright. In the first inning, I just didn't make enough good pitches, that's a really good offensive team so they can hit mistakes, and they did in the first inning.
Wake Forest Sophomore Pitcher Griffin Roberts
On his slider:
"Yeah, it was kind of the pitch I had going tonight, didn't have my fastball in the first inning, so I had to find something that worked, so that's what I went to. Stayed with it, and didn't give in at all. I knew they were sitting slider, but was just relentless with it, and just got to keep doing it and trust it. But next time, I've got to have my fastball, you can't just rely on one pitch all the time."
West Virginia Head Coach Randy Mazey
Opening Statement:
"Wow, what a game, huh? The fans turned out in bunches on both sides and it was a great atmosphere. Someone had to lose in that game and it's a shame that it was us but it was a lot of fun. You don't realize now how much fun it really was because your so disappointed. (Parker) Dunshee went out there and realized right away he wasn't going to throw any fastballs to most of our guys. He did what all great pitchers do, he adjusted on the fly right away. He started pitching backwards and they started playing some defense. He's a veteran who wins a lot of games and our guys just battled and battled and we threw all of our bullets at them. Their backup pitched really well. Kessler had to go out there and do what he had to do and grinded it out at the end. Facing Dunshee, a guy who's 8 or 9-1 in the ACC and these guys are getting ready to tell you how great of a slider that last cat had. You don't see sliders like that very often, for him to do what he did to our lineup. Out of all, that's a pretty good guy to have right there and they deserved to win. They were down three and kept grinding it out. They got hits when they needed to off one of our best pitchers. Congratulations to Wake. We are in a position we were in last week in the conference tournament. This is the hardest game we've had so far in the regional. It's a game where you are coming off a loss and a team coming off of a win. We're playing in an elimination game and we were in this spot last week and came out on top with the number three team in the country, Texas Tech. I feel certain to our guys that we're going to come out tomorrow with a lot of energy and passion and put their hearts on the field and see what happens."
On early success against Sheets:
"He came up with some big situations in the game and we were able to strike him out with some men on base and we thought the matchup was pretty good. Give him credit. It's hard to get a game-winning hit unless you're the type of player that wants to get a game-winning hit. We had the right matchup and they probably thought the same way."
Senior Infielder Jackson Cramer
On the crowd atmosphere:
"We get in games like that every now and then. Being in the Big 12, we had some games like that at home when we played TCU. I think what made a difference tonight was that there was a lot on the line being a regional game. That makes it special. Seems like every pitch got something out of the crowd for both teams. Every pitch was just a really important one. It was a little stressful but it was really fun. It was fun playing in front of a crowd like that."
On getting an early lead:
"We're still feeling good. Even as the game went on toward the end there, the pitcher did what he does best. He kind of settled in after that first inning. He just made it tougher on us as the game went on."
Junior Outfielder Kyle Davis
On Roberts' slider:
"He throws 94 and a really good frisbee slider. It starts at you and then gets hard and away from you. It's really hard on righties. As good as we've seen it, he kept us off balance and still was able to get us a swing and a miss. Hats off to him but you've got to be better and we will tomorrow."
