Stanford
Coach Mark Marquess:
That was a great college baseball game and a great
effort by two great college baseball pitchers. We couldn’t overcome that
four-run seventh. Erik Davis pitched very well but Gamboa just pitched a little
bit better. He was on balance the whole night and came up with the big pitches when he
needed to. It was a very good college baseball
game and UC Davis just did a great job tonight. They got their hits together at
the right time and that was the difference.
On facing Davis:
They are very good, but every team this time of year is
a very tough matchup. We are more familiar with them since we played them
earlier in the year, so we knew that they would be a tough matchup. Neither team
had faced a weekend pitcher, so we knew it would be a different kind of matchup,
but they are very dangerous and they came through in the seventh inning. We were
able to keep them in check for most of the game, but they got a hit and a walk
and then got the big hit, and that was the difference in the game. It was a very
close game and we had our chances with Ratliff’s near-homer, but the difference
was that one inning when they were able to get four.
I ask who will start tomorrow and whether Jeremy Bleich
would be healthy enough to start:
“I don’t
know who we are going to go with tomorrow. Jeremy threw three innings
last weekend and felt good, so I could imagine he could go four or
five. We could go with Jeffrey [Inman] or we could go with
Yount, and I haven’t made the decision or talked to my coaches yet. If
we are going to win we are going to have to use a lot of pitching so we are
going to have to sit down and think about how we are going to approach it now.
We don’t know who it will be, I will make that decision tomorrow morning
when we get here.
Note: Arkansas' lineup is righty-heavy. Inman and Yount are righties; Bleich is a southpaw.
On how Stanford will bounce back:
I think we will come back and be ready to play tomorrow. As
I said, there are no bad teams this time of year and we will come back tomorrow
and play a good Arkansas team who had a tough loss today as well. I hope we can
get a good pitching performance and score some runs and stay alive in this
Regional. I know we will come ready to play, but I know Arkansas will too.
On coming back in Regionals:
“There is so much parity now in college baseball and
this is a change. That wasn’t the case 15-20 years ago. I think we can win this
Regional, like a lot of other teams in the country. But, obviously, it is a huge
advantage for whoever can win the game tomorrow
between Pepperdine and Davis.
Cord Phelps:
On the team's mentality:
“We feel like we have our backs against the wall. We
dropped the game tonight, so we know we have to win a few now to come back. We
know we can comeback and do what we need to do.
On Gamboa:
He changes
speeds so well. He got us to chase pitches down in the zone and he had a strong
command of his fastball tonight.
Erik Davis:
On giving up hits on 0-2
pitches:
“When you have a hitter 0-2, you often aren’t trying to
put a pitch over the plate. To their credit they hit some mistakes and that is a
credit to them that they were able to battle like that. That hurt me a little
bit because you are always fighting for that advantage and when you have it you
need to take advantage of it. It is a credit to them for fighting and getting that four-run inning.
I ask whether he felt different toward the end of his
eight-inning outing:
I didn’t feel any
different actually. I was impressed with how I was able to keep my stuff
throughout the game. I was able to win the battles early, but
unfortunately they were able to win that one inning. I was able to do my job for
five or six innings, but they were able to get the job done in the seventh.
On saving
the bullpen:
Now that we have lost, I think it is beneficial for us
that I was able to save our bullpen a little bit. I have been doing that a lot
this year, trying to save some of the other pitchers on this team. Don’t
count me out, because I will battle. This is my last season and I won’t go down
without a fight.
On whether again losing to Davis made the loss
tougher:
Every loss hurts. It is never easy to take.
UC
Davis
Coach
Rex Peters:
The game played out the way that I anticipated. I
thought it was going to be a well-pitched game and a low scoring game. I knew
that it was going to come down to the last few innings and it did. Erik
Davis had his change-up going and we weren’t seeing it real well, so we tried to
make some adjustments by moving up in the box and trying to get him to elevate
some of his pitches, especially his off-speed pitches. He started doing that and
we started seeing him better and started getting some better swings.
That’s how we got the four-run inning.
On removing Gamboa after allowing a leadoff walk in
the ninth:
It crossed my mind for a second, but I
thought he matched up pretty well against Milleville. He hit the ball pretty
hard, but we got a double play out of it. Then, since there was nobody on base,
we figured we would let him pitch to one more batter, but that was going to be
his last batter. He was getting a little tired.
On whether the win was the biggest in UC-Davis
baseball history:
It is our only postseason
victory, so it has got to be.
On why Davis plays so well against Stanford:
Stanford has a lot of baseball tradition. I have a lot of
respect for Coach Marquess and what he has done over here at Stanford with their
program. They have good athletes and I don’t know why, but they bring
out the best in us. I don’t know if it is the Cardinal and white or
whatever it is, but our kids like to come over here and play and are excited to
take on Stanford. For some reason we play well against them, but I can’t put my
thumb on it. It’s just something where we feel comfortable and we are excited to come here and play.
On the low expectations to start the
season:
We were picked last to start the year,
but it was because we were the new kids on the block and in this conference you
have to prove yourself. I never felt like this was a last-place team. It was an
opportunity to open some eyes and it is the same thing in the postseason.
Records don’t mean anything, statistics don’t mean anything and it is just
another opportunity to prove something and open some eyes.
Pitcher Eddie
Gamboa:
On how his arm feels:
It feels great. I could have kept going.
Unfortunately it only goes nine innings. But we got the win.
On playing at Stanford:
It is a great atmosphere here. We experience crowds
like this in summer ball. It really helps us out with situations like this where
some guys try to do to much. But we are here in front of our family and friends.
It brings out the best in you.
On falling behind in the first inning:
I think the pressure comes from who is going to throw the
first punch and then once they scored that run, it is a matter of just relaxing
and doing what you need to do by hitting the glove and getting some ground
balls. Our defense played great today to get us the W.
On wanting to finish the game:
I
wanted to finish the game very bad. I had a situation this summer where I went
eight and a third and we won the game, but I had a flashback to that game. It
was a very important game for me to finish and make the coaches proud. The class
of 2003, we wanted to be a legitimate team in the Big West and be in the top-four.
Evan Hudson:
On coming from behind:
It seems like it has been all year. We don’t do
anything until the seventh, eighth, and ninth, but we just keep battling and put
some at-bats together and score some runs.
On his game-winning double in the seventh
inning:
They intentionally walked to get to me to
set-up the double play. I just knew that he is a good pitcher, he mixes up his
pitches well with the fastball and change-up. I was just looking for
something up and I got a fastball and just stayed short and turned on it.
On having the batter in front of him intentionally
walked:
I don’t want to say disrespected, but you
feel that way as a hitter. They walk the guy in front of you because they think
you are an easy out, or you take it that way at least. I just tried to make it backfire on them.
Thanks to Aaron Juarez and the Media Relations staff
for their help in transcribing quotes.
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