May 26, 2006
Minnesota Head Coach John Anderson
On the pitching in today's game against Michigan ...
"Well, I said at the end of Wednesday's press conference, `You're only as good as your next starting pitcher,' and we got another outstanding pitching performance today. I thought Brian competed like he has his whole career out there. He made his pitches when he had to, and he had a good defense behind him. I thought we made [Paul] Hammond work really hard the first three or four innings. We had some quality at-bats, fouled some pitches off, and I think that was a factor as the game went along. We put some balls in play, kept fouling them off, and drew some walks against him. He's an outstanding pitcher, but I thought we made him work really hard, which was a factor in getting him out of the game."
On the hit and run in the fourth inning ...
"We're facing a pitcher out there that doesn't give up many runs. And you've got the best catcher in the league that has been an outstanding defensive player. He throws very well. We were just trying to get somebody in scoring position with that combination of players. We took a gamble and it worked out for us. That was a factor, no question about it, that we were able to execute it at the time."
Minnesota Pitcher Brian Bull
On the importance of his defense ...
"Today, I felt pretty good coming out. I didn't have that much control, although I got a lot of deep counts. I was able to execute my pitches and got a lot of groundballs. I had some great defensive plays behind me. I had a couple of diving catches and double plays to back me up. I just tried to make my defense work because that's what they've been doing for me all year. I know I've got really good players behind me, so I don't try and do too much when I'm out there."
Michigan Head Coach Rich Maloney
On Michigan's defense today ...
"Unfortunately, we didn't play good baseball like we have been. When you don't play good baseball, you don't get a good result. That's unfortunate, but for whatever reason, it's baseball. Sometimes it happens that way. We've played stellar defense all year. We really are one of the best fielding teams in the country, and today we botched three plays. Two ended up costing us. And we ended up giving them some freebies with walks, and they cost us. We had some opportunities, but we just didn't get the timely hit to put us back in the game. It was just one of those games. The timing wasn't great, but we'll have to fight back and take it one game at time. It was a tough loss, but the kids have shown resiliency all year."
Michigan Pitcher Paul HammondOn bouncing back from the loss ...
"We're down right now. We obviously predicted a better outcome for today's game. There's a little bit of a lull, but with this team it lasts for 20 or 25 minutes. We know we've got another game to play. We always look forward to the next game rather than dwelling on the past. It will be easy for us to put this behind us. We've just got to come out and do the things that we do and do them well. We've got to pitch well and play defense well and we'll be right there."
On his pitch count ...
"They really got my pitch count up early. They really made me labor the first two innings. I don't know if it showed or anything, but later in that third inning, I definitely lost some bite on my curve ball. I don't know if I was just trying to throw it too hard, but I left some pitches up that I shouldn't have in situations where they should have been buried. I made them at least hittable when they were supposed to be unhittable. I made some mistakes; I definitely did and it cost us. It wasn't due to lack of focus; it was just due to lack of execution."
