May 24, 2007

Minnesota Head Coach John Anderson

Opening statement ... "Obviously the first inning was a big inning for us. We went out there and got them one, two, three. I thought Tom Buske had great pace on the mound - he worked fast and got in and out on the field in the first half of the game. I think that gave us some energy in our offense. I thought we had some great at-bats in the first half of the game. We had some good at-bats up and down the lineup and that's how you have good innings.

On Pitcher Tom Buske ... "He works fast and throws strikes, you know he is in the strike zone. It makes it easier to play the game and when you're not on your feet for a long time on defense, you have energy to play offense.  He works fast. We generally play pretty good. The disappointment - we made four errors. I was disappointed we didn't make a few routine plays on defense. The good news is we overcame it. Tommy was able to get refocused and put that behind him and get the next guy out after a few errors, especially early in the game.

 
Minnesota Pitcher Tom Buske

On setting the table for the tournament ... "I got my feet wet when I came here, I didn't pitch last year ... I just wanted to come out in the first inning and throw strikes ... and give our team a chance to win which is pretty easy once you've got seven runs in the first two innings."

On his performance ... "My two-seamer was working really good today. I had a good sinker so I knew that was going to help. I threw a lot of fastballs today, too. Last time when I pitched against them I threw a lot of change-ups and curveballs so I think my two-seamer today really helped. I located it really well, too.

Illinois Head Coach Dan Hartleb

On how his team feels... "We're still here. Last year at this time, we weren't here. We still have an opportunity to win. We've got to play one game tomorrow, you win that game and hopefully get back on a roll and then who knows what could happen."

On the bounce back nature of his team... "This team has great character. You saw that last weekend and how we won yesterday. There is no quit in this team, we will be ready to go and play."

On going to the bullpen when he did... "We tried to get somebody out there who could stop the bleeding and let the offense get back into it. At the same time you don't want to burn anybody out games left in the tournament. I thought we did a good job of that yesterday and we need to have a good ballgame tomorrow so we can get those guys back out there."