June 19, 2009

NCAA Men's College World Series
Game 10: North Carolina vs. Arizona State Post-Game Press Conference Quotes
Hall of Fame Room, Rosenblatt Stadium
Thursday, June 18, 2009

North Carolina head coach Mike Fox:
(opening statement): "I'm not going to apologize for how long it took us to get up here because it was the last time for me to be in the locker room with the guys I love. Getting to Omaha four years in a row is unbelievable. Congratulations to Arizona State, they deserve to win. I've had the most fun this year, it's been a great year."

(about if he thought about putting Alex White in to pitch): "The only way I would have done it is if it was in the ninth inning to save the game. He was in his normal bullpen rotation. If we were just down by two, I might have put him in. He has too big of a future, it wouldn't be smart to put him in there."

(about what happened in the seventh inning): "It was just one of those innings. We couldn't find the strike zone. I feel bad, our guys were trying. We opened the door for a good team. We dodged bullets during the first few innings, but couldn't recover in the seventh."

North Carolina first baseman Dustin Ackley:
(about ending each of his four seasons at the CWS): "For me, I just came in as a freshmantrying to get a job starting anywhere on the field. It was a great ride. To end it on a stage like this was incredible."

North Carolina right fielder Garrett Gore:
(about ending each of his four seasons at the CWS): "For myself I came in just wanting to play. I winded up here four years in a row. People here treat you great. It was an unbelievable experience for me. It was definitely an experience I could not imagine -- to end it in one of the best places in baseball,"

(about the locker room after the game): "A bunch of us spoke and thanked each other for the friendships along the way. I couldn't ask for better teammates along the way. We tried to keep the tears from coming, but it was tough."

Arizona State head coach Pat Murphy:
(opening statement): "We're very proud to have competed against North Carolina. The competition we had against them was sensational both games we played them. We don't have much time to recuperate (before facing Texas), but we're looking forward to the opportunity to compete. "

(about facing Texas): "We're honored and grateful to be in this position. We'll think about them tomorrow. Texas is a tremendous baseball program, they've played great, they beat us last game, so we'll have our work cut out for us."

Arizona State outfielder Kole Calhoun:
(about his performance at the plate): "I don't know what to say, I just get up there and hit, I'm just excited to hit right now."

Arizona State pitcher Josh Spence:
(about how he was feeling, if he was tired pitching on three days rest): "I wouldn't say I was tired, I got caught up in the moment when I gave up that three-spot. I'm blessed to have such a poised coaching staff and such a poised catcher to keep me in line and get me back on track."

Arizona State catcher Carlos Rameriez:
(about Spence's performance): "He went out there right before the game and said, what am I doing. I said you're about to pitch, then he said, but it's on three days rest. I told him to do what you normally do. Then after we made a couple of errors I told him, this is baseball, people are going to make errors. Just keep hitting your spots and he did."

NCAA Men's College World Series
Game 10: North Carolina vs. Arizona State Post-Game Press Conference Notes
Hall of Fame Room, Rosenblatt Stadium
Thursday, June 18, 2009

Arizona State (2-1) advances to meet Texas (2-0) in Friday's Bracket 2 Championship. Arizona State will need to defeat Texas twice to advance to the MCWS Championship Finals. North Carolina (1-1) is eliminated. (Texas will be the home team in Friday's 6 p.m. game).

*-Tonight's crowd of 25,001 is the largest of the 2009 MCWS.
*-It is the 10th straight game over 3 hours in this year's MCWS, and 19 straight non-championship series games at the MCWS have gone over 3 hours dating to last year. Tonight's game took 4:04, making it the fourth-longest nine-inning game in MCWS history (and the second 4:04 game of the 2009 MCWS, ASU/UT). The last three MCWS games have all lasted at least four hours. It is the first-ever MCWS with three games lasting at least four hours.
*-The six wild pitches (UNC 5, ASU 1) tonight tied for second all-time in a MCWS game.

Arizona State
*-With tonight's win, Arizona State improves to 61-35 all-time in 21 MCWS appearances. The Sun Devils rank third all-time in both wins (61) and games played (96).
*-Arizona State is now second nationally with 51 wins this season (LSU has 53 wins). It is Arizona State's 16th 50-win season and second under Head Coach Pat Murphy.
*-Today's win was the 1,000th career victory by Arizona State Coach Pat Murphy, as he is 1,000-455-4 in 24 seasons as a head coach. He is now 629-234-1 in 14 seasons at Arizona State.
*-The four-run deficit ties the largest lead Arizona State has overcome this season. The Sun Devils also overcame a four-run deficit against San Diego on May 5, a game the Sun Devils won 8-7 in 11 innings.
*-Kole Calhoun's six RBI is a career high, as he had driven in four runs on two previous games (Washington State, 4/10; at Arizona, 4/29) and is the first six RBI game at the MCWS since Fresno State's Steve Detwiler had six RBI against Georgia on June 25, 2008.
*-Calhoun's six RBI is the second six-RBI game by an Arizona State player this season (Jason Kipnis vs. Arizona on 3/22).
*-The grand slam by Arizona State Kole Calhoun was the 46th in the MCWS history (complete list on page 59) and the first by a Sun Devil in the MCWS since Michael Collins in 1998. ASU's other two grand slams in the MCWS were by Sal Bando (1965) and Bob Horner (1978).
*-The eight-run seventh inning was Arizona State's second-largest inning total of the season (13 vs. Arizona on 4/29).
*-Calhoun is 2-for-2 with two homers and seven RBI against North Carolina's Brian Moran in the MCWS.
*-Calhoun is hitting .500 (6-for-12) with three homers, 10 RBI, five runs scored and a 1.417 slugging percentage in his three MCWS contests.
*-Josh Spence is 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA in his two starts, fanning 16 over 14 innings in Omaha. Spence has thrown 248 pitches and has gone seven innings in both of his MCWS starts.
*-Before the grand slam by Calhoun, Arizona State had been outscored 14-0 dating back the fourth inning of Tuesday's loss to Texas.
*-This is the second time that Arizona State starter Josh Spence faced the same team in consecutive starts. He faced Missouri on Feb. 24 (0 R over 7.0 IP) and March 1 (2 R over 5.2 IP). It is also the second time that Spence has made a start on three days rest (Feb. 20 and Feb. 24).
*-Arizona State is now 29-1 this season when a starter goes seven or more innings in a start.
*-Arizona State is now 5-1 all-time against North Carolina in program history.
*-Drew Maggi extended his own ASU's freshman runs scored record to 63 with two runs scored tonight. The previous high was 60 by Barry Bonds in 1983.
*-Arizona State reached double figures in runs for the 22th time this season and are 22-0 on the season.

North Carolina
*-North Carolina falls to 14-17 all-time at the MCWS, as the Tar Heels are making their eighth appearance in Omaha. UNC is 12-9 over its last three MCWS appearances.
*-North Carolina has posted a 213-63 record over the last four seasons, the most wins in the nation in that span.
*- North Carolina has been eliminated by the eventual national champion in each of the last three seasons (Oregon State, 2006-07; Fresno State, 2008)
*- UNC has been the last remaining ACC team in each of the past four seasons, and will tie Virginia for fifth place (both went 1-2 at the MCWS). The only ACC team to win a national title was Wake Forest in 1955.
*-North Carolina falls to 6-2 in bracket-play elimination games at the MCWS over the last three seasons.
*-Garrett Gore set a MCWS career record with his 21th appearance on Tuesday, breaking Daryl Arenstein's record for career games set between 1970-73.
*- The two RBI by North Carolina's Jacob Stallings ties a career-high previously set against VMI on Feb. 22. Stallings had driven in two runs in his first nine games since returning to the lineup following a broken bone in his left hand on April 17.
*-Matt Harvey's four wild pitches sets a MCWS single-game record. The previous high was three set 14 other times, most recently by Koley Kolberg of Arizona against Georgia on June 18, 2004. Harvey had thrown only nine pitches in his first 70.2 innings entering the 2009 MCWS. Harvey's five walks is also a season high, bettering his previous high of four set five other times this year.
*-Brian Moran had allowed just two homers in his first 64.2 innings of work entering the MCWS. In Omaha, he has allowed two homers - both to Kole Calhoun - in 1.2 innings of work. Moran has allowed only 12 of 42 inherited runners to score entering the MCWS, has allowed all four runners he has inherited to score in Omaha.
*-The 12 runs allowed by North Carolina is a season high. UNC had allowed 11 runs twice this year, most recently against Virginia on May 22.
*-The Tar Heels are making their fourth straight MCWS appearance, which is the most ever by an Atlantic Coast Conference school. It is the 13th time that a team had made at least four consecutive MCWS appearances. The four straight appearances are the most since Texas made four straight MCWS appearances between 2002 and 2005.
*-Dustin Ackley's finishes the 2009 MCWS with a MCWS all-time record 28 hits and has hit .412 (28-68) over the last three seasons. Ackley finished the 2009 MCWS with a .500 average (8-for-16) in the 2009 MCWS.
*- Ackley has hit safely in his last 21 NCAA Tournament games dating back to the 2007 campaign and has hit safely in 26 of 31 career postseason contests.
*-Ackley finishes the season with 111 hits, tying Braeden Riley of Sam Houston State for the national lead in hits.
*-The 10 walks by North Carolina is the just the second time this year North Carolina has walked 10 or more hitters in a game. The other time was a season-high 13 walks against Florida State on April 12.
*-Ackley finished the 2009 season with a .417 average, to tie for third in school history, while also ranking in the top-10 in homers (22, third), RBI (73, sixth) and runs (75, sixth).
*-Garrett Gore went 2-for-4 on Thursday and finished the MCWS with a .375 (6-for-16) average. In his first three trips to Omaha, Gore hit just .193 in 18 MCWS contest. Gore finished the postseason with a .436 (17-for-39) with three homers and 11 RBI and has six multi-hit games in his eight NCAA contests.